A couple of weeks ago one of the branches of an apple tree in Orchard Street allotments fractured and Sandra one of the allotment holders very kindly asked if we would like some of the apples as they were going to have to cut off the branch before it ripped the tree more severely. As we have a very long ladder Chris offered to carry it round and help out if needed. He came back with a box of apples which were rather under ripe but in excellent condition, and at the same time Imogen gave us a large bag of windfalls from the tree in her garden. I love these kinds of gifts and set to, to use them up.
As we were at the end of the school summer holiday period and we were having lots of family visits or visiting them the windfalls went into delicious apple pies for puddings here or as contributions to family meals away. Another family favourite is chopped up apples with sultanas and crystallised ginger in a spicy apple fruit cake, if you haven’t tried it you’ve missed a treat. Don’t forget that the apples can be quite wet so not too sloppy a cake mixture. I usually soften the apples a little in the microwave first, and use a basic plain cake recipe i.e 1lb self raising flour, 8oz margarine, 6oz dark brown sugar (but that’s a matter of taste, white or brown, or a bit more if you like things sweeter) and 3 large eggs with approx. ¼pint milk, baked in an 8½” cake tin.
With the picked apples I made a big batch of apple chutney, mostly because our older son likes this one above all others and then some jars of blackberry and apple jelly. We have still got a few of the larger apples left. I’m not sure if they will last well because of their early picking, but our quinces should be ready in a couple of weeks and I’ve found a lovely recipe for Paradise Jelly which I’d like to try this year.
Our favourite Apple Chutney Recipe
5lbs apples,peeled, cored, chopped 1 pint vinegar
1lb brown sugar 1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger 3-4 dried chillies
8oz chopped, stoned dates
8oz chopped onions
8oz sultanas
Bring the vinegar to the boil with the sugar, salt and spices. The chillies are up to you, if you leave them whole you can fish them out at the end. Add the rest of the ingredients and boil until thick. Put into hot jars while the chutney is still very hot and use vinegar proof lids.
Using these apples this year the chutney was very thick before it had properly cooked so I had to add some water and a little more vinegar. Some of the apples being quite small and all them under ripe I think they are not so juicy. The taste is still excellent, even though it has had no chance to mature yet.
Apple and Blackberry Jelly.
The quantities of fruit for this preserve can be pretty elastic.
I had picked 5lbs of blackberries, and used 3lbs of green cooking apples. If you want to use a larger proportion of blackberries you might want to add some lemon juice to aid the setting.
First of all wash and cut up your apples, no need to peel or core, just make sure you remove any blemishes and bruised bits, put the fruit into a large pan with enough water to cover it and cook until the apple is beginning to soften, add the blackberries and cook until it is all soft and mushy, squash with a potato masher or wooden spoon if needed, but don’t let it catch on the bottom of the pan, there should be enough liquid in the blackberries, but add more water if the liquid is not still covering the fruit. I didn’t bother with jelly bags this time, I just ladled the fruit into sieves over deep large bowls and let it drip through, turning it with spatulas once or twice. This will take several hours, cover the sieves with clingfilm if there are wasps about.
( I have a translucent but slightly cloudy jelly, but for the first time I questioned why I go to such lengths to achieve such a perfect finish when it will taste just the same. I’m getting much more canny in my old age.)
Measure the extracted juice and put into a large clean pan. You can divide up the liquid if you have too much for your pan. For each 1 pint juice add 1lb of sugar. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring now and again, until the sugar has dissolved and then a full rolling boil until you reach setting point, test it after 15 minutes, it should be about there, if not give it another few minutes and test it again. A teaspoonful on a cold plate left in the fridge for a few minutes should wrinkle when you push it with your finger, and also when you lift up a wooden spoonful of jelly from the preserving pan and pour it back slowly into the pan it should form drops on the edge of the spoon and a leave a coating on the back of the spoon that you can leave a trail across with your finger.
Pour into clean, hot jars and seal with lids or cellophane jam pot covers
Although I keep a large handwritten notebook for preserving recipes that I’ve used time and time again I cannot recommend too highly the Basic Basics Jams, Preserves and Chutneys Handbook by Marguerite Patten. So many recipes and easy to understand methods.
In one of my many folders of clipped out recipes I have one for Paradise Jelly, the cutting says that this is ‘a beautiful jelly, very good with turkey, chicken and pork, and was found in the Old Yankee Cookbook’. We have a good crop of quinces this year, if rather smaller fruit than other years, but I am going to give this a go. I will strain this one carefully, with a name like this how could I not!
Paradise Jelly
4 large quinces
1.5kg (3lb 5oz) cooking apples
750g (1lb 10oz) cranberries
Approx. 2 kg (4lbs 8oz) granulated sugar.
Wash the apples and quinces (get rid of the fluff on the quinces) and chop them into chunks (no need to peel or core). Put them into a large pan, cover with water, turn down the heat and cook until soft, about an hour, adding the cranberries after half an hour. Suspend in a jelly bag overnight. To each 500ml of juice add 500g sugar (1lb to a pint) Bring slowly to the boil to allow sugar to dissolve, boil until setting point is reached. I’m really looking forward to getting round to trying this one.
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| Beautiful Squash from the allotment |
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