Once upon a time…that is, prior to the ready availability of domestic refrigeration and year-round growing methods, preserving seasonal fruits and vegetables and making jams and pickles in summer, when produce was plentiful and at its cheapest, was a regular chore to ensure supplies in winter.

If we're all going to have to “pull our belts in” this year, as recession bites, we may just have to look back to “once upon a time” and return to the ways of the past to ease the pressure on the budget.

We're told that this season, people have increasingly gone back to growing their own vegetables and fruit or are trying it for the first time – garden centres enjoying a boom in seeds and plants. Perhaps these same people will look back to their mother's or grandmother's time and decide to give jam-making and preserving a go.

Besides, there's nothing quite like home-made raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam on a freshly baked scone or pikelet. It's fun, too, to create your own flavour combinations. The only downside is that you'll probably find the family using more jam! Otherwise, the effort of making it is well worthwhile.

Being able to freeze fruit also makes it easy to spread the labour out over the months –in the past there was only a small window of time to get the fruit at peak and make it in to jams or jellies, necessitating a spell of feverish activity in the kitchen and usually “all hands on deck” to help. Berries freeze well and retain their flavour and texture when you need to use them; they will store for up to a year.

There isn't space here to give a comprehensive lesson in jam-making but here are a few pointers.

• Fruit for jams and jellies, frozen or not, should be ripe but not over-ripe – if you're picking your own, don't do it immediately after rain but on a sunny day.
• Make sure no fruit is damaged by bruising or brown rot.
• Jam, marmalade and jelly fruit must have sufficient pectin and acid to set with the sugar; if they don't, fruit with those properties must be included, of which apple is best and doesn't change the flavour to any extent.
• It's almost impossible to be emphatic about the length of time jam and jelly – although berry jams are short cooking - should cook as it largely depends on the pectin and acid in the fruit and the quantity of added sugar. Thus it may take a bit of trial and error until you are able to judge the setting point – too much cooking and you may finish up with toffee, too little and you'll have a runny fruit sauce!
• When the jam seems to be thickening, keep stirring to prevent sticking on the bottom of the pan and test it on a cold saucer; you can also judge by how it drops from the wooden spoon whether it's ready to test or not. Drop about a teaspoon on a cold saucer and leave for a few minutes – taking the pan off the heat to prevent further cooking. When the jam is cool, if a finger dragged through it leaves a channel, it's ready for bottling; if it runs together again, it needs a bit more cooking.
• The jars should have been washed, thoroughly dried and heated in the oven (120 degrees C for about 15 minutes), to avoid them cracking when the hot liquid is poured in and to ensure they are sterile. Cool jam and jelly before putting on lids. To ensure a long shelf-life (family permitting!), when the jam is cold, pour some melted paraffin wax over the top before either putting the screw lid back on or applying a cellophane cover.
• Remember to stick a label with the type of jam/jelly and the date on the jar before storing in a cool, dry place away from direct light.

I couldn't believe it at the time and regret even now that many copies of what I consider the best book for New Zealanders on the subject were sent to the tip! The New Zealand Women's Weekly Test Kitchen “Favourite Preserves” by Tui Flower is so comprehensive and practical; published in the 80s, it has been in my library since then (when I was one of the Test Kitchen staff!) and is still one of my most-used reference books. Just occasionally, you may find a second-hand copy in a bookshop or on “Trade Me” – and if you do, don't hesitate to add it to your cookbook collection; you won't regret it.

Meantime, try some of these recipes this season and put a store of jams and jellies on your pantry shelf to last through the winter.

Apricot And Apple Jam lets you enjoy summer apricots year-round. You can make Cherry Jam from fresh or frozen cherries. Fig And Orange Jam is a great way to use fresh figs. Quince Jam - quinces are funny, bumpy-shaped fruit and very old-fashioned, but they make delicious jam or jelly. North Islanders cannot always get jam-sized quantities of raspberry jam, but Mainlanders are luckier and can easily make Traditional Raspberry Jam Sometimes when feijoa trees start to fruit, it's hard to find sufficient ways to use it all. Try Feijoa Jelly.