Autumn Preserving

Last week, I started a batch of greengage wine, which was ready today for straining, sugaring, and inoculating with yeast. Into a demi-john it's gone, with 1.7kg of sugar, yeast and nutrients: it appears from my recipe that this one takes a good while to ferment, and the lower temperatures will probably increase that further. Never mind: it's tucked away in the airing cupboard.

On Sunday night we made a batch of apricot and peach chutney (with, inevitably, apples, onions, spices, and so on, too!), which is probably the last batch of chutneys for this year, having already made Windfall chutney and a date and apple one. The cores and skins joined a bag of frozen lemon halves (which I've been collecting over the last six months: zesting and juicing them, then freezing the 'discard' husks) in a big pan. Covered with water, and simmered for an hour, I've strained them, and made the juice into Compost Heap Jelly (450g sugar per 600ml juice).

That was last night: tonight has been the turn of rosehip and apple jelly. Another batch of apples were cooked down, and pushed through a sieve. 300ml rosehip syrup (from two years ago!) and 600ml of apple 'sauce', meaning 900g of sugar: cooked to 104°C, and jarred.

One Last Chutney

We're trying to get the hill-side apples turned into purée or similar as quickly as possible, as they're starting to go over. The freezer's groaning at the seams!

With some of the apples, though, we thought we'd make some more sloe chutney. Just a small quantity, as we only made one batch of sloe gin last time, which doesn't equate to much chutney. The sloe gin has been decanted, and is much better than last year. I think it's a combination of harvesting the sloes earlier, and freezing them before making the gin. Which means it's probably time to get out there and collect a pound of sloes for this year's gin.

Accordingly:

• 10oz sloes, stoned (8oz)
• 8oz chopped apple
• 8oz soft light brown sugar
• large onion, chopped
• 12fl oz white/distilled vinegar
• 8oz raisins
• ½tsp chilli powder
• ½tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cloves
• ½tsp salt
• 2fl oz orange juice

Chutney's easy: bring that lot gently to the boil, and simmer until it's suitably thick. That quantity only took about 20 minutes.

We also made a batch of pickled damsons, which are better described as spiced damsons (the vinegar disappears, and the spicy fruity sweetness is much the dominant flavour). Recipe to follow...they're very good as a spoonful on top of yoghurt...

Chutney, Jam, and Wine

Having collected the apples on Thursday, we've got on with making this year's chutney. We enjoyed the Grandma's Hot Apple Chutney we tried last year, so we did a double batch of that (12 jars). Instead of the basic apple chutney, we made a batch of the National Trust's Windfall Chutney (not with windfalls, but never mind), which was another 8 jars. A statutory batch (5 and a half jars) of mango chutney (another 850g tin of kesar mango puree!) followed; I think the spice blend worked better. We then tried a spiced elderberry chutney (cooked and sieved berries), which is extremely purple-red (5 jars). The Windfall Chutney has a couple of tablespoons of turmeric in, so that's rather yellow, making this years jars quite colourful: the Grandma's Hot is quite molasses-y, the Windfall is yellow, the mango orange, and the elderberry strongly anthocyanin!

We'll do a round of mincemeat next weekend (it requires an overnight steep of the ingredients), which will use more apples—the rest will be eaten as they are, or made into puree for cooking or eating.

One of our neighbours was given a large quantity of greengages, which were surplus to her requirements, so she gave us a few kilos. As a result, we've tried a new recipe, for greengage and almond jam. The greengages defrosted brown (they went in green), but it doesn't appear to have mattered. They also didn't require stoning before cooking, contrary to some instructions—though that did mean Liz had to keep vigilant watch for stones while to cooked, fishing them out as they floated. It's very tasty, and reminiscent of a marvellous gooseberry jam we made some years ago. Not too sweet, with a good 'plum' flavour.

To round off the preserving weekend, I started a batch of Hedgerow Port: elderberry, sloe, and blackberry wine. Nothing unusual: 800g blackberries, 300g sloes, and 400g elderberries, crushed, with 4.5l of boiling water poured over them. I added some pectolase once it'd cooled a bit, and yeast will go in tomorrow. The must'll ferment for four-five days, and then I'll strain it onto sugar in a demi-john.

The elderflower and elder rosé wines look like they've slowed considerably, so fermentation may be nearly complete. I'll probably leave them for another few weeks, then rack them.

Apple Harvest

It's a bit earlier than last year, but we picked the apples from the hillside. I think it comes to about eight big shopping bags full, which should be plenty for the recipes we've got planned. Making chutney is planned for the weekend; we might do some jam at the same time. It's that time of the year when there's loads of freezing, preserving, and bottling!

Damsons

We spent this morning topping up half of the strawberry bed with more topsoil: it's now ready for planting. The other half wants topping up with compost/manure, as it'll receive rhubarb crowns (which want lots and lots of organic matter), but that will wait.

In addition to another pair of cauliflowers, and a handful of courgettes, we also picked the first of our runner beans, and lifted the first celeriac. The celeriac's a little small, really, but made a very tasty soup for lunch.

Anticipating making the flower beds in the sheltered corner of the garden, we dug a hole (slightly randomly positioned) in that corner, to assess the ground. Not good. There's about 25cm of good topsoil, but below that is hardpan clay. This was somewhat expected, as the ground gets wet during autumn and winter, but it's probably worse than I thought. It probably means we'll have to bring in new soil, and may have to install some drainage aids.

Better, though, was our discovery during an afternoon walk of a damson tree: we now have a big tub of damsons, and the same of blackberries—the first of the autumn. We reckon that the apples are nearly ready, so we might have a weekend of chutney and jam in ten days time.

Busy Year-End

A busy, but productive couple of days!

We went out to the garden centre, to take advantage of the post-Christmas sale. No plants (no beds), but some Christmas sundries that were reduced.

Once home, we've been Making. As with many other things, sloe gin/blackberry brandy were delayed from the autumn: we collected the fruit in mid-September, but had to freeze it. We changed the recipes for them, using 340 g of fruit (instead of 225 g), and 110 g of sugar, to 750 ml of spirits. The sloes were noticeably easier to prick, having been frozen, which may be a tip to remember. Last year, we made the gin straight after picking the fruit. As normal, the gin and brandy have both begun taking on the colour of the fruit, and (with regular shaking for the next month or so) they should be ready to bottle in about March.

In The Times' cooking section a week (or so) ago, there was a recipe for lebkuchen. I really like these German gingerbread biscuits, but—despite trying about five recipes—I've never found one that quite replicates the taste of biscuits bought from Germany. Accordingly, I was honour-bound to try this one. Result: a credible biscuit. Still not perfect, sadly, but very good. I shall, when time permits, note the recipe.

Lastly, we made about six pounds of mincemeat, in a display of extravagant organization. It will now have twelve months to mature! It started yesterday, with mixing the ingredients: they then mellow over-night, and we cooked it this afternoon in the slow cooker for about six hours. The alternative was in the oven for three, but the slow cooker seemed more appropriate (and is very abstemious with electricity use: about 0.1 kW, compared to the oven's 3.5 kW). It looks, smells, and tastes delightful, and I'm already looking forward to the mincepies. I finished it off (once cooled) with last year's blackberry brandy. As I said above, when I can, I'll note the recipe: we actually have several, courtesy of our National Trust preserves book, but this was actually from another book. Experimentation, perhaps, next year. The apples were from the hill side, so there'll be plenty more next autumn.

Christmas Cake

As alluded to, we made our Christmas cake on Monday. The recipe is on the recipe page, which I've also updated with some of the chutneys we made last month. There are two apple chutneys (the third, 'Grandma's Hot', will go up at some point, promise); and also a mango chutney which worked nicely.

The Christmas cake is the one we usually make (although I'm tempted to try a different one next year): it's very good, though it takes forever to cook. The original recipe suggests 3/3.5 hours, but it's never done in that. This year took about 4.5 hours, in what is turning out to be a pretty good oven. Never mind: it tastes good when done.

Jars and Jars of Chutney

I had such grand plans for getting things done in the kitchen this weekend. Grand plans, which would have left the kitchen looking almost done. Grand plans of glosswork, shelves, and curtains. Grand plans that didn't survive first contact with reality.

I've put up four of the curtain rails, and glossed the outside & frame of the door (inside still to come), and that's it. We got distracted in the middle of yesterday by going to see reindeer (from the wild herd that lives on the Cairngorms, which we visited in 2004), and then today turned into a chutney-making day.

We had meant to make chutney during our week off work at the end of October, but it didn't happen. The apples, though, are starting to look a little unhappy, so we thought we should get round to it. Thus, we appear to have spent the entire day cooking. That said, we've now got some two dozen jars of chutney, in four flavours, so it seems quite well spent.

We started with 'Grandma's Hot' apple chutney (from the National Trust preserves book), and then made some apple, peach and apricot chutney, mango chutney, and simple spiced apple chutney from a birthday present recipe book.

I'm quite fond of mango chutney, but mangoes are pricey, as fruit goes, and so we've only made chutney from them once before. However, I found a kilo tin of 'mango pulp' in the supermarket around Eid, which is 90% pulped mango flesh, with some added water and sugar. Ideal, I thought, for forming the basis of chutney. The recipe bulks out the mango with apple (also in ample supply), making it even more economical. It's turned out really nicely, though a little spicier than I'd like, and I don't think it needed as much vinegar. Notes duly made, and next year's batch will be even tastier.

The apple, peach and apricot version is also good—if a bit spicer than I'd like. It nominally contains dried fruits, but dried apricots and tinned peaches worked nicely.

'Grandma's Hot' is, predictably, properly spicey. The basic apple chutney is bit milder, and I think will mellow really nicely. Modified, as-concocted recipes will eventually make their way to the recipes page. Note, eventually.

Given the state of the apples, we also prepared enough apple mush to make a batch of sloe chutney, and a couple of jars of mincemeat. We probably won't get round to cooking either for a while, but purée-d apple freezes well. For the sloe chutney, one nominally uses the sloes from making sloe gin, but I'd like to make more chutney than one batch of gin will allow, so I plan to soften the sloes by soaking in the chutney vinegar, instead of gin. We'll see if that works!

All the chutney making relied on our lovely preserving pan, and the enormous wok-burner (a triple hob) on the new cooker. An excellent inauguration: it worked really well at heating the big 5l batches.

Plumbing and Wiring

I took today off 'work', and got on with some bits of the kitchen. The sinks now drain into the drain (rather than into the cupboard), and the taps are connected to the water supply. Plumbing and wiring the water heater in was a little more involved. The heater's a 9.5kW beauty, and—therefore—requires a fairly beefy cable. This was a little tricky to manipulate into position, but is now sorted. There was also fun and games with plumbing; it's further than I thought from the taps to the water inlet, but I got there in the end. (The 'idiot proof' push-fit fittings also leaked, which was irritating: I have replaced them with compression fittings.)

Having shuffled the cooker out of the way, I also installed the extractor above it: this is a bit louder than I expected, unfortunately, although it's also rather effective. We'll see how much use it gets, given the former characteristic. The fridge is now back in place, as the electrician finished his work yesterday, and chilling.

Lastly, I started filling the gaps in the beams: two of these (they're solely decorative) had extra lengths added because the ceiling has got longer in their direction. I'll need to do a little more filling, and then they can get stained to the same dark finish as the existing lengths.

Tell a lie—lastly was actually oiling the worktop again.

Having squandered a lovely day inside, I then nipped out and cut a bucket of elderberries, which I've frozen. With a little luck, I can make some wine/chutney/jam over the weekend.

After a long day, it was a pleasure to cook on the new cooker, and even more fun to wash up: the new sinks are just the right size (as well as looking good), and it was something I've missed for the last 14 months; being able to turn the hot tap on, and get the sink filled with hot water. The heater seems to work just fine!