HARVESTING FROM THE WILD – fruits

Some years I have had to watch the plums and apples fall off the trees in my garden, simply because I haven’t had the time to deal with the fruit. Not that the trees are cared for. They aren’t. Some of them have been here, apparently, since around 1850. All I do is an annual prune. Otherwise | leave them to do their own thing. Some years the fruit has tumbled off them, while other years (like last year) they have borne hardly any fruit. Neglect sometimes works well!

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This year is amazing for all fruits, so I determined to make something of any fruit I could find in my Churchtown garden. Last weekend I foraged in my own patch. I picked about one kilo of rosehips and nearly 2 kg of blackberries. So glad I hadn’t, as I had meant to, dig out all the brambles earlier this year. With a gale forecast for last night (the forecast was right for once!), I picked both damsons and Victoria plums, which weren’t quite ripe, but better under ripe than bruised and battered by the wind. Altogether, I gathered about 8 kg of plums – the best crop ever in my 23 years here.

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I had the best fun ever checking out websites for good and unusual recipes and now have my larder full of rosehip+apple jelly, bramble jelly, mixed plum jam and plum+vanilla jam. Some Christmas prezzies sorted.

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First up, rosehip+apple jelly. Searching for an appealing recipe, I came across www.cottagesmallholder.com. This site is a treat for anyone wanting to do their own thing, or even for those of us who nibble at the edges of self-sufficiency. Fiona inspires and encourages all the way.  Her easy-to-follow recipe can be found at http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/rosehip-and-apple-jelly-recipe-60. Do make sure to use sweet eating apples in this recipe. I was lucky enough to have been given some Worcester Pearmain windfalls by a cousin.

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Next up, I made bramble jelly, or blackberry and apple jelly to some. Another foolproof recipe from Fiona, which can be found at http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/recipe-blackberry-and-apple-jelly-30. It’s worth making this for the smell alone when cooking. Do use cooking applies for this, because of their tartness. Fiona also has a recipe for a seedless blackberry and apple jam incidentally, for those who are bedevilled by seeds sticking between their teeth.

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Finally, I made some straightforward damson and Victoria plum jam. Nothing unusual about this one. Then I made some plum +vanilla jam, the recipe for which I found at http://appleandspice.blogspot.com/2007/08/victoria-plum-and-vanilla-jam.html.  Made with Victoria plums and fairly-traded Ndali vanilla pods (available at The Hopsack), this jam is to die for – if you like vanilla that is. A surprise awaits people when they open the jar to find half a vanilla pod dunked in the jam. These vanilla pods are like no other I have ever found: moist and full of the tasty paste.

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