Thursday 24 November 2011

Chutneys and Fairs

So i am right in the middle of chutney making and organizing for local Christmas fairs (or is it Fayres!!)
After getting the basic apple and sultana chutney right I moved on to an apple and apricot ( dried apricots work really well in chutneys and if you can get the darker organic ones its even better) also a sweeter Indian chutney although I didn't have any mango's to hand when I made mine I substituted them for more of the other fruit from my recipe bur the end result was great, and also a apple and pear chutney.
I tried my hand at a sweet cauliflower pickle if it works then I shall have a go at some other types of pickle.
And not forgetting the almost famous spaldwick pickle I seem to be making a batch of this a week at the moment and with a recent wine and cheese evening at the local gastro pub the sweet pickle is becoming more in demand.
We will be finishing the week off with a fair in sawtry  with 62 other stall holders we are just about ready with our chutneys hampers and traditional sweets.

Foraging Chef blog rejuevenated

I thought I would give the blog another go as it was something I had started but didn't really get into the full swing.
A lot has happened in my world since the last post, I have since given up working in comercial kitchens and have opened a village shop and deli with my wife and just recently started helping my father with an extension to his allotment.
So with all this in mind a blog on what I am foraging for, growing, cooking, preparing, selling might be worth investing my time in.

Monday 11 January 2010

Sowing herbs in winter

The following 3 herbs can be sown mid-winter to enable a period of stratification.

Sweet woodruff (sow into module trays with compost)

Sweet Cicely (needs several months of cold winter to germinate)

Cowslip (gerninate the seeds in a cold green house for 4-6 weeks)

Sweet woodruff and cowslip produce flowers that can be used in salads while cicely has an edible root and edible leaves.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Crab apple jelly

-Cut the crab apples in half and put them in a pan.
-Just cover with water and add a stick of Cinnamon and a couple of cloves.
-cook out till apples are completely soft. Then pass through a muslin cloth.
-for every pint of strained juice add 1 lb of sugar.
-Put this back on the stove for between 8-12 mins at a rolling boil.
-remember to skim any foam.
- put in jars and enjoy with cheese or charcuterie

Friday 2 October 2009

liquor 44 verdict

Tastes great!! The orange and coffee really comes through. And not as harsh as the Eau de vie alone. I shall be trying this again in the future maybe with a little less sugar. In the mean time I have just made my second batch of sloe gin recipe as follows:

SLOE GIN

1 ltr average quality gin
1 ltr sloe berries ( pricked with a thorn from the blackthorn bush, or a needle, or you can freeze them to split them)
300g sugar

mix the 3 ingredients together and give them a little shake every week.
after 3-4 months strain them. Sloe gin is best consumed 6 months to a year later.
So mine will be ready next december.

Time to find some storage space.

Sunday 6 September 2009

for all things sloe

I have chanced on these forums were you can join a small community that talk about all things sloe. http://www.sloe.biz/pip/ And as their motto suggests `Theres no biz like sloe biz` they might be a bit mad too.