..... about my fabby foraging day!
Yesterday Sophie very kindly let me loose on her plum tree so I now have a small mountain of sweet and delicious plums to process. I'm planning on pickling most of them. Last year I pickled some Japonica Quince and blackberries, at the time I was somewhat disappointed and as a result they've languished, unloved, at the back of the pantry. I dusted them off the other day with the intention of chucking the fruit and re-using the jars but luckily I decided to taste some first. Giving the fruit time to mature has transformed them, it's hard to convey how lovely they are, the Quince have a rich, deep, complex taste, spicy and Christmassy. It's going to be hard convincing people that there's no alcohol in there! The blackberry vinegar is a revelation, I imagine a generous splosh would be nice added to slow cooked shin beef. So pickled plums for next year it is.
Inspired by Hugh Watson on Twitter we picked some elderberries this afternoon with the intention of making apple and elderberry pie at some point over the weekend and then swung by the pear tree we spotted the other day. We nibbled a few by the road, trying to decide if they were ripe or whether they needed a bit more time. We couldn't decide so picked what we thought was a small bowlful for further consideration at home. Highlight of the day was my stunt involving transforming grabby thing into a giant catapult and firing a pear halfway down the field while the kids watched open mouthed.
Back home the 'small bowlful' turned out to be more akin to a bathful so, ummm, pickled pears too I guess. But for the moment I'm putting all fruit out of my mind and concentrating on Warrington Wolves - Come on the Wire!
