Progressive totals for month:
Weight of cherries picked:18kg (not including 4 or 5 kg eaten before weighing)
Weather conversations: (have run out of fingers and toes)
It will not surprise you, avid reader, that yesterday being a pleasant sunny day, we went and picked cherries. We had a picnic between bouts of picking, and I pruned the trees, which made picking the trees easier (the branches were on the ground) and will make picking cherries easier next year too.
Yesterday, from our gateway
When we got home I made Chillicherry Sauce:1Kg Cherries, washed
1/4 cup white vinegar
little splash of water
Boil until fruit is soft, remove pips (easier said than done)
Grind together:
5 dried birds eyes chillies
2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1 teaspoon Coriander seeds
Add to fruit, together with:
1 teaspoon Ginger Powder
1 cup sugar (more or less)
Boil until sticky and sort of sauce consistency (or about 104°C if you have a jam thermometer). This is my own recipe wot I made up all by myself and I am right chuffed wiv it.
It's easy picking cherries if the
branch is at ground level
branch is at ground level
We had it with chèvre at apéro time and it was pronounced a success. Our friend Chris (who is a proper chef and everything) said it did the job nicely. The chevre was bought by Susan at the market this morning, and was the strongly flavoured plugs from the cheese molds we first tried in May a couple of years ago. The chèvre maker farms at Champ d'Oeuf near Martizay and has a webiste here.Simon
4 comments:
That sounds good. Do you have to cook the fruit down with the pits (yes, and I say to-may-toe) for a reason, or could you pit the cherries prior to cooking them?
Walt - no idea - I guess you could. I didn't, bcause cutting cherries open to remove the stone is more boring than chasing the pits out once cooked. It's a close run thing though...
I must buy a cherry pitter, although I am not sure how good they are with the small cherries.
Sounds like fun, all this cherry picking - well, for the first day or two anyway. The chillicherry sauce is a great idea.
Is freezing not an option? I realize that space is always a problem (especially with the harvest you're going to have!) I find freezing easier and definitely cooler than canning or making jams. You can freeze fruit plain or with sugar. I don't add sugar, and then I have more options for winter use. I almost didn't freeze some lousy cantaloupes last year, but I'm glad I did since it was comparatively tasty when I thawed chunks of it in the winter.
Post a Comment