Emily Hartley
Why the Cumbrian Hedgerow is a Larder
Come late August, the lanes around our fell-side smallholding start to bow under the weight of free food. Blackberries tumble over drystone walls, damsons hang in dusty blue clusters where old hedgerows have been left to thicken, and crab apples litter the verges in windfall after a gale. For anyone keeping a few hens, a couple of pigs, or simply a kitchen with a good stockpot, this is the busiest and most rewarding stretch of the year.
Preserving is the old Cumbrian answer to abundance. You cannot eat a hundredweight of damsons in a fortnight, but you can turn them into jam, chutney, and jelly that will see you through to next spring. What follows is how we do it here — the practical method, learned from neighbours and refined by plenty of burnt pans.
What to Pick, and When
Timing matters more than technique. Fruit picked in the wrong week will either set like concrete or refuse to set at all.
- Blackberries: pick from late August into October. Choose the ones that fall into your hand with a gentle tug — those still clinging hard are sour and set poorly. Avoid berries growing low along busy verges where spray and traffic grime accumulate.
- Damsons: ready from early September. They should be fully coloured but still firm. A frost or two improves the flavour, so if you can wait, wait.
- Crab apples: gather from September onwards. They are far too sharp to eat but loaded with pectin, which is exactly why they belong in the preserving pan. Windfalls are fine provided they are not bruised and brown.
- Rowan and sloe: worth adding to hedgerow jelly or gin, though both need frost or a spell in the freezer to soften their astringency.
Pick into shallow containers so the fruit does not crush itself, and aim to process within 24 hours. Fruit that has sat warm in a bucket will ferment before you get the sugar in.
Getting the Jars Right
Everything hinges on sterilising. A jar that is not properly clean will grow mould within a fortnight, and all that picking will have been for nothing.
Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse well, then either run them through a dishwasher on its hottest cycle or stand them in a low oven at about 140°C for fifteen minutes. Fill them while still hot — a warm jar and hot jam are far less likely to crack than a cold jar and boiling preserve. Never use a chipped jar or a lid with a rusted rim.
While you are at it, put two or three small saucers in the freezer. You will need them shortly.
Blackberry and Apple Jam
Blackberries alone are low in pectin, so pair them with a sharp cooking apple or a handful of crab apples. We use roughly 1kg blackberries, 500g peeled chopped cooking apple, and 1.5kg granulated sugar — that is equal sugar to the total prepared fruit weight, which is the golden rule for most hedgerow jam.
Simmer the fruit with a splash of water and the juice of a lemon until it is soft and collapsed, about twenty minutes. Add the sugar off the heat, stirring until it dissolves completely, then bring to a rolling boil. Boil hard for ten to fifteen minutes.
To test the set, drop a teaspoon of jam onto a chilled saucer, let it cool a moment, and push it with your finger. If it wrinkles, it is ready. If it slides about, boil for another three minutes and test again. Pot into hot jars, seal, and label once cool.
Damson Cheese and Spiced Chutney
Damsons set beautifully on their own thanks to their natural pectin. For a simple damson cheese, simmer the fruit with a little water until the stones loosen, then rub the pulp through a sieve. Weigh the pulp and add an equal weight of sugar, plus a knob of butter to stop it spitting. Cook slowly until a spoon drawn through leaves a clear channel — this can take an hour, so keep the heat low and stir often.
For chutney, damsons come into their own with vinegar and spice. To 1kg stoned damsons add 500g onions, 400g brown sugar, 500ml malt vinegar, 150g raisins, and a spice bag of ginger, cloves, and a cinnamon stick. Simmer until thick and glossy, stirring so it does not catch, then pot into sterilised jars. Chutney improves with keeping — leave it at least a month before opening, and it will happily last a year in a cool pantry.
Hedgerow Jelly and Other Uses
Crab apples and windfall fruit make superb jelly. Chop the fruit roughly, barely cover with water, and simmer until pulpy. Strain through a jelly bag overnight — do not squeeze it, or your jelly will cloud. Measure the juice and add 450g sugar per 500ml, plus a squeeze of lemon, then boil to setting point as before.
A few practical notes from years of doing this:
- Label everything with the year. You will not remember which jar was which by February.
- Store in a cool, dark, dry place — our north-facing pantry shelf does the job.
- Any jam that grows a mouldy cap was either under-sterilised or under-cooked. Throw it out rather than scraping.
- Give a few jars away. Neighbours who lend you a ladder for the high branches appreciate the return.
There is a particular satisfaction in eating blackberry jam on your own bread in January, with the rain hammering the window and the fell invisible under cloud. The hedgerow gave it up for nothing but a scratched forearm and an afternoon's patience. That is the whole bargain of smallholding life, and it is a good one.
