ANNABEL LANGBEIN

It’s easy to preserve the flavours of summer to enjoy all year

Edible gifts

Whenever produce is in peak season and cheap, I like to preserve it for use later in the year. The strawberries that are in full flush right now will never taste better. Soon there will be a plethora of berries to deal with, and then a run of lovely stonefruit and pipfruit. And later still, as autumn rolls around, there will be peppers and chillies and tomatoes.

All these sun-kissed harvests can carry their flavours into jars in the pantry to prop up the muted flavours of winter. Come a cold winter’s night, you will open the jar and bring out the tastes of summer.

It might sound like a lot of work to get them there, but trust me, it’s easy. It’s not like you have to get out giant cauldrons and go into a major production — small batches of just a few jars are really easy to make. There’s something incredibly rewarding and very therapeutic about a line-up of jars filled and sealed on the bench ready for the pantry.

Getting into the rhythm of creating a pantry of homemade preserves as cheap fresh harvests come to hand saves time, energy and dollars later on. But even more than this, homemade preserves provide a signature to your food. You always feel like a bit of a hero when you can pull out a jar of homemade kasundi or some peach chutney at the summer barbecue and have everyone clamouring for the recipe.

I am a real fan of making edible gifts for my friends. And I love receiving them. Last year for Christmas I received treats such as pinot noir cherries, Moroccan tomato chutney, kasundi, Indian peach chutney and some wonderful apricot jam. There’s something so personal about these kinds of gifts, they represent the lexicon of a family’s larder, often with the tastes and histories of recipes passed down generation to generation.

I aim for one batch production each year, whether it’s homemade berry jam, chilli jam, a tasty nut butter, pickled cherries or some other nice pickle or preserve. When you’re choosing what to make, think about perishability — you want something that will last at least three weeks. You also need to think about whether it has to be kept chilled — this can be a trial when festive fridges are already overflowing.

It’s so satisfying knowing that I’ve produced something delicious and handmade that the people I care about will enjoy.