Guest Post
My first guest post comes from Sarah. Sarah gave me this recipe at least 10 years ago and I have been making it every year since. I always try and make sure I don’t use it all at Christmas so that there is some left over to add to apple strudel (you will have to wait for that one). So over to SarahI’m actually making marmalade this morning, using the recipe off the side of the cardboard box that contained the Seville oranges!
The jam jars I will use for the marmalade were recently full of Christmas mincemeat. This is really easy to make and so much nicer than shop-bought mincemeat (I have a bit of a ‘thing’ about suet…) This recipe is one I’ve been repeating for about fifteen years now. In my handwritten recipe book, it has the heading ‘Janie’s mincemeat’. Janie is my twin sister who lives in Boston, USA, and tries to keep some English food traditions going in her family. I generally make it during the October half-term when Cox’s apples are cheap, or even free, if you know anyone with a few apple trees. This year, one of the big storms ripped through Suffolk during half term, leaving a deep circle of apples beneath each apple tree in my parents’ garden.
Janie’s mincemeat
- ¾ pint cider (or apple juice)
- 1lb soft brown sugar
- 4 lb Cox apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
- 1tsp mixed spice
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 1lb 4 oz currants
- 1lb raisins
- (4 oz preserved cherries – if you have them in the cupboard – or replace with raisins)
- grated, unwaxed lemon zest and juice of a lemon
- ¼ pint Brandy
Dissolve the sugar slowly in the cider/apple juice and then add the rest of the ingredients except for the brandy. Cook for 30 minutes until the apples are soft. Leave to cool until cold. Add the brandy. Put into jars that you have sterilised by washing them extremely well and drying them in a low oven.
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