Thursday 28 August 2008

Busy time of year

My kitchen is busy the year round, but especially so at this time of year; I love the constant (hopefully) supply of crops from the hedgerow and garden that have to be dealt with - jamming, pickling, brewing, drying.......it's a very productive time of year, and gives great satisfaction to see jars lined up on the shelves for winter use. Today I'm continuing with the crab apple jelly - more boiling needed, then straining the juice, so it's out with the jelly bag. One thing I'm trying this year for the first time is salting; I've only done one jar of beans so far, but will do some research and try some other things I think. Even more satisfying to preserve without the use of energy.





There are herbs to be picked this week too, whilst it's dry, and I need to get out today and harvest the hops, almost at the peak of readiness. They will get tied up in an old net curtain and hung above the Raybrun for 3 or 4 days to dry, then stored for beer making over the winter.

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