Christmas In July: Traditional Brandy Mincemeat

Yeah yeah, I know it's only July, but by the time the kids are back at school it'll be a bit too late, in my humble opinion, to make your own mincemeat, if you want it to be beautifully matured and mellowed.

If you've left it a bit late, or you just can't be arsed and want to take a short cut, here's a link to my short video showing how I doctor up the shop-bought stuff. No judgement from Neen's kitchen, cockers.

Now then, I'm not terribly averse to shop bought mincemeat, but what puts me off is the dry texture, the grainy sugar and the visible suet in the jar. It's just not pretty, and if those ingredients aren't melted in during the maturation process, the flavour is a lot more harsh. The shop bought stuff also tends to contain added preservatives and colours.

I want my mincemeat to store well, so I don't have to find ways to use it up in one Christmas season. And also, in case I succeed in hiding it from myself, so I don't demolish the lot before the advent calendars come out. So I did a fair bit of research into preserving techniques - because we want those juicy, plump fruits, but that moisture content is what causes mould. Plus, if those juices ferment it can cause fizzy, sour mincemeat and exploding jars. So we need to find a way to make sure it's a good texture and flavour, while keeping it all safe to store and to eat.

The solution to those troubles, is to slowly melt the fat and the sugar so it coats everything, excluding the air, sealing in the juicy goodness, and preventing mould and fermentation. Alcohol is also a preservative - so we add strong booze -towards the end - so the alcohol content stays high. So the preserving methods here are heat, alcohol, sugar and air exclusion - meaning this will have an excellent shelf life. I'm going to try and save a jar for 3 years to see how it does - I'll report back if I manage to do so! (EDIT - I did not manage to do so.)

This recipe makes about 2kg of mincemeat.

Traditional Brandy Mincemeat

Ingredients:

• 1lb bramley apples, grated. No need to peel, but give them a good wash. Any other tart apples will do the job if you can't get hold of Bramleys.

• 100g flaked or chopped almonds

• 5 level teaspoons mixed spice

• 225g shredded suet or grated proper butter (grate when it's very cold, or you can cut into very small cubes). This fat content is not optional if you want a moist mincemeat with any kind of shelf life.

• Zest and juice of 2 oranges and 2 lemons

• Half teaspoon almond extract

• 350g sugar - any will do - caster makes it quite light in flavour and colour, dark brown soft sugar makes it more rich and treacley.

• 300g raisins

• 300g currants

• 300g sultanas

• 100g mixed peel

• 100ml brandy. Make sure it's at least 37.5% alcohol.

Method:

1. In a large oven-proof glass or stoneware-type bowl, mix together all the ingredients, except for the booze. Leave covered with a tea towel for about 12 hours. Keep giving it a bit of a stir. This gets all the juices soaked into the dried fruits.

2. Remove the tea towel, loosely cover the bowl with foil, and put it in the oven at the lowest temperature setting - usually around 100C. Leave it in there for about 3 hours.

3. Towards the end of the three hours, check the temperature of the mincemeat - it should get above 65C for at least 10 minutes to kill any bacteria.

4. While it's in there, wash your jars and lids in hot soapy water and rinse well.

5. Remove from the oven, but leave the oven on - put the clean jars in there for about 20 minutes to dry and sterilise, then switch off the oven and leave them in there. Put the jar lids into a small pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Remove them from the pan without touching the inside part, and leave to dry on a clean tea towel.

6. Leave the mincemeat to cool, stirring occasionally. You need all the fat and sugar to have melted and dissolved, so everything is coated. Once it's at room temperature, add your choice of booze. Don't be tempted to put it in earlier, or you'll evaporate the alcohol content.

7. Pack the mincemeat down into the jars with the back of a spoon - remember air exclusion helps with preserving. Then wipe around the tops of the jars with kitchen roll with plain hot water on to clean any mess, put the lids on tightly and label with the date you made it. While you're packing the mincemeat, keep thinking about keeping everything sterile - don't touch inside the jars or lids, make sure any spoons etc are clean. Because any lingering bacteria on anything will grow over time, and we want this to store well.