Bottom-of-the-freezer-jelly

Everything on the allotment seems to have been slow starting this year, perhaps because we haven't really had a proper warm spell so far.
But finally things are taking off, and that means one thing: I have to make space in the freezer.

It's a good chance to rummage around in the bottom of the freezer, looking for the leftover fruit from last year.

I found approximately 2lbs of currants and 1lbs of blackberries. Enough for a small batch of jelly.

Making jelly is a fairly easy process.

1. Wash the fruit, then just cover with water. 
2. Bring to boil and let simmer until the fruit is soft and pulpy.
3. After letting the fruit cool, pour the mixture into a large muslin cloth and hang up to let the liquid drip out. I like to hang mine from a broom handle laid across the back of a chair and the kitchen table. Let it hang for at least 4 hours, better still over night. Do not squeeze unless you don't mind your jelly being cloudy.
   
4. Measure the liquid and add 1 lb (450g) of sugar per pint (550ml) of liquid. Jams and jellies need pectin to set. Some fruits, such as plums, currants and apples are high in natural pectin. Rhubarb and soft fruit such as raspberries and strawberries need to have pectin added. It can be added in liquid form, powder or already added to the sugar. If unsure you can test the pectin content with the methylated spirit test. Hubby likes this because it's sciencey. ;)
5. Sterilise the jam jars. You can estimate to need twice as many jars as you had pints of liquid. I.e. I had 3 pints of liquid and used just over 6 jars. I tend to reuse old lb jam or honey jars with metal lids. I sterilise the jars by washing them well and putting them in the oven on a low heat. I sterilise the jar lids by simmering them in water. But if you prefer you can use waxed discs and cellophane covers instead. 
6. Return liquid and sugar to the boil and let boil rapidly, stirring constantly. 
7. After 10 or 15 minutes you can start testing if the jelly is ready to set. I use the wrinkle test. Put a small amount of the liquid on a plate and put in the fridge for a few minutes until cold. Then gently push it with your fingertip. If it wrinkles up it is ready to set.
   
   You can also look for the jelly starting to set along the side of the sauce or the spoon. 
   
8. Carefully pour the hot jelly into the sterilised jars and seal with lids or cellophane covers. 

The jelly will keep for at least a year in a cool storage place.
 ENJOY!

Apple harvest

This beautiful apple tree stand on our allotment plot ... and apple season is upon us!
We are not quite sure what variety of apple it is, but we like it.
It can be eaten raw (although it is not terribly sweet), but it also great for cooking and baking. And it stores pretty well too.

This week I climbed into the apple tree to try and get the best fruit.

The unblemished apples are in the shed for storage and should keep until the new year or so.

The others are turned into apple puree and apple rings.
Here is the handy dehydrator which my clever husband built. It runs on two light bulbs and a computer fan.

Damson cheese

Today I made a fruit cheese for the first time.
A fruit cheese is a highly concentrated fruit puree - so much concentrated that it becomes rubbery and can be cut with a knife ... well, a bit like cheese.
Less concentrated it remains spreadable and is called a fruit butter.

I used 700g of damsons from the allotment and followed a recipe from The Preserving Book by Lynda Brown - a much used book in our house.

I put the fruit in a preserving pan and added 200 ml water (300 ml per kilo of fruit), then brought it to the boil and simmered until it was a thick syrupy pulp (approx 30-40 mins). I used the wooden spoon to break up the flesh and release the stones.

Then I sieved the pulp through a fine sieve and added 500 g of sugar per pint/600 ml of puree. (I came away with 300 ml of puree).

Then I returned the puree with the sugar and a small knob of butter to the pan and simmered it very gently until it was reduced to a glossy black-purple paste that 'plopped' and left a trail on the saucepan floor when the spoon was drawn across it. This took about 45 minutes. Constant attention and stirring was required!
Then I spooned the cheese into lightly oiled ramekins (it filled three) and left to cool.

After it had cooled it was quite easy to turn out with a knife. Wrapped into waxed paper it should be kept for 6 - 8 weeks in a cool dark room to let it 'ripen'. And - assuming it doesn't get eaten sooner - it should keep for up to two years!
It can be used sliced with cold meats or cheeses or simply as a fruity treat.

Growing, harvesting and food processing

Now the growing season on the allotment is in full swing. For the rest of the year I try do keep a low profile. 
Digging just isn't for me! A little weeding here and there, perhaps, but not much more than that.

The rest I leave to my husband who seems to like that kind of thing.

When it comes to harvesting, I come into my own. Checking for cucumbers every day? Picking daily over the Runner beans and French beans? Spending hours picking the gooseberries and currants? And all evening shelling peas?
That's the kind of job I find quite therapeutic. Hubby find it tedious!

So we make a good team, it seems.

Over the last month or two we have bought very few in the line of potatoes, vegetables and fruit. All is provided for!

Amongst many other things, so far this growing season we have harvested:
10 kg strawberries
7 kg peas (and more to come)
6 kg broad beans (many have been dried)
25 cucumbers (and many more to come)
20 kg new potatoes (still more to come)
2.5 kg  courgettes
25 patty pans
3 kg currants
1.8 kg gooseberries

Our storage shed is already full with jams and pickles and the freezer full of frozen beans, peas and soft fruit.

The tomatoes are only just starting and it looks like we will have a bumper apple crop! 

Allotment update

This year has been a tough year for gardeners is the UK. We have had an exceptionally cold and wet summer (the wettest in 100 years!) ... and it has shown on our allotment.

Everything has ripened (if it grew at all in the first place!) a month later than last year.

Much of the plot was waterlogged for several weeks.
It is much to my husband's credit that he continued plodding on, despite the set-backs and the bad weather.

Finally, in August, the weather improved.
We even managed a couple of cook-outs, cooking courgettes and sweetcorn freshly picked on the fire pit.


In the end, all turned out well.
We had a bumper harvest of strawberries (the first time that we had enough to make into jam!); the runner beans and French beans did very well, as did the broad beans; although the courgettes were disappointing, the summer squashes have been amazing; the brassicas are looking well and the beetroot (hubby's favourite) are great too.

Overall we have grown fruit and veg, which would have cost us over £600 in the supermarket. So all in all, not a bad return - especially for a poor growing season.

Just one final problem: what to do with all the squashes??

Back on the allotment

After a long winter break, I went with my husband to our allotment today.
Thanks to his hard work during the winter months everything is looking quite tidy and ready for the next season.

   This is the new cloche for the carrots. The cloche covering will help them stay warm, even if the weather is still quite wintery. So hopefully we will have some young tender carrots in a few weeks time!

This is our new water collection system.
Okay, it's a fancy term for a couple of pipes hung from the roof of the old dilapidated shed, leading into two old water tanks.

Last summer was very dry and there is no running water on the allotment, so we want to be prepared!

The new rhubarb is beginning to come through the ground. It won;t be too long before we can enjoy the first stems.
I am hoping to get enough of our three rhubarb plants to make some jam and - if possible - some wine.

We are quite excited about the new growing season.
We have doubled our plot in size since last year, so we are hoping for plenty of fruit and veg this year!