It has been a fairly wet and miserable month with odd days or half days of sunshine thrown in. Growth is slow, except among the weeds of course and the slugs and snails are having a field-day.
Of course, picking asparagus should now hve finished - the ferns need to grow to provide the nutrition for the crowns for next years crop. Although I saw lots of asparagus beetles I have seen few of the larvae - yesterday I found three, I squashed them of course.
Strawberries are growing well but I do thry to not pick them in the wet. Their keeping abilities are not good anyway in the humid, heavy weather but, picking them when wet would make them so much worse.
I did see that many of my redcurrants are ready to pick but, I have them netted so I'm hoping they will sit for a few days.
Blackcurrants, tayberries, gooseberries, raspberries, loganberries and whitecurrants will also be ready to harvest in the next few days - time to get the jam jars and preserving equipment out ofthe cupboards.
Broad beans - autumn sown - are definitely ready for harvesting ans this year I am freezing my excess.
I planted my 1 remaining courgette in my polytunnel as I didn't have space to plant it outside so I have been picking those this week also.
Freezing Broad Beans
|
Broad Beans
|
Pod the beans first. If it is late in
the season you may wish to peel the waxy skins from the beans first
|
Blanch for 2 – 3 minutes
|
The beans can be packed in freezer bags
or lidded freezer containers.
|
Broad Bean and
Strawberry Salad
Early in the season it is not
necessary to remove the waxy skins of the broad beans but, as the season
progresses the skins become quite tough and while they are edible you might
prefer to remove the skins – you can do this before or after blanching the
beans.
Strawberries
– about the equivalent of a punnet – 400g [12oz – 1lb]
225g
[8oz] podded broad beans
1
lettuce – I like Cos as I like the crispness [if you are using little Gem you
might need 2] however, use whatever lettuce you are growing on your plot
Small
bunch chives – trimmed and cut into lengths 2cm or 1inch
For the Dressing
Juice
of 1 lemon
2
– 3 Tblsp. good quality olive oil or rapeseed oil
A
good handful each of mint leaves and parsley [ wash and finely chop]
Sea
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method
*
Hull the strawberries and cut off any
dirty or damaged pieces. Cut the strawberries into quarters or slices.
*
Blanch the broad beans – plunge into a
saucepan of boiling water to 2 minutes, Remove and dunk into cold water to cool
quickly.* Make the dressing – mix the ingredients in a small bowl, add seasoning to suit your taste [if you are not fond of the flavour of olive oil you might prefer to use rapeseed oil]
* Wash the lettuce and cut or break the leaves - arrange them in a bowl or on plates.
*Place the beans and strawberries onto the lettuce and sprinkle the chives over.
*Pour the dressing onto the salad and serve.
-
Very Simple Strawberry JamWhile you can add several different ingredients to strawberry jam, I am only using 2 –· Sugar
·
StrawberriesThere is not a lot of pectin in strawberries to help the jam to set so, if you like a well set jam you may wish to use a commercial pectin [follow the instructions on the bottle]. However, I do like my strawberry jam quite soft with lots of bits of strawberries in it.
You can use preserving sugar which does have pectin in it but, it is expensive so I just use granulated sugar* Don’t wash the fruit – this will add more water to it which you do not want. Hull the strawberries and cut off any damaged or very dirty pieces. Very large strawberries can be cut into small pieces.* Weigh the fruit – you will need the same weight of sugar – you can use less sugar but as sugar is the preservative in the jam it will not keep so well. The jam should be able to keep for at least a year but if the amount of sugar is reduced you will need to store it in the fridge.*Put the fruit into a large saucepan – preferable with sloping sides [a preserving pan is perfect as the shape and depth of the pan encourage the water to boil off quicker].* Over a very low heat, allow the fruit to cook gently until it is soft. - Add the sugar and continuing over a low heat stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.
-
Bring the jam to the boil and keep on a
rolling boil until setting point is reached.
To judge the setting point you can use a sugar thermometer or the ‘wrinkle method’[wrinkle method –when you think the jam is approaching setting point put a spoonful of the jam onto a plate and put in a cool place for several minutes. When it has cooled, push the jam gently with your finger. If it wrinkles up the jam has reached setting point].If you are not happy to do this and you intend to make lots of jam it is easiest to invest in a sugar thermometer – they are not very expensive.Setting point is 220ºF { I have had my sugar thermometer for a long time so, it is in Fahrenheit however, in case it is not marked on the thermometer is translates to 104.4º Celcius}.* Do keep an eye on the jam as the sugar can start to burn at this point and your batch of jam will be ruined.*The jam should be potted up immediately in clean, sterilised pots, covered and sealed.A Few Safety Points· The jam is very hot – way over water boiling temperature – do keep young children out of the way when you are making jam.
·
Don’t be tempted to stick your finger
into it or to lick the spoon while you are stirring it.· When you are potting up the pots should be placed on a surface which does not conduct heat – wood, plastic or fabric are good but, stone, metal, marble, glass are NOT.· Don’t hold the pots when you are pouring jam into them.· If you are using pots that you have collected or saved from previous years and other products, make sure they are well cleaned and undamaged. Check the lids to ensure there is no damage, dents or rust – sometimes it is best to buy new ones or use the cellophane covers with elastic bands you can buy for this purpose – they are cheap.· I usually heat my clean pots in a low oven until I need them and put the clean lids into a bowl of boiling water.
