Pam the Jam: The Book of Preserves

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Blitz a quarter of the tomatoes to a smooth purée in a food processor with the chillies, garlic and ginger. Place in a large heavy-based pan or preserving pan. Pulse the rest of the tomatoes several times in the food processor to roughly chop them up and add to the pan with the vinegars and the lime or lemon zest and juice. Put the figs and dates (and the apricots, if using), ginger, mustard seeds, sugar, salt and vinegar in a non-metallic bowl, mixing well to combine. In my jam business days, it was lemon curd that we exported to more countries than any other product. We once received a letter from a very satisfied customer who had even been using it as a face cream - she said it was amazing," recalls queen of jams, Pam Corbin. Anyway, this week I'm plumping for plumptious plums… and next week's column will be totally peachy. Sterilise the jars and twist-on lids as described before.above Put the apples in a pan with 150ml water. Cover, put over a medium heat and cook until the apple has reduced to a soft pulp.

Sterilise your jars and twist-on lids. Using a sharp knife, mandolin or the fine slicing blade on a food processor, cut the ginger crossways into wafer-thin slices. Store in a cool place for up to four weeks. Once opened keep in the fridge and eat within three to four weeks.And so commenced 30 minutes of hand cramps peeling said ginger with a teaspoon - fiddly, not therapeutic - but I did eventually get into a groove with it, taking breaks between knobbly root joints to slice the most recently skinned one into wafer thin slices (not to self: Buy a mandolin). The easiest bit by far came next, mixing my golden wafers with salt and leaving them to get on with things for a couple of hours under a sheet of baking paper and a plate, to draw out excess moisture. Ideally, this recipe will be made with the pink-tipped, pearly-white very young root ginger - look out for it in specialist Asian stores. But if you can't get hold of any then use the readily available, yellowy-fleshed older root - it's spicier in flavour but still tastes good; just make sure it's not dry and stringy. Second, it was my attempt at sweet. On writing, my homegrown raspberries were not sufficiently bounteous to attempt raspberry jam (give me a couple more months), so lemon and honey curd it had to be. There's just something so luxurious about lemon curd. And I'm a lemon drizzle fiend - my citrus cake skills will know no bounds if I can manage to whip up curd too. Pectin, naturally found in fruit is vital to make your jam set. With low-pectin fruits like strawberries, help them along by either mixing with pectin-rich fruit like gooseberries or by using jam sugar (with added pectin and citric acid). Even if you have a smallish garden, some kind of plum will merit its keep in a sunny corner, or even trained against a wall. It will bless you with gorgeous blossom in spring – particularly a splendid spring like the one we enjoyed this year. And then there's the fruit, from golden mirabelles and translucent gages, through to deepest velvety-purple damsons, they're enormously beautiful. I think I might plant a plum tree even if you couldn't eat them.

Although lemons are available throughout the year, they are at their very best from January to April. To make your pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (or any Tuesday) really special, you could spread a tablespoon of lemon and honey curd over them, perhaps with a discretional drizzle of Limoncello." Her worries were mainly revolving around work, but she was also unhappy when on her own and preferred company,” he said. He said she seemed in good spirits before he and his wife left to go to Port Isaac in Cornwall. The couple returned at 6.50pm.

Recipe By Pam 'The Jam' Corbin

In a mixing bowl, toss together the ginger slices and the sea salt. Cover with a piece of baking parchment and a plate and set aside in a cool place for about two hours to draw out the excess moisture from the ginger. Tip into a sieve and rinse under cold water, then drain and dry thoroughly with kitchen paper. Pour the jelly into the jars, filling to the brim, and seal immediately. Invert the jars for a minute or so, to ensure the lids are sterilised, then turn the right way up and leave to cool. Add the peppers, jalapeños, ginger, garlic and vinegar, and simmer for five minutes. Sprinkle in the sugars, stir to dissolve, then add the coriander, cinnamon and salt.

To get rid of scum (which is just trapped air) at the end of cooking, stir in the same direction until reduced. Put the lemon zest, juice, butter, sugar and honey into the bowl and place over the pan of simmering water. Lightly stir the mixture from time to time until the butter has barely melted - the temperature on a cooking thermometer should be about 50°C. Plums are related to apricots, peaches and cherries, and many of the dishes you can make with their cousins work brilliantly with plums. Try them quartered and stoned and crammed into tarts filled with frangipane, snuggle them into a tarte tatin, or envelope them in a cloud of clafoutis. And, to keep the plummy party going well into next year, bottle them in jams and chutneys.Put all the fruit in a roomy pan with 400ml water. Cover and bring to a simmer for 25–30 minutes, until reduced to a pulp; press down with a potato masher or jam skimmer towards the end of cooking. Folding the juice and zest into a bath of sugar and butter, drizzled with honey and melted over a bain-marie, everything was quite wholesome and going to plan...

Heat the remaining oil in a large heavy-based pan or preserving pan. Sprinkle in the mustard seeds and cook for a couple of minutes until they begin to pop, then stir in the pounded coriander and cumin and the turmeric, and cook for a minute or so. Add the onion paste and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the mixture from catching, before finally adding the courgettes, the vinegar and the sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and everything is well combined. Break things down into stages. If a recipe suggests leaving ingredients to brine of a couple of hours or more, then do so; salt brining removes the excess water from ingredients that would otherwise dilute the vinegar. Make sure your jars and lids are sparkling clean and to fill your jars to the brim. And enjoy! Store in a cool, dark, dry place for up to a year. Keep in the fridge and use within 3–4 months once opened.Spoon the jam into the sterilised jars, filling to the brim, and seal immediately. Store in a cool, dark, dry place and use within a year. Once opened, keep in a cool place for up to four months. Continue to cook the mixture over a medium heat for 30-35 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture is gelatinous and the base of the pan clearly visible when you draw a spoon across it. Remove from the heat. Hugh’s River Cottage HQ is right on my doorstep, and with its educational courses, TV and books series it was both a pleasure and fun to be involved; an amazing collaboration for us both. Whilst Hugh opened the door to many opportunities for me, I was able to encourage and inspire his many followers to learn to pot up and preserve properly. Sometimes I replace 50g of the jam sugar with coconut sugar (made from the sap of the coconut palm) to add another level of flavour to this already gorgeous panful. Or you can fortify the jam by stirring in 50ml gin as soon as it reaches setting point and has been removed from the heat. The inquest heard that Miss Corbin had been suffering from depression and had been prescribed anti-depressant drugs.