Jams and chutneys

There's something really cosy and homely about stocking up the cupboard with jars of preserves to see you through the winter.  You've always got a jar to give to a friend or donate to a charity coffee morning.

Last week I decided to make some spiced apple chutney. I found the recipe in the Sept/Oct issue of Landscape magazine. As with all the chutneys I have ever made, it is easy to cook, but takes hours to make.
I have found that I need to set aside a full day to make chutney. Preparing the ingredients can take ages, then all you do is throw them in the pan, bring to the boil and simmer--but it takes hours to get the point when it is ready. You need to go away and do something else while it is cooking.  Chutney is ready when all the vinegar has evaporated and when you draw a spoon across the surface of the chutney a channel is formed without any vinegar filling it.

If you are making chutney for Christmas it needs to be made about a month or two in advance to allow the flavours to develop. I've never made this recipe before and I did lick the spoon after I had filled up all the chutney jars-- it tasted pretty good.  So I'm wondering if I can really wait for a month before eating it.

I've also made apple and blackberry jam. Click here for recipe. You may notice now that I'm making things with apples. If you've read my last blog,  you'll know why.

Harvesting the apples

 We've had a bumper year for apples both on the allotment and in the garden.  In the garden we have an old Bramley apple tree. We've lived in our house for thirty-two years and the apple tree was well established when we moved in, so I don't know how old it is. It has good years and bad years. Last year was probably the worst year ever and we thought it might be because it was old. But it has bounced back. There are apples all over the garden fallen from the tree which will provide some food for the birds in the winter months. The good ones which we have picked from the tree are now stored in the shed.

On the allotment is an apple tree of an unknown variety, it was there when we took the plot on and we have pruned it and looked after it over the last three years. It has rewarded us with an abundance of apples this year. I think the variety is a cox's pippin, it tastes and looks much like it.

With all these apples around I needed a good way to store them. I haven't done well in the past with storing the Bramleys. So I got a number of boxes from the local supermarket. These are the sort which are used for displaying fruit or veg, shallow and made of good strong cardboard. I have wrapped each apple in newspaper and set them out in the boxes so they are not touching. The boxes stack up easily and fit neatly on the shed benches. I'm hoping this will work and the apples will keep well.

All that remains now is for us to eat all these apples. The Coxs aren't a problem, we are eating them an apple a day each. That should keep us healthy. Now the Bramleys need cooking and making up into puddings, jams etc. I have plans to make jams and chutneys.

Tatton Park, Roald Dahl and dream jars

A few  months ago  we visited RHS Harlow Carr gardens and came across the BFG  in the woods. He was moving to Tatton Park for the flower show it said on the information board. Well we didn't go to the flower show so we didn't see him again.  There was a trail for children in the woods and something about bottling dreams which intrigued me. At this point I have to say that I had never read The BFG and if you have then you will know more about it than I did at the time.

The BFG at Harlow Carr

Later on in July I had a message from my daughter who lives in the south of England (We live in the North).  They were taking their children into London to follow a dream jar trail ( all connected to Roald Dahl and the BFG). She informed me that one of the dream jars was to be found at Tatton Park. I wanted to know more, so my other daughter (up here in the north) and children decided that in the school summer holidays we would take ourselves off to Tatton Park to find this dream jar. I was quite excited, not only were we visiting a garden, which is something I love to do, but I was going to find out more about these dream things.

Tatton Park is a really big place, there is so much to see. It is set in 1,000 acres of parkland. There is a working farm with rare breed animals, the Mansion, The Old Hall, the Gardens, shops and places to eat. We couldn't see all of that in one day, so we just visited the gardens. There are 50 acres of garden divided up into different areas, so that took us quite some time to look around. In fact I don't think we managed to cover the whole of the gardens in the day.  One of the areas we did see was the Japanese garden--we weren't allowed into this but could view from the outside--it was a very peaceful  place.

Japanese garden

 We also saw the walled kitchen garden, the topiary, the rose garden. We went through the maze and for a brief moment thought we'd lost the children!

There have been lots of Roald Dahl events going on at Tatton Park  through the year to celebrate his centenary.  Around the gardens was a Roald Dahl Trail with lots of  things  relating to Roald Dahl's books. We didn't always know what they were but sometimes we could guess which book they were from.

We saw a giant chocolate bar and the 10 year old spotted an upside down house. He said he had only read one Roald Dahl book but he seemed to know a lot about the other books. The 12 year old said she didn't like Roald Dahl books. I found that hard to believe, I was getting more interested by the minute and wanted to read some of these books myself.

upside down house

We found the dream jar at the entrance to the gardens. Further on through the gardens, in the woods there was a scene from 'the Twits' with washing hanging on a line, and we came across an old pram in the woods--I'm not sure where the pram fits in to all this.

dream jar

But the best thing of all for me was the fernery. I love ferneries, and this one was especially good, with lots of green foliage, ferns of course and water dripping everywhere. The first thing we saw as we entered was a load of snozzcumbers.

snozzcumbers

At the time I didn't know what a snozzcumber was but it looked quite revolting. If you don't know what a snozzcumber is then read the BFG. Moving through the fernery we spotted lots of other things which were obviously  from Roald Dahl books. And finally there he was--the BFG, hiding in the greenery, almost as tall as the highest tree fern.

The BFG

And amongst the tall ferns high up was a tree with little dream jars hanging from it. I loved it, but what were these dream jars all about I wondered? I had yet to find out.

dream jar tree

We had great fun at Tatton Park,  the gardens are worth visiting anytime, but if you want to see any of the Roald Dahl events check out the website here http://www.tattonpark.org.uk/roald-dahl/events.aspx

The secret of the dream jars has been revealed because I bought myself a copy of The BFG in the shop before we left. If you want to know more, read the book or watch the film.

“Dreams,” he said, “Is very mysterious things. They is floating around in the air like little wispy-misty bubbles. And all the time they is searching for sleeping people.” (The BFG)

Through the garden gate--September

 September was a lovely month in the garden.  The rudbekias and sedums have been flowering for weeks and are still looking great. The sedums are so loved by the bees and butterflies. The Michaelmas daisies are flowering now and a good contrast to the lovely golden hakonechloa next to them.

 

One of the splashes of colour which is showing no signs of fading are the pelargoniums in the borders up the side path of the house. Some of them have been in the ground for two winters now, it must be very sheltered there. I would normally pull them up late autumn. I think they might be in there for another winter. I wonder how they will do this time.

There is a lot of tidying up to be done in the garden now as the summer flowers come to an end. I spent a couple of days weeding and tidying up the front garden. It had got very untidy, the hostas were completely slug eaten so I cut them right back. Under the windows at the front of the house the borders have got very out of control, so I have started to dig everything out. I want to start again with completely new borders but I'm not sure what to do with them so I have decided that once I have cleared the ground of all the unwanted plants I will leave it all unplanted over the winter while I think about it and work out a plan.

This month I have again joined Sarah at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' slot.