Dawlish Warren: New Farm Shop and Blackberry Picking

 The blackberries were easy to pick this year...(and will be turned into many many crumbles!) there were so many, they were of good ripeness, colour and size and they weren't covered in cobwebs!  It is probably too late now - sorry.  Although they may still exist in other parts of the country or world, but the Devon ones were early.

 We stopped when we noticed a Farm Shop near Dawlish Warren.  We bought some pies for lunch and some Devon cheese (Sharpham) because we fancied it.

The guy in the shop is very friendly and his primary focus is  Mushrooms - they were the best I have ever seen....but I cannot eat them unfortunately.  Please try them - they looked incredible.

They are based near Dawlish Warren, East Devon, about half a mile from the sea.  They also lent me two books which was a really kind gesture.

Last of the Blackberries - A Simple Jamie Oliver Recipe for Blackberry Tart

I reckon the blackberries are almost over in Devon.  There were still plenty on the bushes in Lustleigh today, but plenty of them were turning to mush in our purple-stained fingers.  There were a shameful amount of unpicked mouldy ones too.   Why doesn't everyone go brambling?  Maybe the walkers and residents in Lustleigh have had their fill.

In folklore, it is deemed unlucky to pick blackberries after September 29th, otherwise the devil has spat on them, so I guess we made a lucky escape today.

I made this:

 It's from Jamie Oliver's Italy and its Italian name is Torta di More and the full recipe is on his website here.

I cheated and used a pre-made all butter pastry case from Sainsbury's.  I'm totally useless with 'neat and tidy' pastry, so these cases are a godsend and magically keep for ages in your larder without any preservatives. Must be huge quantities of salt and sugar in them, or just Sainsbury pixie dust.

Then basically, you just whisk together in one go:

500g mascarpone,
3-4 tablespoonfuls of caster sugar,
the inside seeds of a vanilla pod,
100ml cream (supposed to be single, I used double)
a couple of tbsp of vino santo, grappa or other sweet liqueur.

Place that creamy mixture in the pastry case, sprinkle on some blackberries and then dob a few droplets of melted blackberry jam onto the fruit to make them sweet and sparkly.



My son said that there was far too much cream and he picked off all the berries (not much of a success for him then) but the rest of the family tucked in.  Delicious, and seasonal (just).

By the way, if you're ever near Lustleigh, try the Primrose Tea Rooms, a wonderful friendly place run by a mother and daughter team where I had a slice of fresh, light lemon drizzle cake for 80p.

This blog post has been entered in the Simple and in Season Blogging Event: http://www.renbehan.com/2011/09/simple-and-in-season-september-blogging-event.html

Making Strawberry Jam is Easy with the River Cottage Preserves Book by Pam Corbin

We picked a couple of kilos of strawberries at Netherton on the banks of the River Teign in Devon.  Their soft fruit season has been early this year and due to financial pressures, they're closing their Pick Your Own at the end of the season, which could be within a fortnight -so hurry to get your strawberries, tayberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants.

It took four of us about half an hour to pick this lot - I think it was roughly 2kg strawbs and 1kg raspberries and it came to just under £20.

I used my regular River Cottage Preserves book by Pam Corbin (£8.99 from Amazon).  A simple to follow recipe, with a few tried and tested tips e.g. plenty of lemon juice added to the strawberry jam and use of jam sugar (with added pectin to help it set).

I was tired, it was sunny and I wasn't really in the mood for a long-winded jam making session but Pam insisted that fresh fruit are essential.  So I started at 9pm when it got a bit cooler in my sun-baked kitchen.  By 10:30pm I had finished a whole batch of strawberry jam - about 10 jars and a more modest 3 jars of raspberry jam.

Stage 1: just in the pan

Stage 2: bringing to the boil

Stage 3: almost on the boil, starting to break up

Stage 4: Scary hot sugar rolling boil that unexpectedly rises up the pan at an alarming rate - help!

This batch should see us through the year to go with our breakfast scones and toast. I thoroughly recommend 'Pam the Jam's' no-nonsense approach to preserving.  She got me hooked into it (even when over-tired, hot and bothered and not really in the mood.)

Brewing My Own: Elderflower Cordial....and Elderflower Champagne

There are probably only a couple of days left of elderflower picking.  Certainly here in South Devon, the creamy-white blooms are starting to fade and turn brown and a little musty smelling - upcountry folks might have better luck.

 My basket of blooms - far more than was needed:

I decided to make a batch of cordial, which really is one of the simplest recipes in the world.  I used the River Cottage Preserves cookbook recipe (a similar recipe has been reproduced here on Nipitinthebud's great blog) which just involves lots of sugar, lemon juice and elderflowers.  Leave the cordial to infuse overnight and the next day it was ready to strain and use.  

It’s a joy to drink this with sparkling water and plenty of ice on a summer’s afternoon, and even more fun spiked with vodka, a sprig of mint and a handful of raspberries during the evening.  The cordial was a doddle and here it is - four bottles for immediate drinking and a further one litre in the freezer.

 I’m a little more concerned about the Champagne....I’ve toyed with Pastymuncher’s ideas but decided to use Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe for this and there are MANY MANY worrying comments about Champagne explosions, glass being embedded in bookcases and C02 eruptions that have hit the ceiling.  Grazing Kate has been 'very brave' and made six litres of the stuff...Mix it all together, leave for about four days until it starts to ferment (very exciting – that happened today) - those white bloom areas that look like reflections are the signs either that it's working or that it's mouldy and it's all gone horribly wrong (I'm an optimist and bottled the stuff!):

 and then strain it into PLASTIC bottles.  Granted, the lovely swing top Grolsch style bottles look far more attractive than this (hmm, nice presentation in the Asda bottle)

But shards of exploded glass embedded in my furniture and skin? – Er, no way!  I’ve done a bit of research and plan to ‘burp’ the bottles every couple of days for a week or so (by gently loosening the screw cap and relieving the pressure) and then it should be ready to drink after a mere seven days.  Homemade brew – feels just a little bit naughty, but damn clever if it works.

Devon Book Review: A Taste of the Unexpected by Mark Diacono

Just a quick post to express how much pleasure I got from reading this wonderful book.  The experts on Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4 a few weeks ago were quick to dismiss people's desire to grow 'weird' vegetables - apparently white carrots are tasteless and some of the more extravagantly coloured vegetables often fail to thrive and are generally a waste of time.  So that's that, I thought, don't bother with all that fancy schmancy stuff in my veg patch.  Then...along comes this book by Mark Diacono.  He's one of Hugh's River Cottage experts, runs courses there and grows at Otter Farm near Honiton.

I unreservedly love this book because:

a) there aren't any pictures of the author posing artfully either with cleverly positioned 'mud' on knees or flour on cheek, or smiling winsomely at his prize veg with shabby chic decor in the background and old enamel mug

b) he actually took all the photos of the gardens and veg inside the book (repect!)

c) it also has recipes - some of which are a bit fancy, but some plain and easy

d) he really inspired me to experiment - hell, why not grow apricots, goji berries, szechuan pepper in our back gardens / window boxes

e) only one cute picture of child in a garden (I am really naffed off with cookery / lifestyle writers getting their kids involved in photoshoots)

f) loved his ethos of 'grow expensive/ unbuyable produce' rather than onions, potatoes, carrots type stuff

So, let's grow and eat day lilies - this was a fab bit of advice as I was sat outside next to my sprouting day lilies while I was reading this bit.  I reached over, snapped off a flower bud and it did indeed taste a bit like a French bean but with a slight chilli kick.  How naughty and lovely.  Eating flowers. Nasturtiums are budding so I shall be sprinkling them on my salads, deep frying  day lilies and planning how to fit an apricot into our full-the-brim garden.  And definitely some Egyptian Walking Onions (what a name!).  And possibly some Japanese wineberries just so I can make the delicious sounding Japanese Wineberry Trifle.

He's also got a really good blog.  I have a new foodie hero and, what's more, he's a Devon lad!

And this is our vege patch at the moment- not a gojiberry in sight.

And I had to include a picture of our Angelica (yes that green twiggy crystalline stuff that no-one has put on a cupcake even ironically since the 70s) which has turned into a beanstalk - it was 6ft tall until it keeled over in the wind.

Foraging for Free Food - The Joys of the Hedgerow

Whilst walking on part of the South West Coastal Path last week we came along a stretch near Dawlish that had a mass of hedgerow berries.  After the walk I consulted the fantastic River Cottage 'Preserves' book and decided to take the family foraging for some free food one warm Sunday afternoon.

For hedgerow jelly, you need a combination of blackberries, crab apples (or cooking apples), haws (from hawthorn), elderberries, rosehips (from wild roses),

sloes (look like hard blueberries with a bit of a bloom on them) and bullaces (a kind of wild plum.) It was a very social occasion as every passer by wanted to know what we were collecting and what we were going to use them for.  Several people turned out to be a mine of information about making sloe gin - seems to interest folks more than the hedgerow jelly....

On a quarter mile stretch of path, we found all that we needed (no bullaces - shame) and filled our pots. The children were fine about the blackberries and apples, but were seriously worried about the potentially poisonous rosehips, haws and sloes.  

I have to say that my natural inclination is that they are possibly inedible unless cooked to a high temperature - but people have been making rosehip cordial, sloe gin and other autumnal treats for years - I think it's part of that worrying tendency that we have in modern days to assume that plasticised shrink-wrapped supermarket food is 'good' for us, whereas there might be something wrong with the real thing that's growing on trees and bushes right under our noses.

Back at home I put 225g sloe berries in the freezer - to be turned into sloe gin or vodka at a later stage - apparently the berries work much more effectively after the first frost - or to improvise, you can just bung them in the freezer for as long as you want before use.

So onto the serious job of Hedgerow Jelly.  I used:
180g sloe,
75g elderberries,
160g rosehips,
90g haw berries
500g blackberries
1kg cooking apples.

I put them in a pan with a 1.2 litres of water and simmered them until tender.

We then rigged up a rather dodgy looking muslin cloth on upturned stool to allow the cooked fruit to drip through.  The following day, I measured the deep purple liquid and added 450g granulated sugar per 600ml liquid and boil it up together until it reaches setting point.....

So far so good...only the blinking jelly didn't set.  So, I emptied it all back in to the pan, washed the jam jars again, sterilised them again  and boiled it all again in a big pan until my thermometer read a definite 105 degrees - allegedly the 'setting point' for jams and jellies.  Doing this whole procedure once is enjoyable - the second time I was cursing.

The jelly still hasn't set; however the thick gloopy liquid is delicious, similar to blackberry and apple but with a more intense berry-ish flavour.  It spreads wonderfully on toast and is really good on vanilla ice cream.

I would love to know if anyone knows about the toxic qualities of haws, sloes and hips and also any advice on how to get jellies to set....

This blog post has been entered in the Simple and in Season Blogging Event: http://www.renbehan.com/2011/09/simple-and-in-season-september-blogging-event.html