Preserves

There is something very satisfying about seeing pantry shelves, or even a shelf in the kitchen cupboard, lined with homemade preserves. Making preserves used to be a traditional practice for keeping foods out of season but now, with the availability of fresh foods all the year around and the use of freezers, preserving has become a way of turning fresh foods into a delicious and lasting product. Making preserves is an enjoyable pastime and the finished products are extremely good in a quite different way from the fresh ingredients. Although commercial jams, jellies and marmalades can be excellent they never achieve the unique character of something homemade which also make lovely, very personal pre sents either to give or to be given.