There is a problem with trying to recreate the foods you grew up with on the other side of the world.

Even though the number of times I have made jam at home from scratch had been limited, I had to have a large jam pan. I thought that I would be spending hours cooking jam as part of my local CWA group. There was no persuading me otherwise.

I went to the extent of choosing a locally made, Australian branded pan. I didn’t want to be an expat that only purchases British made goods. Even though it would be helping the local economy.

I even went to the trouble of going over an hour one way to collect it. At the time I thought that I was doing the right thing. I would absolutely use it often, and it wouldn’t have been a waste of time and money.

What happened you might be asking? Well, I very enthusiastically used it only twice. I tried to use a British jam making recipe which had ingredients in it that simply do not exist in Australia. Unfortunately, what I had made was so awful and hard that neither Colin or I would eat it. We laughed at how terrible it was. I have not, however, been put off by trying again. To truly fail one has to give up, and I have not done that yet with my adventures in jam.

Another example is recently when I attempted to recreate a traditional steamed pudding. In Australia, at least when I attempted to make it, Suet was not easily available. I used a local alternative which I was told was Copha. (Copha for people outside of Australia and New Zealand is a refrigerated solid block of coconut oil).

Instead of having a lovely steamed pudding it turned out as one of the most awful looking foods I had ever made. It looked similar to someone having thrown up scrambled eggs, it was not very nice. It was the complete opposite of what I had made the year previous when at home with my parents. I decided it was a health hazard and we would not eat it.

My advice? If you have moved across the world you should not expect the exact same foods to exist. Even if the country you are in speaks the same language as you do. Recently, I found a very fancy shop that sells fancy English foods. Including steamed christmas puddings. That was by chance, will I shop there? Rarely, I don’t think. Perhaps, when I am missing home, but other than that the more simple thing to do would be to adapt my cooking style to more local and seasonal ingredients.

Back in the UK I used to be inspired by celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. However, the question is whether their foods reflect what is on offer in Australia. The answer is of course that they don’t. Really, I should be taking local inspiration instead.

I have since adapted my cooking style to reflect what produce we have in New South Wales and what is currently in season. Strawberries are back in season now so you know what that means… I have bought new supplies and I will be trying again to preserve my jam making dreams! To the jam pan I go!