I had a morning out in the pouring rain the other day gathering crab apples for the crab apple and chilli jelly the boss is making. Gathering the fresh chillies was easy by comparison because I had kept one plant going in the greenhouse especially for this occasion and at least it was dry in there.
The apples themselves varied between being soft and very ripe and very hard like a bullet and there are six pounds in the bowl above waiting to be quartered, that'll be my job I suspect.
The boss says the hard apples provide the pectin to make the jelly set so who am I to argue. The rest of the crop of crab apples have been left on the tree for the birds and in fact the blackbirds and fieldfares are already filling their boots.
I'll report back on the finished product when it is safely in its jars, but after testing it of course.
Are those wild crab apples John? What a lovely colour they are. The ones round here look like a cross between cider and crab and are a bit bigger - you definitely have got me in the mood to get the preserving pan out though - making a batch of chutney this weekend with everything that needs to be used - chuck it all in I say! TTFN, Dickie
ReplyDeleteA friend who grows trees of all kinds got us the bare root sapling, it's a wild cutting grafted onto rootstock, quince rootstock I think. It cropped last year with about eight pounds but this year the crop was treble that. We've taken what we need and left the rest for the birds. That'll give 'em wind. Perch tomorrow now the lurgy is abating I just couldn't face fishing or shooting this week. As Sue said, you must be ill. Google and BT have sorted themselves out too. The sun is shining. What could possibly go wrong? John
ReplyDeleteThe colour is amazing John, like yellow tomatoes! Hope the fishing goes well, nothing can go wrong - your'e out in the fresh air, all part of the recovery process I say! Tight lines, Dickie
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