FRUITFUL TIMES

The hot weather has had a marked effect on the garden - a turn-round from the miserable damp spring when pumpkins and tomatoes  would not get established and our cherries were literally a wash out. The pumpkins in particular were battered beyond belief and seedlings had to be replaced more than once in an effort to get sufficient plants to thrive. But thrive they have and we now have the beginnings of an extraordinary crop including a couple of Atlantic Giants which look like being the biggest Richard has ever grown; bulked up initially by all of the rain and now watered by hand daily using water from the well. More about these over the next few weeks, because at the moment the pressure is on with the soft fruit.

The red currants are now finished; picked and turned into jelly, with some frozen in a mixed berry compot which will be eaten in winter. The same with blackcurrants although I have also used some to make a black currant vinegar. Normally I make a cherry vinegar, but this year, see above, we had no cherries to speak of. Fruit vinegars are really easy to make and they contribute to a lovely and quick salad dressing. Just mix with a mild olive oil, salt and pepper. I pour/sprinkle the individual ingredients directly onto a mixture of young salad leaves and then mix everything up using my hands. Cherry is my favourite, but I am currently experimenting with black currant, white currant and raspberry.

FRUIT VINEGAR
Fruit - try cherries, currants, raspberries or rose hips
White granulated sugar
White wine vinegar

Take the clean, unblemished fruit and put into a glass or ceramic bowl. Bruise it slightly with a potato masher or fork.
For every 500 Grams of fruit add half a litre of white wine vinegar.
Cover with a tea towel and leave for 3 - 5 days, stirring each day

Strain the mixture through a fine nylon sieve or a cloth and discard the fruit.
Measure the liquid and put it into a pan. For every 500ml of liquid add 250gms of white sugar
Boil for 10 minutes and then pour into a clean, hot, sterilised bottle and seal.

I find it lasts all year.

I also made some blackberry jam. We have moved on from collecting wild brambles to growing a selection of cultivated thornless blackberries. They love our clay soil - as do the wild blackberries, or 'rance' as they are known here. This year the prolonged wet spring and hot summer has resulted in a bumper crop. Use a raspberry jam recipe - equal weight of fruit and white sugar - and add the juice of a lemon for every kilo of fruit because they are lacking in pectin. The resulting jam has a lot of pips in it, but it set nicely and is packed with flavour.