Preserves and Pickles: 25 delicious recipes for jams, chutneys, and relishes

In times of abundance, when trees and bushes are laden with ripening fruit, it makes perfect sense to preserve food for use in times less plentiful. Jam and jelly-making have always been an important household craft and an essential part of the culinary calendar. Here, Gloria Nicol offers 25 recipes to make the most of a glut, when fruits and vegetables are at their best and their cheapest. Recipes include classics, such as raspberry jam, red tomato and garlic chutney, and lemon curd, plus exciting new preserves, including lemon and fig marmalade, crab apple and vanilla curd, and tutti frutti jam. And once you have mastered the basic techniques, you’ll be able to invent your own recipes and combinations of ingredients. Preserving and pickling is a great way to appreciate the seasons and there is something very satisfying about a row of neatly labelled jars on the pantry shelves, each holding the fruits of the season. Like a genie in a bottle, that moment when you twist the lid and pop open the seal on the jar releases a glorious memory of a time of bounty.