A Fruitful Summer Ahead In Our Kitchen.

The cherry trees are abundantly fruitful.

At the moment the cherries are the guinea pigs of " jammers " everywhere and only because they are fashionably early in the season. If you could only see how wonderfully laden the trees are all over our neighbourhood. Little red balls of flavour suspended among the green foliage.

Cherry jam is to my mind the queen of jams. Apart from the divine and delicious flavour, they are very labour intensive. When Bob and I prepare for the cherry affair, we know that we need oodles of energy. Not all cherries are the same and some are blessed with a bit of extra protein...worms.

We have to open each and every cherry to inspect for protein and if found, to take it out, followed by de-pitting them. Of course making liqueur with cherries makes life much simpler as we can just emulate Mexico's fancy Agave worm Tequila.

Throughout the year I have sourced gardens where fruits are left to rot as not everyone is overly fond of making their own jam, ( Bob and I are so spoiled by the taste of our homemade jams, that we could never eat store bought again ). One fruit that is a rare delicacy is the red currant. One of our neigbours has a few shrubs and last year she gave us all the fruit, which we promptly converted into the most divine red currant jam. This, coupled with blue cheese and a lovely Blaufränkisch wine is as near perfect as it gets.

When I went to visit this lady yesterday, I was touched by her concern over the red currants and their predators; birds. All she was worried about was that we wouldn't be able to pick enough fruit for our batch of jam. Precious! I can almost picture her shooing the odd bird away. In a few days, these red currants will be ready for picking. When I tasted a berry yesterday it was a tad overly tart and still developing that deep red almost purple hue.

The sisterhood of making jam is sometimes overt and sometimes hidden. When you least expect it you see evidence of a fellow " jammer "...the tell tale jars of various sizes and labels that are hand written.

Picking up a jar of jam in a supermarket is as easy as 1-2-3, but when you make your own, it kind of keeps that invisible string of our forebears taut. Making jam is one of those fabulously old fashioned activities that kills so many birds with one batch of homemade jam.

• Being in the moment. When you make jam, your attention can't be distracted by a Smartphone.
• A respect for nature and her ability to grow such an abundance of fruit.
• A stash of great tasting jams, a stash that makes each bread roll burst with flavour, each plain yoghurt take on a hue and taste to your likening and of course boast a stellar record of being without chemical and funny E-numbers...
• Last but not least, prettily decorated jars of homemade jam make the most useful and unique birthday presents!

Biggi

A Mid-Summer's Day In Burgenland To Make You Break Out In A Song!

A day that brings a smile to your face.

Now and again you get those summer moments that takes your right back to the ones from your childhood. You know, those carefree and unspoilt days. Days of running around barefoot, playing to your hearts content, hanging out with your friends and exploring the neighbourhood.

Bob and I decided to go and pick bramble berries for our next set of jam. It seems that wherever you look, there is a bramble bush and if we wouldn't pick the berries, no one else would. Look, the best and plumpest ones happen to reside at the very top of the bramble bush, so the birds and bees still get more than they need. I tell you, yesterday I wished I had taken a ladder with me because the berries at the top were about double the size as the ones at the bottom. Alas, brambles go hand in hand with thorns...

We took the road less travelled - a country lane complete with gravel - parked the car and meandered along the lane, picking berries. The sun was at its hottest, the birds were singing and the bees buzzing. Somehow I sang to myself..." Summer Loving ".

The trio of sunshine and happiness. The leader and his posse...

The wild sunflowers in harmony with the rest. This scene is almost more suited to an artists easel & oils or watercolours.

Don't you just want to take a blanket and lie in the meadow?

Big sunflower brother perhaps? Definitely the original smiley faces...no need to use the Smartphone versions.

Summer in a can! A perfect image for a typical Burgenland Summer's day...

A frog's paradise perhaps? A ditch at the side of the lane has life it seems.

While I was picking the berries, this cute chariot came driving out from the forest. Oh, a perfect summer mobile.

The afternoon's bounty gets transformed.

Biggi

Our Jamming Sessions Pay Off: Our Jam Gets Discovered.

The pressure is on...

As you know, we have been happily jamming during the early Summer season. Bob & I or rather The Jammers are like a well oiled machine even starting with picking the main ingredient, the fruit. Bob has borrowed a ladder high enough to reach the upper echelons of the cherry tree because for some odd reason the plumpest and nicest ones dangle and dazzle from up there.

The other afternoon we set off on a cherry run. Amazingly the folk who own cherry trees don't make use of them. They might pick the lower branches, but the rest will rot on the tree ( by the way, even in this cherry growing area a Kilogram of cherries cost about 7 euros in the shops! ). Never mind, The Jammers are here. As we only have the one long ladder, I am usually whiling my time away by leaning on it to make sure Schatzi is safe up in the branches. When it is stable, I might even shoot the breeze with people walking past. Oh, the life!

Two weeks ago we started the first batch of cherries. Luckily the various trees around the village take turns ripening. Our two neigbours on either side offered us their harvest and of course we took it with pleasure. As a Thank You, Bob dropped off a bottle of our cherry jam with each of them. The thing is, usually no one ever tells us if it was good or not. My Mum of course is honest and tells me if it was not nice or had mould on top.

Bob went to a meeting with the chaps ( fire brigade ) and came home late but excited to tell me some feedback regarding our jams. He had overheard our neighbour telling a friend about how fabulous the jam made by Biggi & Bob was! Wow. Her kids were home from Vienna over the weekend, and she had run out of her usual jam. Sunday breakfast they were all sitting around the table when she remembered our jam. Apparently, her kids kind of turned up their noses at this homemade stuff and declined to try it.

Shrugging her shoulders at this, she opened our jar and put generous lashings of it on her bread. She took one bite and was hooked. Her ecstatic reaction to our jam tempted her kids to give it a bash and the rest is history. Apparently her son was so taken by our homemade cherry jam that he almost wrestled her for the half eaten jar because he wanted to take it back to Vienna....Music to our ears.

Bob gleefully took another two jars the next morning and dropped them off. When I met my neighbour on Sunday, I told her how happy I was to hear about our jamming success. Well, she added the cherry on top for me:

" Biggi, can you believe it, my husband opened one of your jams, took one bite and loved it so much he took a spoon and almost ate the whole jar."

Bob has been re-invigorated by this complement and even last night we were jamming up a batch.

Biggi

Isn't it just a fabulous place to pick cherries? The ladder was stable enough, and I meandered about chatting to a few people.

Isn't Schatzi the handsomest cherry picker ever!

A view to the upper echelons of cherries.

This was the view a meter to the right of the tree. The three smoke signals from above?

A Few Chicks, Cherries & Great Neighbours.

Picking cherries with a difference.

Yeah, it is cherry season and it seems that everyone in our village has a tree or two in their yards. The farmer who owned this smallholding before us, planted many other fruit trees but not cherry. I must say, it isn't the easiest fruit to pick except from the low lying branches. Of course,as Nature has it, all the delectable cherries are normally just out of arm's reach and a long ladder is needed. Last week I saw a kilo of cherries being sold at Lidl ( a discounter ) for Euro 6,99...oh yes, every backyard in our village has a wealth tree! More of a saving tree, as no one really picks the fruit.

The word got around that Bob and I love to jam. As Schatzi has slightly opposing music tastes to mine, we only do real jamming. You know; plum jam, peach jam and of course cherry jam. If only you know how easy it is to make jam you'd never buy another tin / jar again. This last week, three neighbours have kindly offered us the full use of their cherries. Great. Nice. Yummy. Even just wanting a bit of fruit only means going across the road and picking some of the tree.

Our immeadite neighbour has fabulous cherries ( hardly any worms ) and picking them comes along with a bit of entertainment. His cherry trees are where he keeps his chickens. He is the one who has created a sort of Disneyland for his chickens. They are a happy lot and often we can hear their " chicky-chats " across the road. Sometimes we get some of their eggs too. The proper organic free range type...

Anyway, I went on my own to pick a kilo & a half of cherries ( amount for one batch ) as Bob was toiling the vineyards. Naturally I took along my camera and decided to at first sit among the chickens to get a few shots in. When you have picked a few cherries, you know that your hands will be sticky and sweet. Not good for the camera. Just as well Bob wasn't there, because I took a lot of pictures. A whole lot, which I only realized when I loaded them onto the computer. But it was worth it.

I only wanted to get a few nice " chicken " shots so that I could give our neighbour a framed picture, as he loves his chickens and I want to thank him for always being so generous. When I saw some of the shots, they were to precious, funny and nice not to show you...

These chicks like to pose...

To be honest, I got a little bit scared when she came towards me.

Oh this is classic! I put it on Twitter yesterday and asked:
" Did you have a tad bit too much wine as well? "....and of course I got a response.

" My leg hurts, have you got your pic now? "

Gosh, what a colourful and nice plumage.

Biggi

The Penny Dropped But A Cow Is Still Needed!

1st taste of self-sufficiency.

Ask any bookworm about any subject and they will render an ( informed ) opinion and even go so far as to give you long winded instructions. Eh, I know, me too!

Having an orchard at hand bursting with delectable, plump and organic fruit it was only natural to make jam. Oh, and did we make jam. Our earth cellar is full and friends & acquaintances have had nice surprises for Birthdays and Christmas. To be honest, some of our jam creations ran the risk of having a bit of fungus on the rim where the lid sits. Only a few that is. The rest were perfect.

All through Autumn and Winter, Bob or I would brave the elements and our feral cat ( she lives above this earth cellar ) to replenish our need for jams. Oh, we made cherry, plum, apple, quince and blackberry. Simply delicious. The other day I discovered a different treasure in our cellar. For some reason I had forgotten that we had collected walnuts from our garden & a few others. Bags of them. By the way, if you were to buy them in the shop, 100 g of walnuts costs in the region of €5. My gosh, we are rich!

Anyway, coming back to the self - sufficiency bit: I was cracking open a few walnuts and realized we needed more bread. As I was weighing the flour, I got adventurous and added a handful of walnuts. Despite using the girl - scouts method of cracking open the walnuts ( an ordinary hammer and wooden board ) I luckily still possessed all my fingers. Please, you try it and see!

Anyone who bakes bread or has baked some before, knows the enticing power of a waft of bread baking in the oven. You know, if Bob and I didn't have to go to English class, we would have ripped the hot loaf of bread apart like a pack of hungry wolves. Is there anything better than homemade bread fresh from the oven? So fresh that cutting it won't do. Oh no, ripping is the only way. Before you know it half the loaf is history...

We were gone for two hours and the aroma greeting us was still enticing enough for us to head straight to the kitchen. Oh, I forgot my little trip to the earth cellar for a jar of plum jam to accompany the lashings of butter.

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The feeling of making your own bread and topping it with a generous dollop of your homemade jam is indescribable. In fact even if it were to taste iffy, it wouldn't matter a bit.

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The only bit we could still master in the future is to make our own butter. Look, we have enough lawn and a stable to accommodate Miss Daisy the ( future ) cow, but I fear that Bob & I will more than likely engage in a bit of a daily tiff. You know, a tiff about who gets to clean Miss Daisy's stable...

Biggi

Our walnut bread. By the way, we only use whole wheat flour.

It tastes even better with our homemade plum jam...

The #1 Staple In Most Country Pantries.

Nature is a great provider.

In our grandparents day, the kitchen was the place to be in winter. Remember a time without electricity where only the kitchen had a wood burning stove that more or less was in full swing all day long. My Dad sometimes tells me stories of how as a young boy of 7 he had to get up at the crack of dawn to light and make the fire. Believe me making a fire is not so easy and those times I struggled to get a simple fire going ( in my 40's ) I would think of how my Dad made a fire at such a young age.

Everyone lives a more modern lifestyle now, yet some things are ingrained in our psyches. The kitchen is still the place to hang out during winter. You know, it gives you a sense of warmth that goes beyond the obvious. It envelops your soul in a warm cotton wool feeling of comfort. As you step in these country kitchens, the day brightens and brightens a few shades more when coffee and home baked cake are to be had.

I have been in a lot of different kitchens lately and almost all of them had a little pantry off it where there were rows and rows of home made jams. Jams in all shapes, colours and sizes. All of them had neat labels on the glass jar. This is a trick I am going to use this summer because to be honest, our jams don't all have a label. At the time of making them, I thought that naturally I would know cherry from a plum. But as we were so very prolific in our jam production, going into our earth cellar is a bit of a lucky draw. On top of which our earth cellar is dark and spooky. Lingering in there is not something I tend to do.

As you know, our garden is blessed with about 20 fruit trees of all types and friends offered fruit from trees they didn't use ( quince and apricot ). Our jam collection is in a range of colours: reds, oranges, blues and purples. Rather pretty.

The moment you taste your own homemade jam that is it. There is no going back. Apart from knowing you've created this delectable spread, the taste is vastly superior to anything store bought and mass produced.

• Cherry jam that still smacks of that sweet & tart aroma. A jam that has the most abundantly rich purple colour. Combined with a liberal covering of butter it makes a simple bread and jam event a gourmet excursion.
• Plum jam is even more special in our home and in our village. Plums have to compete with the enthusiastic Schnapps makers. Unless you are quick to pick those plums
  ( and guard them with zeal ), they end up providing a base for a good schnapps. Yes, plum jam is a treasure.
• Apple or pear jam was a new creation for us but one that is just as useful. Those oh so cold winter afternoons almost hypnotically entice me to whip up a batch of pancakes. Pancakes with apple jam on top....yummy.
• Should you ever get a jar of Blackberry jam from Bob & I, count yourself lucky. For this jam we had to go walking in the forest and pick the berries one at a time. F.Y.I those twigs are full of thorns!
• I am afraid that I can't comment much on our Apricot jam. Now and again we get a bucket of apricots from my Mom's neighbour or we " borrow " some from the vacant house up the road but there are never large quantities. Maybe this is why it is always used up before I get a chance to have some!

At times our modern way of life and all that goes along with it, makes me yearn for an anchor that keeps me grounded and in the moment. It sounds cheesy but making jam is one of those activities that make sense...

Biggi

Spiderwebs overhead!

Can you see my dilemma?

Could We Become The " Jamming Couple "?

Our orchard is bursting with its fabulous offering.

Last year we only started our foray into the wonderful arena of jam-making, so that the fruit wouldn't rot on the floor. Once we had realized how easy it was to make jam, the season had run out of time. Typical. No problem, because we had lots of time to plan for this years harvesting season.

The hardest part is wrestling the fruit away from those who love to make Schnapps. ( Yes Bob, you as well! ) Everyone drinks it and mostly the homemade variety. Even the grapes can be used for it. Luckily not too many because the wine from our region is second to none. You should really come and try it. Come to the Weinkost / wine tasting of the local wines on the 7th of September 2013.

Our stash of jams has grown. We have rather a lot of cherry jam, a few apricot ones and two lonely bramble / blackberry one. Alas we didn't get any more blackberries. Bramble bushes should really be renamed, as it can resemble a beehive!

Just try and pick some blackberries and you'll soon hear that slightly scary buzzing sound and sometimes you will even feel that peculiar jet-stream that only bees can produce when they fly to close to you. I didn't have the heart to take all their luscious treats from them and at times I admit to being a bit frightened... It was a case of 1 for us and 10 for the bees. Bees rule!

Our plums have decided to part ways with their homes and are dropping on the floor in alarming numbers and so we have been jamming up a storm in our kitchen. Bob had been surfing the net when he came across the fact, that in America, homemade jams sell for up to 10 dollars a jar! Just imagine selling ours for half or even a third of it ?

Oh yes, our inspiration has been turbo charged. We might have a chance as our orchard has been untouched by anything artificial for at least five years. We are still getting the hang of pruning and we would have never even thought about spraying stuff on them. Chemicals are ghastly in any case.

Thankfully that makes all our fruit tastes out of this world. At least for me. Oh yes, it has that juicy, sweetness of the original flavour ( by original I mean: apple / pear / plum ). That first bite brings back so many childhood memories and tastes. When did you last eat fruit that tasted like it did when we were young?

Our plan so far is to make jam until we run out of fruit. We have a big earth cellar to store them in. Maybe we'll hang up a shingle over it:" SimplyBurgenland Homemade Jams " or our family and friends will get the same presents for Christmas & Birthdays again and again...

Biggi

Life Gives You Brambles, Make Jam..

Making Jam is such a soothing & connecting activity.

On my morning walks which at times are along the forest, I stumbled across a whole bank of brambles. Berries that are a luscious dark blue with a taste to match. A perfect snack along the way and even worth the occasional thorny encounter.

Living the rural life has made me industrious in a different way. When I saw how many berries there were, I decided to make jam. A few hours later, equipped with a ( um, sorry, the ) husband and two bowls, I set off! Bob, even though he grumbled at first, was excited like a young schoolboy. Picking berries ( along with sampling the wares ) is one of life's highlights.

Bob and I meandered from one bank of brambles to the next. There are a lot scattered throughout the area. On our last pit-stop or rather picking-stop, we met a friend who was out walking with her baby and dog. Chatting for a good five minutes about all & nothing brought home what makes life fun and special.

Our excursion of bramble picking netted us 350 grams of fruit and made two small jars of divine looking jam. All in all a good days work. When the jam is settled enough to devour, every spoonful will have memories attached to it.

I can't wait to see the final dark purplish colour spectrum of it. In fact, I will spread it on Knäckebrot with lashings of creamy smooth cottage cheese. Just imagine the colours melting into each other: beige, white and purple ! Or maybe two spoonful of it in a nice cup of plain double cream yoghurt...

Biggi

This is the best I could do to show you the colour...

I know this photo is not taken professionally, but it sort of shows the colour better.

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The Country Air Makes Us Industrious !

Newly discovered arts & crafts.

A few years ago, when someone mentioned people who were self-sufficient, we did not really grasp the concept. How could we, living on the eighth floor !

At the moment, we are learning to make our own jams etc. We are still a long way from being self-sufficient, but I can see the possibilities of it. A small vegetable patch and a wealth of fruit trees. And those are the ones spurning us on to be industrious.

Nature only gives you a certain amount of time to get going. If you miss the window of opportunity, the fruit can get spoiled. Procrastination is a foreign word in the world of nature. In a way it is rather refreshing to have to hop to it. Yesterday, Bob and I made more cherry jam.

Bob picked a bucket full of cherries, and together we started the laborious task of de-pitting each and every one. We do it by hand, because we want to inspect each cherry for any inhabitants...worms. It takes about an hour to pit a bucket full, but it is well worth it.

We also have a few walnut trees and Bob is trying to make his own Walnut liqueur. ( Of course this is no hardship for him and in fact he is excited like a little boy ! ) All he does is cut up green walnuts, puts Vodka over them and puts them out on the window sill. Lets see how it works out. Anyone visiting us in the next few months should be in for a treat ?

Making homemade foods is akin to arts & crafts. Let's face it, who still knows that you can even make your own jam so easily ? We have grown so used to buying everything at the supermarkets, that the skills of making it ourself have almost been lost and forgotten. Let us try and revive them and pass them on. After all, they are incredibly grounding, satisfying and not to mention...delicious.

Biggi

View from the top, of Bob's Walnut liqueur creation...

Bob is cutting the walnuts with almost surgical precision !

Now it has to rest for a few months in order to absorb the aroma & flavour !

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Picking Cherries, Pitting Cherries & Making Cherry Jam.

Making your own jam is actually not that difficult.

Even I was surprised at how much jam we got out of about a kilo of cherries. When you see a full cherry tree you tend to wonder how many it would take to make a jar of jam. This big tree should more than likely produce a thousand jars of jam ! Of course if we could only get to the top more easily...

So, the amount you see in the bucket, was what we used. It was a sort of trial run. If we had made a mistake, at least we would have learned from it ! We started to pit them. Imagining it is harder than actually doing it. Bob and I just used an ordinary knife and before we knew it, they were done.

The fun part was mixing the cherries with the sugar and getting that mass to boil. You can buy a ready made mixture of sugar for making jams. We used the 3 to 1 mixture. At first it looks like a glump of something but in time it does melt into this syrupy mixture. Because I don't like to many fruit pieces in my jam, I thought I would liquidize it a bit. As usual, I overdid it and it turned into a smooth ( no cherry shape in sight ) mixture.

While I was stirring the pot ( he he ) Bob had to sterilize the jam jars in boiling water. Teamwork !

The next bit was quick and easy. We scooped the hot liquid into the jars, put the lid on and placed them upside down. Just following instructions on that one, as I don't know why they need to be upside down. A few yelps of pain were emitted by both of us, because hot jam mixture on your fingers is not nice !

As we were filling and jamming, we had such fun. Who would have thought that we would get so domesticated ? We have many more cherries, peaches and plums to pick and hopefully will create a mountain of homemade jams...We are rather proud of our first batch of homemade cherry jam.

Biggi

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