Preserves, Sweets and Drinks

I am something of a hoarder. My husband, Tom, would hoot at the understatement. ‘You were a squirrel in another life, ' he tells me, for I have a larder whose shelves amaze me, they are so full of jars. This hardly fits with the image of a cook who so strongly advocates the use of fresh food, seasonal produce and frequent shopping. There are jars of sun-dried tomatoes, pickled samphire, preserved lemons, marmalade, damson jelly, plum jam and much, much more. I put it down to some atavistic urge, some trait inherited through the female line, to pot and preserve and build up stores against times of shortage. For that is why we preserve. It is a relic of the times when food was truly seasonal, when preserving was a means of dealing with nature’s gluts, when we potted, pickled, jellied and preserved.