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Plum butter (pflaumenmus)

13 Sep

pflaumenmus

Plum butter – or pflaumenmus  – is a German plum spread. Unlike the other jams I make, pflaumenmus is baked slowly in a low oven, which seems to intensify the flavour.

I made pflaumenmus for the first time last autumn. We hoovered up the first batch so fast, I had time to make a second one before the plum season ended.

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Seville orange marmalade

26 Jan

Marmalade

January can feel long and bleak and dreary. But the arrival of Seville oranges in the shops is a little spot of sunshine because it means I can make this year’s batch of marmalade.

Homemade marmalade on toast with a hot cup of tea takes some beating. Quintessentially British, both marmalade and tea are symbols of Britain’s colonial past – one through trade with Spain and the other due to colonising India. The history of the empire casts a long shadow over British cuisine – and we all eat better for it…

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Kimchi

15 Dec

Kimchi

Kimchi is indisputably Korea’s national dish. When I travelled round South Korea, I’m pretty sure I was served kimchi with every meal – including breakfast.

Kimchi is one of those love/hate foods like Marmite. Personally, I love it, but because it’s sold only in specialty shops in the UK, I don’t eat it as much as I’d like.

That is about to change, as last week, I got the big idea of making it at home. And if it turned out, maybe bestowing it as Christmas presents on some lucky folk…;-) (It did, and I will!)

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