Free Food is Fantastic

This is the picture of a the park where I have played and played and played ever since I was a very small child...

It is just down the path from my grandparent's house...

 Notice anything?

That's right a very established crab apple tree. One of two on the park. You may notice that there is a pool of fermenting apples already littering the floor. Why should so much FOOD go to waste? People walk past these FREE APPLES every day. Surely there is no need to waste ALL of them....

So after picking half  of a plastic carrier bag full of these crab apples, about 2kg, this is what the kitchen sink looked like...

I wanted to making something nice and tasty from these apples. Crab apples are known for being sour and pretty unapealing when raw. But when cooked and with the addition of a little sugar, the juice is lovely. But is wasn't juice I was making today (well not primarily). I was going to take my first plunge in to the world of jelly making....

With a very nice looking, clear, perfectly set and most importantly delicious jelly, I was very pleased!

I've made endless amounts of jam before but I've never endeavoured to commit to a jelly. I think it's the fact that you have to strain it over night, do this and do that. Oh well. I looked at buying a jelly strainer and could not believe how expensive they were for such a simple and flimsy object, but with a little bit of searching and imagination I made my own. I got an old, clean bathroom towel and using some elastic bands attached it to a microwave stand. It worked a treat, I just wish I took a picture to show you how it worked.I put all of the boiled pulp in to the towel stand to drain the juice from, then I left it for 8 hours to drain. It said in the recipe to leave it over night, but I started it off early morning so made the jelly in the early evening.

Once you had the juice, it was a very similar method to jam making which I am familiar with.

The jelly is very sweet so I would proably use less sugar next time, but it is still very tasty.

Making the most of free food which is available in public places, the side of a road or anywhere else for that matter is a brilliant thing to do. Not only are you pleased with the fact that you are eating delicious, homemade food, but you are also happy it cost you no more than a bag of sugar.

Have a good day!

Martin

P.S I will definately be making jelly again, such fun and highly reccomended. Off to bake some more bread now!!

Hedgerow Heaven

Well. My grandma and grandad have lived in their current home for almost twenty years, and yesterday I saw something for the first time that I had previously failed to notice.

Across the road, is a hedgerow with a mixture of different bushes, and in the middle were...

Raspberries!

What a delightful find. I am used to helping myself to plentiful blackberries and elderflowers but I have never come across Raspberries like this before. I am always keen to make the most of free food wherever I can.

Why not?

We are going to tuck in to these ones tonight, we also had one off our measly raspberry bushes/canes.

Talking of elderflowers I picked over 20 heads, to make some elderflower cordial. It's quite late in to the elderflower season, in fact I struggled to find 20 good quality, healthy heads. But I did. I've made elderflower cordial before and it was absolutely delicious. I read on the River Cottage forum that the best way to store it is in plastic water bottles (we have plenty of these lying around) and then you should keep 1 in the fridge for current use, and then pop the rest in the freezer until they are required, then you don't have any odd tasting stuff in a couple of weeks. We bought some cordial at Gardener's World/ The Good Food Show, if it tastes anything like it then I will be very, very pleased.

I'll update you with how it went as soon as possible. I know I still haven't posted about the candles we made, but be sure to find it here in the next couple of days.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Martin

Jammy

I love making Jam!!

We made some delicious Blackberry Jam with some Blackberries that were reduced in our local farm shop!

Normal blogging will resume tomorrow...

Exams are over now!

Martin

Self Sufficient Drinking (Non-alcoholic)

Well.

It's all very good growing fruit and vegetables and raising livestock. However I think that it is very easy to plan what you are going to eat and subsequently forget that we need to drink aswell.

Making homemade cider, wine and beer is well documented in self-sufficiency guides and bibles, but what about those things that we drink the majority of the time. Tea and Coffee. I can't see there being a successful UK Coffee producer just yet so I can't really comment on how you could really grow/make your own coffee. But..
I have just discovered that you make your own Tea!!

I bought some 'fill your own' teabags off the internet and today experimented with the first flavour.

I obviously don't have any home grown tea leaves but... I do have home grown... Nettles.

Apparently Nettles are full of anti-oxidants and this and that sp they are actually beneficial for your health. But the main advantage is that you are benefitting from pesky weeds and making your own self-sufficient breakfast drink.

I was really unsure what it would taste like, but if you like green tea then you will like this. I thought it was ok, but Amy particulary enjoyed it..

Here are some step by step pictures of the whole process...

First of all you need to pick some young nettles. Leave the leaves attatched to the stalks..
The nettles need to be dried out before you can put them in your teabags. You can leave them on the windowsil for 4 or 5 days to let them air dry naturally but if you want it done instantly then pre-heat the oven to 40-50 degrees celcius. Then put the nettles on a baking tray and leave in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Here is what the dried nettles looked like..

At this point it is easy to strip the leaves from the stalks.. The stalks are not good for the tea..

I then gaven them a bash with the pestle and mortar..

When you have the powdery nettles get a heaped teaspoon and put it in the teabag..

Then the rest of the process is the same as making a normal cuppa.

Here is the finished article...

We are going to be trying lots of different flavours in the coming days and weeks. Including fruity ones, herby ones etc. I will let you know what works and what doesn't.

Ratings for Nettle tea...

Me 4/10

Amy 7/10

Have a great day!!!!

Martin

Afternoon Delight

Wow, what a marvelously, sunny Tuesday afternoon!

What better to hydrate yourself than some home made lemonade?

Ingredients
6 x Unwaxed lemons
240g Sugar
1 litre cold Water

Method
Add the cold water to the pan and turn on the hob.
Meanwhile, take one lemon and grate the zest. Keep the zest to one side for later. Chop the lemon in chunks and add to the water. Take the remaining lemons and slice them in a variety of ways to get different sized chunks of lemon. Add all the chunks to the water and leave the lemons and water to simmer for 10 minutes. Once the lemonade comes to the boil allow to boil for approximately one minuted before removing from the hob. The lemonade needs to be put in to a jug for serving. Pour the lemonade through a sieve bit by bit. Remember you will have to squeeze the remaining juice out of the lemons. Use a wooden spoon to squeeze those final droplets out. The contents left in the sieve should be pulp like and can then be added to the compost heap. When the lemonade is all in the jug, allow to cool in the fridge for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes remove the lemonade and add the grated zest from earlier. Mix well and then serve cold. To serve fill the glass half way with the lemonade and top up the glass with cold still water.

This is my own improvised recipe and it works a treat every time. You can of course add more or less sugar to your own taste. Also, remember it is important to use unwaxed lemons. Most lemons in large supermarkets these days are in fact waxed and the last thing you want is wax in your mouth when you are trying to enjoy a refreshing beverage on a warm day.

Enjoy the sunshine, we are going to be planting some tomato seeds tomorrow.

Martin