Luxury preserves are a popular present - and particularly when the gift has been made by the donor themselves. No matter that you have saved a packet by doing so - it's the time and care that went into it that conveys love more than any words.
And it's not difficult to do. With a little preparation and a few easily obtained components, you can make an individually crafted gift fit for a Queen - for well under a fiver ($8) a pot.
Recipes you can use
This article is about the presentation, not the actual recipe, which is up to you. However, I can recommend several recipes for you to look at, although you may have one of your own.
Fig Preserve with Brandy
Pears in Orange Syrup
Winter Chutney
Making the preserve
Before you start to make your preserve, you need certain things to hand. These are just the basic necessities to ensure that it will keep, and prevent mold-forming bacteria from gaining access to your delicious produce.
for each portion of sweet conserve:
- glass jar - try and get ones with a lip rather than a screw top
- waxed (or greaseproof) paper disc - to fit inside the jar on top of the conserve
- greaseproof paper or foil - cut into a circle about 2" or 5 cm larger than the top of the jar (draw round a plate, if you haven't got a compass)
- strong rubber band - to hold the greaseproof or foil on
Even though they are already clean, I expect, you should still wash all the jars you are going to use in hot water with soap or detergent, making sure all traces of any previous labels are removed. Rinse them, then leave them to dry, or if you must dry them, use a cloth that has not been used since it was last washed.
When the preserve is ready to put into the jars, boil the kettle and scald each jar (this means to pour boiling water into it and swirl it to make sure all surfaces get the hot water on them, then tip it out). This ensures that any airborne bacteria that may have floated in will be killed - airborne bacteria are pretty namby pamby things, and will die as soon as the boiling water hits them.
Fill the jars up to about 1cm or half an inch from the top and cover with the small paper discs. If you're using foil, put this on and scrunch it carefully all the way round to hold it on, or with greaseproof paper, just smooth it down and pleat the bit that folds over the side, so that it looks neat. Use a rubber band the right size to ensure a tight seal and keep those moldy germs out.
Once all the jars are covered, put them somewhere out of the way to get good and cold overnight.
To make it special
For presentation purposes, there are a few further items you should obtain to make your gift look as special as possible.
large label:
Firstly, you will need to label the jar with a description of the contents and the date it was made. You might want to make up an imitation shop label, or just do a simple hand written one. If you use a gold coloured gel pen, it will look lovely. Be very careful to put it on straight! Alternatively you could put it on at an angle and make the lack of straightness a feature.
The easiest way to do this is to get some large self-adhesive labels from your local stationer. You could also just use paper and stick it on with glue, but the final result is not likely to be as good.
decorative cover:
Traditionally, jars are covered with gingham (small single color check cotton), which used to be very easy to get hold of. I'm not sure if you will be able to get it now. If schools in your area are still using check for their summer dresses, you will probably find an old one in a local charity shop that you can cut up, or a good haberdashers will probably have some.
If you can't get gingham you will need to look for something else. You need a small design, as a bit of a big pattern will just look silly, or you can use a plain material, such as hessian (a coarse weave that looks a bit like posh sacking).
Wherever you get it, you don't need much: half a meter will cover at least a dozen jars, so if you're buying it new have a look in the offcuts bin.
If you do buy new material, rather than cutting something up, you will need to wash it to get rid of the dressing, or the material will be too stiff to be usable. Iron it, then cut into 15cm (6 inch) squares using pinking shears (the type of scissors that cut in a zigzag) if you can get hold of a pair. For hessian and similar materials, a straight edge is fine; you can fray it a bit round the edges to make it look rustic.
decorative tie:
There's a few things you can choose to tie the cover on. The most obvious is a toning or contrasting ribbon (½ cm or ¼ inch is big enough). Other ideas include raffia, thick wool or a wool plait if you only have the thin stuff...
Finishing off
1. Make sure the outside of the jar is clean and dry.
2. Write your label and stick it on (either completely straight or at a deliberately crazy angle), about 4 cm or 1½ in from the bottom.
3. Put your covering material centrally on top of the jar and smooth down the edges, hold it in place temporarily with a loose rubber band (or get someone to hold it for you).
4. Tie the ribbon or whatever you are using in place with a nice bow. If you like, you can thread a gift card on to the tie, but don't forget to write it first.
5. Remove the rubber band.
6. Hey presto! You're done.
©2006 Frann Leach
