Michaelmas

One of these years I will find a goose to roast for Michaelmas...

It's also meant to be extremely unlucky to pick blackberries after Michaelmas, once the devil has interfered with them. As we've still got some very nice looking berries in the garden, we'll take our lives into our hands with a crumble, keeping our fingers well crossed.

Gleanings

It's been a while since I posted on here, mostly because we've just come back from a lovely 10 day holiday in Eskdale in the Lake District.

It's the time of year now for scouring hedgerows for all the berries and other things that are available for the next couple of weeks. There should still be plenty of blackberries (the smaller 'brambles' rather than the earlier cultivated ones) - we're struggling to keep up with the crop from our garden! I wonder if we might have missed the elderberries, which would be a real shame and it would mean no elderberry cordial for the winter. But we'll have a look around the places we found elderflowers early in the summer to see if we can get a couple of bags full.

Today we were making a concerted effort to find some sloes, small sour fruits of the blackthorn, which work a delicious magic when steeped in gin. We've already had repeat requests from people who had bottles of sloe gin from us for Christmas 07. So we were feeling the pressure. Most of the blackthorn we found on walks in the Lake District was all but bare of berries - we ended up bringing back just a handful or two. But a quick trawl on the internet turned up an area of former peat bog just north of Crewe that was drained and enclosed with hawthorn and blackthorn hedges (in the eighteenth century I guess). A short stroll turned up loads of lovely sloes - enough to start with anyway. We also got a bag of rose-hips to have a go at doing something with.

But the real surprise was finding lots of wild damsons - we were pretty sparing in what we picked but still ended up with over three pounds of the things (the bottom picture). This, according to a recipe we turned up (I'll post it when we get round to trying it) is easily enough to make a bottle's worth of damson gin. What's left over from this we'll probably try to pickle whole. We tried pickled damsons when visiting friends recently and liked them very much.

Now to find some elderberries somewhere..

Plum recipes

We were pushed to the limits with our plum harvest this year - we have jam, 3 different types of plum chutney & a freezer full of halved plums for future use (we like to have them for breakfast with thick Greek yogurt). And this is just from one quite small tree. It's probably one of the reasons why I am so late with this post!

It is now far too late for anything but the very last of the plums, but I have wanted to write up a couple of very successful jam recipes & our favourite plum cake recipe for a while, so while I have a moment, here they are, all ready for next year. Please excuse the imperial measurements - these 2 jam recipes are from an ancient cookery book (1954) called 'Cheerful Cookery' by Noel Chanter. My mum won it as a school prize in 1961 - not surprisingly for a cookery book of this vintage, the jam and chutney recipes are excellent.

Plum Jam I (for slightly under-ripe plums)
3lb slightly under-ripe plums
3lb sugar
1/2 pint water

Stone the plums by cutting them in half and pulling out the stone. Put them in a large pan, add the water and bring slowly to the boil. Crack a few of the stones and add the kernels to the fruit (this part is optional but adds a tasty hint of almond to the jam). Simmer for an hour until the fruit is well mashed, then add the sugar and boil for about 30 mins until the jam reaches its setting point. Pour into warm sterilized jars and you're done.


Plum Jam II (for ripe plums)
3lb ripe plums
3lb sugar
Stone the plums and then layer them in a large bowl with the sugar overnight. Crack some of the stones for the kernels & reserve until you are ready to make the jam. The next day put the plums, sugar and kernels into a large pan. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring and cook gently until it will sent when tested. Pour into warm sterilized jars.

This recipe for plum cake is taken from another old cook book belonging to my godmother this time - 'The Living Book of Cakes, Breads and Gateaux' (1979). I remember 'Living' being a very housewifey mag that my mum used to bring home from trips to the supermarket in the 1970s along with the equally cake-packed 'Family Circle'. Looking at the intro now, I gather that this is a 2nd collection & I confess I would love to get my hands on the 1st volume - 'Cakes, Biscuits and Bakes'. As usual the recipes are annotated by my godmother which is an added bonus for me. I use this book a lot - at least once a week - it's a great collection of recipes.

German Plum Cake
This cake reminds me very much of cakes we have eaten many times in Germany with its thick top layer of fruit, but the bottom layer is not quite like the dense sponge layer that I remember - it has a more sandy texture which contrasts well with the juicy plums. It's definitely a dessert cake & is good with coffee.

175g plain flour
1/2 level tsp baking powder
1/2 level tsp salt
grated rind of 1/2 a lemon
50g castor sugar
85g butter
1 egg, beaten
a little milk
2 level tsp ground almonds
1kg of plums halved & stoned
2-3 level tbsp castor sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Grease and base line a tin 20x25cm and at least 5cm deep. Sift the flour, baking poder and salt into a bowl. Add the lemon rind and sugar and then rub in the butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Mix to a fairly stiff dough with the egg. Gather the dough together and press evenly into the tin. Brush the dough with the milk and then sprinkle on the ground almonds. Cover the almonds closely with rows of halved plums, cut side up. Bake for about 30 mins, then sprinkle with sugar, cool slighly and serve. Cream (what else?) is an excellent accompaniment.

Now on to the blackberries!!