Along side 2 red sweet peppers, there are lots of purple rainbow chills, some frauzauber and another chilli in there. Have been meaning to have another go at the nigella chilli jam. So this is just a different set of hot chillies. Has a slightly different colour, and a different kick too.
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
There are brambles to the side of Project Othello that have been chopped back a bit. There are not many folks on the site who pick them, but today I jointed another plot person to pick some. The plan was to make Aunty Lorraine’s blackberry jam:
So we found about a 1lb of blackberries . Braving the brambles and the thorns.
And the wrestled with the recipe. I don’t have a jam thermometer, so had to the saucer test where it actually set immediately.
As lovely as it is, some of it has set like concrete. Will have to try again!
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
I take no responsibility for this. Mama H harvested about four round beetroot. Sick of the sight of them in her kitchen; she has peeled and sliced them. Then placed them into a jam jar with pickling vinegar. No cooking, no nothing. Then told me not to eat them for a bit.
And now she has red fingers.
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
Bit of a tomato humdinging special for you all today. Thought it might be useful to take some photographic evidence. I like taking photographic evidence, and it makes you all pay some welcome, loving attention.
I have never grown so many tomatoes, or had this level of success with triffid like vines and bush habits. These are, with the exception of the Ukrainian Purple; the tiddler tomatos who had tantrums from the classroom. The weather has helped, and we have a sprawling mass of foliage and fruit. A feat of engineering is required to truss up….the trusses.
It would be nice to actually get some ripened, red and yellow fruits. So to facilitate that, I have been trimming off the excess foliage. This should help the air pass through, and stop the leaves getting sweaty and horrible; as well as prevent any of the fruits being shaded. There are some large fruits, and also some diddly ones. A testament, to the different varieties that were sown. It is very hard to believe, that these are the tiny tiddlers that were started off in the classroom. They aren’t particularly pretty, either! You would never associate the fruits cropping here, with the smooth, shiny fruits that you would find in the supermarket. I think there are some yellow and black ones in there. Again, you wouldn’t see these very often in the supermarket. Will be intrigued to see the yellow ones and the black ones. The black ones are cherry tomatoes, I think.
Some silent movies for you, to peruse at your leisure. I do hope that they are not like watching paint dry. You might have to spot the tomato, and look very carefully.
A bit wonky, yes. How many of you tilted your head to the left to watch it? 😉
The colour is a bit off. The green is starting to change, actually. Going from green to yellow.
The plum shaped ones-the wonky ones-are ukranian purple. That was an adopted one. There is a non-wonky ones in there too.
I couldn’t tell you, what is which variety. One day I will label. I did actually find that one of the beasts is still in a paper pot. This has in turn rooted out of the paper pot and into the dirt of the raised beds. Had to dig it in a bit without pulling it out.
Shall see what happens
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
Cucumber sandwiches, anyone?
Tastes, well like a cucumber. Cool, refreshing and neutral! Didn’t get a lemony zing. Perhaps next time!
Yours in anticipation,
horticultural hobbit
Having collected a handful of purple rainbow chillies, I wanted to do something with them. Whilst a single solitary one, made it into a courgette chutney ( http://www.rivercottage.net/users/Pam%20the%20Jam/blog/1281015134-courgette-aid-and-jam-fest/ ). I wanted to make further use of the rest. The chillies are small, berry like. And quite full of seeds. There are additional chillies in the wendy. I have been impatient, and harvested a few non green Nigels, as well as some green frauzauber, These are a lovely lime colour. I have yet to ascertain, whether this is a sweet or a spicy chilli. it went in regardless.
The recipe that I used is as follows : http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chilli-jam-2692
There was some nervousness about this recipe. In particular, with the quantities. I didn’t want make too much of it, and how would I know if it had boiled properly to then set. The home grown chillies, were padded out with two large red chillies, and one and a half sweet red peppers. I did panic abit, with the boiling, and the mixture was boiling for 15, rather than 10 minutes. Wobbled beautifully, whilst cooling. There was the flecking floating too, of the chopped up chillies. Definitely in the wobble and the flecking.
The verdict. It tastes lovely! Consistency wasn’t bad. Depending on how much you have, it either wobbles like jelly, or splodges like jam. The flavour is a lot like a sweet chilli sauce, just with a different texture. Goes lovely with the dipping crisps, we know that for a fact. It is also wonderfully more-ish.
Might try it again 🙂
Yours in anticipation
Horticultural Hobbit
Is it a plane, is it a bird, no it’s a funny shaped courgette!
To most people, a courgette is a courgette. A nondescript vegetable, shiny, straight and available from your local supermarket. Alas, they have clearly never grown their own veg. I must admit, that I too started off with a straight, relatively typical courgette. The courgette Astia, simple, straight forward and green. Then, I moved onto yellow ones, rounds ones, stripy ones, as you are aware of. Only recently, was I aware of another creature. Yellow Scallop and patty pan. You can argue that these are the one and the same. They may well be, I’m covering my bases here, with synonyms and semantics.
There have been daily explorations of the Esther Bucklee bed. Trying to find down these curiously shaped creatures. These are housed, between the Incredible Sweetcorn, all eight plants of them. I have three of these, I think, and a sweet dumpling, in the confines of a raised bed. This bed is one metre squared, and foray into two out of three sisters. The bed is heaving, you’d think I was growing triffids. This is exactly, what it looks like. A mass of green leaves, the size of dinner plates. Vines making an escaping, with eight long, willow corn plants, standing above a parapet. When the wind blows, the bed appears to be dancing and shaking it’s thing.
As you can see, the courgette is tiny. I almost missed it, but espied the small alien saucer like shape; and had to inspect it further. Not quite sure what I will do with them. As it stands, there are two courgettes in the kitchen. Despite having chutneyed two yesterday.
In other news, have harvested some curly kale and nero di toscano for dinner.
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
I am yet to be convinced about the b*ng for buck, when it comes to shallots. I must have sunk dozens over both the autumn period for over wintering, and then quite a few in the spring. This is my third, fourth year of growing them; and I am erring towards the not sure, should I really bother?
The tray of shallots has been sat in the Wendy house since they were lifted and drying therefore for a while. Waiting, as I tried to work out what to do with them. Did a bit of research as to how they could be preserved and pickled. Traditionalists would have brined the shallots first, so as to retain the crunchiness. That’s fine, I just didn’t, in this case. I was wary, that whilst I had two jars. There wouldn’t be enough shallots to fill them both. The jars were sterilised-kept damp and then stuck into the microwave for a minute or so-and then shallots put into one of them. On the outside, shallots are not particularly attractive. Look like diminutive, wrinkly, tan coloured onions. Only when you remove the peel, do you get this fleshy pink creature beneath. I sat there for a good half a hour-tears streaming, no one had informed me of their eye watering nature-before Mama H took pity on me and sat down next to me. Decided that she could help, and peeled the baby onions.
Onions. That’s another thing. I have never known such a small sized harvest. Again, I despair. Hundreds and hundreds were planted. In the gallery, they do seem to be the same sized as shop bought pickled onions. These were put into both of the jars. The jars were still not looking full.
Next came the garlic. A bit of a last minute idea. I rather like pickled garlic, one of those things you get in a certain Portuguese restaurant with olives, so why not have a go. Raided the four tier blowaway, where the garlic has been drying. Retrieved about five large fleshy white bulbs. Again, Mama H took the lead, and peeled them as I was going far too slow for her liking. The garlic will most likely take some time to become pickled. The combination of these was probably not a good idea. Alas, we shall see what happens.
The next thing that may well be pickled will be the jalapenos and chillies that are in the Wendy. But that is a another story; the things have to grow first!
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
Mama H cradling a very wonky striato Di Napoli courgette and a bush baby marrow. Only my mother would cradle it like a newborn. Have romped on over the last few days.
Bit of weigh in. 3lbs and 7 ounces. A very Bonny, bouncing, Bostin’ baby.
Ma plans to curry it, I’ll have you know.
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
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