Suburban Goodlife
Traditional Redcurrant Jelly
28th June
Here's my "no nonense" way to make it
1. Cook the washed fruit, stalks and all, and water for 10 mins crushing and stirring as you go and raising the temperature
2. Strain through muslin, very slowly. (2 hours plus) or squeeze it through in 20 mins and put up with a bit of cloudiness
3. Add in the sugar and boil for 10 mins
4. Add in the port and stir
5. Bottle
Ingredients to make one pound (2 jars)
1lb of redcrrants
1lb sugar
1 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon of Port
Traditional Elderflower Champagne
3rd June
Now is the perfect time to make the best summer drink in the world. All you need is 15 minutes and some basic ingredients and you have an amazing sparkling drink which bottles the early summer smells. The key to making really fantastic Traditional Elderflower Champagne is to pick large flowers that are in full bloom -and most importantly on a beautiful day when the aroma is at its best. Today was gorgeous and we stumbled upon some kids who were looking for something to do ;-) so what nicer task could there be than to mix up a batch ready for bottling tomorrow.
So easy a couple of kids could make it!
1. Place all the ingredients into a bucket/containter for 24 hours2. Strain and bottle
3. Leave for 2 weeks
4. Drink and Enjoy!
Ingredients to make 9 Litres (2 Gallons)
Peel and Juice of 2 large lemons
4 tablespoons of white vinegar
1 bag of sugar (1kg)
6 large elderflower heads
2 Gallons of cold tap water
This very lightly alcaholic drink is just great with mountains of ice cubes and a sprig of fresh mint on a hot day.
The flowers themselves contain the yeast (which is most present on a warm day), and the lemon and vinegar make the liquid slightly acidic which helps the early fermentation. Similarly the sugar helps the yeast to thrive
When you make this, I suggest you use fizzy drinks bottles and release the pressure every day or so for the first week or two. The pressure gets pretty strong due to the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation. Its also wise to keep the bottles upright and where no damage will be done if the tops blow. It sounds rather explosive, but really its just common sense and all part of the fun!! The build up of carbon dioxide in the bottles eventually kills the yeast so you shouldn't end up with much more than a (very) lightly alcoholic drink. I would say lemonade, but this is Champagne :-) not lemonade!! Anyway .. Enjoy.
Marking out the hedgerows
25th February
Although it may seem like there isn't much you can do at this time of the year, there is one easy job that you need to take care of.... Marking out the wild plums and Blackthorns in the hedges. This is a nice simple job at this time of the year, and will pay dividends later in the year when the hedgerows are full to bursting.
You are looking for small white flowers that will be easily visible as you drive around the countryside, and will let you know exactly where to come in September to collect your bounty. The plums will be much smaller than those in the supermarkets but are packed with flavour and make particularly good jam. As well as wild plums, you will also see plenty of Blackthorn -Sloe's to you and me. Come winter they will make for a great sloe gin sat by the fireside -for now you just need to remember where they are. The nice thing about both of these, are that the white flowers come nice and early making it so much easier to spot them now, then when they are buried in the rest of the hedging.
First snowfall!
8th February
Well winter is upon us, and even the bantams know better than to stray out in the cold. Instead they are firmly inside their cosy henhouse with barely a beak peaking out to see what is up. Not even a single hen print could be seen. <
Not much for us to do, except enjoy looking out at the view, and throwing a few more logs on the fire. Its days like this that I enjoy making up a batch of mulled wine and inviting round some friends to share it with. Our recent plant purchases will have to wait for warmer weather now.....