Ingredients:

1 kg/2.2 lb crabapples

1 kg/2.2 lb other hedgerow fruit

about 1 kilo of sugar (450g/1lb to every 568ml/1 imperial pint of juice)

Method:

Pick over the fruit, removing any stalks, leaves and bugs – I gathered nearly as many earwigs as I did elderberries. Rinse the fruit if necessary.

Chop the apples roughly without peeling or coring them: the skins and pips provide pectin to help the set.

Strip the elderberries (if using) from their stems with a fork, trying not to spray them around the kitchen or tread them into your floor. Fail. Wipe the floor and pick stray berries from surprising places – low-cut tops are inadvisable.

Put the prepared fruits (not the ones off the floor or from down your cleavage) into a preserving pan with 1.2 litres/just over 2 pints of water.

Bring to simmering point and cook gently until the fruit is soft and squishy. Remove from the heat.

When it’s cooled down a bit pour it through a sterilised jelly bag or muslin cloth into a large bowl. Don’t squeeze the fruit or the resulting jelly will be cloudy – just let it drip overnight.

Next day, discard the pulp in the jelly bag and measure the juice. Pour it back into the cleaned pan and add 450g/1lb of sugar for every 568ml/1 pint of juice.

Heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved then boil quickly without stirring until setting point is reached – that’s 105C/220F with a jam thermometer or when a spoonful put on a chilled saucer wrinkles, once it has cooled, when you push it with your finger. Take the pan off the heat between tests otherwise you could end up with something resembling tyre rubber. Once you’re happy with the set, skim the jelly, pot into sterilised jars and seal straight away.