# The Foraging And Preserving Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [August 16, 2021, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foraging-and-preserving-thread/948931 "2021-08-16T11:23:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 13
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2021, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foraging-and-preserving-thread/948931/13 "2021-09-07T19:30:19Z")
I just realized the above should say Lemon and Lime marmalade. Now, a word on getting sciatica: don’t. I mean, in truth the the pain wasn’t that bad (apart from the morning I couldn’t get out of bed). But nobody told me I would have a _really_ weak leg - bad enough to make walking even short distances difficult, and cycling impossible, for a while. Weeks. So: This has messed up my foraging badly. I could slowly walk just far enough to get to the local park, which was useful because the mulberry jelly I made got rave reviews. In my range limited way I foraged another 4kg of berries from the park’s mulberry tree, enough for 2 further batches of jelly - the berries are currently in the freezer awaiting some bad weather. (Make jam and jelly when the weather’s bad; forage when it’s good.) By the end of last week I was finally just about able to cycle out to forage for wild damsons. There’s a good crop this year, and [despite being menaced and driven off by swans](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/915) whilst foraging, I got my 1.5 kg for a batch using the plum jam recipe linked above. Once again, I removed the stones after cooking the plums, though it seemed a much more onerous task with the damsons. It’s not something I was expecting, but those damsons must contain a _shedload_ of pectin, much more than the plums I foraged. I had barely started boiling when the jam started to set. I always clean and prepare a couple more jars than I am going to need; the plum jam batch filled four jars, so I cleaned and prepared seven. But because the boil was so short the volume of jam didn’t reduce at all. In the end I had to prep two more jars, for a batch - 2021-DA-00007 - that ran to NINE jars. Once again I’m going to pat myself on the back - that’s some cracking jam. Here’s an aside: whilst I was banged up with sciatica, we went out to a small local market, and there I ran across someone selling a wide range of homemade jams, jellies and pickles. The Jam Lady, she styles herself. She saw me eyeing up her wares (professional interest, y’know?), and engaged me in conversation, so I recounted my recent activities. “Mulberry?” she said, “I’ve never made that.” Heh - one up to me. In an effort to recover and reestablish her dominance she asked: “Have you ever heard of medlars?” “I have a tree,” I told her.\* So we have both made medlar jelly. Actually, all this was very good-natured (though I was feeling very smug) and we chatted for a little while. In Mrs Trep’s (jokey) account to friends, she claims my behavior was awful, and in this way justifies the fact that she bought a jar of gooseberry jam to relieve the awkwardness of the situation. Yep, you got it - in the last couple of weeks I have made 23 jars of jams and jellies - and Mrs T is buying jam. 🤦‍♂️ 🤦‍♂️ 🤦‍♂️ j \* - I really do - [story here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coelacanth-jam-a-thread-to-update-the-medlar-chronicles/924830/28). --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-foraging-and-preserving-thread/948931)._