A winner! And more fun things to giveaway.

Happy Jamuary everyone!

We took a little break to visit the parents-in-law, and while we were there the gods of Jamuary were clearly in a good mood, as not only was I served this adorable baby jar of jam with my breakfast one morning...
...but I also got my belated Christmas present of two beautiful copper preserving pans! As you can see they are already being put to good use!

But, before I get distracted by shiny new pans and pictures from our jaunt, I need to announce the winner of the first ever Jamuary giveaway. The winner of the Apricot and Vanilla jam, chosen, aptly, from a preserving pan of entries, is...

Congratulations! Email me at info (at) no98 (dot) co (dot) uk with your address and I'll get on the case getting your prize to you!
It's getting busy in the No. 98 kitchen as marmalade season is in full swing, and with that in mind the next giveaway is steering a little bit away from Jamuary. I've got three new flavours being debuted this week, which will be announced on the wonderful blog A Playful Day (get over there and get playful, her blog and podcast is the business!). To coincide with this I want to offer one lucky reader a set of three taster jars of the new marmalades.

All you have to do is leave a comment (and if you're on Twitter, re-tweet about it) letting me know one unusual way that you use your preserves (keep it clean please!). The deadline for entries is Midnight (GMT) on Thursday 26th and I will be choosing a winner on Friday 27th at 10am GMT.

Happy Jamuary everyone!

Happy Jamuary! (and a giveaway!)

Happy New year all. For some the new year is all about celebrating the exciting things to come. Making plans, clearing out, writing lists.
For me, one of the big things about the new year, which tends to bring cold grey dull weather, is looking back at the previous year's bounty and cracking open some delicious preserves to get us through the hunger gap. I know, I know, this time of the year is all about marmalade making, which I will be doing like a mad thing for the next few weeks. Yet, when JAMuary comes around all I can think about is the excitement of having lots of tasty fruity concoctions in jars to enjoy in all sorts of ways.

Jamuary is the genius of a friend of mine and her other half. After a good ole catch up in November we discussed how I could get people more excited about preserves. We bashed some ideas around and parted ways. Later that night my phone flashed up with a text message. "How about JAMurary! Like Movember is to moustaches, JAMuary is to preserves!"

A stroke of pure genius!
So to celebrate the first year of what I hope will be many Jamuary's, I am going to give you a series of posts about how to use that delightful produce you so dutifully potted and canned in the summer. And to kick it all off, I'm going to offer you a chance to win some jam! Over the next two weeks I will be doing two giveaways, each for a jar of my bestselling jams. I want to get you excited about preserves, thinking about how to use them in different ways, and bring a little bit of fruity sunshine this new year.

First up is my Apricot and Vanilla jam. A best-seller in both deli's and markets, this is a decadent jams packed with flecks of Madagascan vanilla beans and made with organic apricots. Lots of my customers say they enjoy it not only on toast, but gently heated as an accompaniment to their porridge or ice cream! Now that's the spirit of Jamuary!

To enter, all you need to do is follow me on Twitter - @no98limited, and leave a comment here saying what jams you'll be enjoying this month. One lucky winner will be chosen at random at 10.00 GMT on Friday 20th. Entries will close at midnight (GMT) on Thursday 19th.

Happy Jamuary everyone!