It seems that everything has come ready all at once.
I have plenty of apples and I've been given more by friends who have an overabundance this year. It has been a great season for apples.
I've been given lots of black boy peaches.
I got fed up with the birds eating my not quite ripe grapes and did a big pick over the weekend.
I'm picking a kg of field mushrooms every couple of days.
The blackberries are still going strong, a month after they've usually finished.
The elderberries have just finished.
This has led to several very busy weeks, bottling, brewing, drying and baking. Luckily, I gave up my job recently and now have time to do this.
The apples have become several Apple and Walnut Crumbles in the freezer and lots of dried apple slices. The peels and cores have become Apple Jelly.
The black boy peaches became a fruit pie and a couple of bags of quartered peaches in the freezer.
The grapes are currently sitting in two brew barrel fermenters as 50 litres of Black Grape Wine.
The freezer is again well stocked with sliced and sauteed Field Mushrooms.
The elderberries are currently 14 litres of Elderberry Wine fermenting madly away.
Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Apple Jelly
I used to make great fruit jellies. They had the right texture, they spread well and tasted wonderful.
Somewhere over the last few years, I lost that. My jellies were either still runny, but in a hard toffee like way or they crystallised into a solid, crunchy mass. I couldn't figure out where I'd lost my jelly making mojo.
I made some a couple of weeks ago. It was as I was boiling the jelly with sugar that I realised where I'd been going wrong. I wasn't boiling it hard enough. After a few overflows where I'd ended up having to scrub burnt sugar from under the elements, I'd become afraid of having my jelly boil over. At the same time, I realised that the pot I was currently using was too small and it was going to boil over. I spent about 20 mins carefully snatching the pot up off the element as it was about to boil over, letting it settle back down and then doing it all again. This got to be every 30 seconds I was having to lift it, but I did finally manage a perfect jelly again. And I did have to scrub burnt sugar from under the element.
The thing that has left me a bit confused is I knew this. I know the secret to a good jelly is to boil it hard and fast. For some reason, I'd forgotten this and I still don't understand how or why.
Anyway, with the last lot of apples, I'm making some more.
Apple peels and cores.
Sugar
Put the peels and cores into a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer until it's all very soft. Strain through a jelly bag overnight, do not squeeze.
Measure liquid and return to a large heavy based pan. Bring to the boil and add sugar at a rate of 1 cup of sugar to each cup of strained juice. Stir until dissolved and boil hard for at least 10 mins. Test as for jam. Pour into hot sterilised jars and put lids on.
With my last batch, I found that the pot for boiling the jelly needs to be at least four times the volume of the juice and sugar, because it will boil up that high.
Somewhere over the last few years, I lost that. My jellies were either still runny, but in a hard toffee like way or they crystallised into a solid, crunchy mass. I couldn't figure out where I'd lost my jelly making mojo.
I made some a couple of weeks ago. It was as I was boiling the jelly with sugar that I realised where I'd been going wrong. I wasn't boiling it hard enough. After a few overflows where I'd ended up having to scrub burnt sugar from under the elements, I'd become afraid of having my jelly boil over. At the same time, I realised that the pot I was currently using was too small and it was going to boil over. I spent about 20 mins carefully snatching the pot up off the element as it was about to boil over, letting it settle back down and then doing it all again. This got to be every 30 seconds I was having to lift it, but I did finally manage a perfect jelly again. And I did have to scrub burnt sugar from under the element.
The thing that has left me a bit confused is I knew this. I know the secret to a good jelly is to boil it hard and fast. For some reason, I'd forgotten this and I still don't understand how or why.
Anyway, with the last lot of apples, I'm making some more.
Apple Jelly
Apple peels and cores.
Sugar
Put the peels and cores into a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer until it's all very soft. Strain through a jelly bag overnight, do not squeeze.
Measure liquid and return to a large heavy based pan. Bring to the boil and add sugar at a rate of 1 cup of sugar to each cup of strained juice. Stir until dissolved and boil hard for at least 10 mins. Test as for jam. Pour into hot sterilised jars and put lids on.
With my last batch, I found that the pot for boiling the jelly needs to be at least four times the volume of the juice and sugar, because it will boil up that high.
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| Jelly just starting to boil |
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| Jelly about to boil over |
 |
| Finished jellies |
Apple and Walnut Crumble
A few years ago I was given a great gluten-free cookbook. Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts. I'd flicked through it a few times, but hadn't really used any of the recipes. This was mostly because I hadn't been able to source the Brown Rice Flour that is a staple of most of the recipes.
I recently found brown rice flour and made up the flour mix. I tried a few recipes from the book, particularly the Rustic Apple Tart. It was delicious. There was a spice mix that went into the apples that made them better than just diced apples.
It didn't use a lot of apples though and I had lots of apples to get through this time. Several bags of apples that had been given to me by friends who'd had bumper crops this year and had already filled their own pantries and freezers.
I have ice-cream containers filled with stewed apples that we're just not using. I made too much apple sauce to go with the pork we had, so there's that in the freezer already.
I decided to make apple crumbles. I could bump up the volume of apples to suit the size of the dish. I also looked at the amount of walnuts I've been given and chose to add them into my apples as well. Last week I watched a Rick Stein show that included a woman somewhere in France making her apple pies, she added Armagnac to her apples which made us sit up and think that would be delicious.
I didn't have any Armagnac, I've run out of Cognac and Brandy (hubby's 50th birthday party was just over a week ago). I tried to think what else would work with apples and remembered an apple and bourbon punch I had at a wedding.
I made two crumbles. We tried the first one last night and declared it successful. The other is in the freezer.
I didn't really bother too much with measurements, below are my best guesses.
Filling:
10 cups diced apples
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1 tbsp Nutmeg
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Bourbon
5 tbsp lemon juice
Mix all together and place in dish.
Crumble topping:
2 cups hazelnut meal
1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/6 cup tapioca flour
1 cup raw sugar
1 tsp xanthan gum
2/3 cup butter, cold and diced
Mix dry ingredients and rub in butter. Spread on top of apple mix and pat down.
Bake for 45 mins at 180 degrees Celsius.
I recently found brown rice flour and made up the flour mix. I tried a few recipes from the book, particularly the Rustic Apple Tart. It was delicious. There was a spice mix that went into the apples that made them better than just diced apples.
It didn't use a lot of apples though and I had lots of apples to get through this time. Several bags of apples that had been given to me by friends who'd had bumper crops this year and had already filled their own pantries and freezers.
I have ice-cream containers filled with stewed apples that we're just not using. I made too much apple sauce to go with the pork we had, so there's that in the freezer already.
I decided to make apple crumbles. I could bump up the volume of apples to suit the size of the dish. I also looked at the amount of walnuts I've been given and chose to add them into my apples as well. Last week I watched a Rick Stein show that included a woman somewhere in France making her apple pies, she added Armagnac to her apples which made us sit up and think that would be delicious.
I didn't have any Armagnac, I've run out of Cognac and Brandy (hubby's 50th birthday party was just over a week ago). I tried to think what else would work with apples and remembered an apple and bourbon punch I had at a wedding.
I made two crumbles. We tried the first one last night and declared it successful. The other is in the freezer.
I didn't really bother too much with measurements, below are my best guesses.
Apple and Walnut Crumble
Filling:
10 cups diced apples
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1 tbsp Nutmeg
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Bourbon
5 tbsp lemon juice
Mix all together and place in dish.
Crumble topping:
2 cups hazelnut meal
1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/6 cup tapioca flour
1 cup raw sugar
1 tsp xanthan gum
2/3 cup butter, cold and diced
Mix dry ingredients and rub in butter. Spread on top of apple mix and pat down.
Bake for 45 mins at 180 degrees Celsius.
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| On left with crumble topping, the one on the right is waiting for it's topping. |
Wednesday, 19 April 2017
Black Grape Wine
When we still lived in Christchurch, we had a rather prolific grapevine. We had no idea what variety it was, there were no tags and it was there when we bought the place.
Hubby had an old recipe book that had a chapter on beverages - most were wines and liquers. Hubby had previously tried the grape wine recipe but when he opened a bottle of it a year or so later, it smelled like petrol and the colour was uneven (dark pink/purple at the bottom and clear at the top) so he'd thrown the wine out. He'd written some of his calculations in the book and gotten them terribly wrong somehow.
I tried making wine from the recipe, exactly to the recipe.
3 lb. black grapes, 4 quarts cold water, 3 lb. Sugar.
Put grapes in bowl and crush. Cover with water, let stand 5 days, stirring several times daily, then strain. Add sugar and stir until dissolved, set in a warm place to ferment. Leave 10 days, then strain and bottle.
I bottled this wine and then had to clean up all the bottles that blew their corks. So I put what remained back into the brew barrel and waited until the air lock stopped bubbling and then bottled it again. It was a lovely pink colour, somewhat sparkling and very sweet.
The next year I made it again, but I did it in two batches. One was straight grapes, and the other was blended with redcurrants. The idea was that the redcurrant mix wouldn't be as sweet.
As it turned out, the grape wine was very different from the previous year's. It wasn't as sweet, it was a darker colour and tasted a lot like port. Very drinkable and rather alcoholic. The grape and redcurrant mix took a few years before it tasted like anything worth drinking, but now it's very nice.
My grapevines this year had finally grown up over the archway and the grapes were hanging down and easily pickable. This is from just two grapevines.
This time, I used not just my own grapes but some frozen ones I'd been given. Some friends had been told that freezing your grapes first makes better juice more easily extracted. All up I mashed 11 1/2 kg of grapes. Then I did the maths for how much water I'd need. 48 litres of water. Crap. I didn't have anything big enough to hold it all. So I asked the Hive Mind that is facebook how soaking the mashed grapes in less water would be likely to affect my wine.
Most of my homebrew winemaking friends said that they never add water. Many of them never add sugar either. Their wines are purely grape juice. Hmmm. I then consulted google, the ultimate guru on all things. I found articles explaining where water is added after fermentation to keep the alcohol content to a level able to be sold legally in some countries. I found an article that talked about how long to leave the skins in the water to improve the colour of a red wine. Then I found an article explaining how water keeps the fermentation process going. I also found an extremely technical article that included calculations to determine how much tartaric acid to add to your water based on degrees Brix and a whole bunch of measurements I'd never heard of.
I dithered and second guessed everything for a few hours. Then I decided to follow the recipe as well as I could. My recipe has been working for me for years. I always make a great wine that tastes good and has a high (although unmeasured because I've never quite understood or bothered to find out how to do that) alcohol content. I used a large plastic storage crate and added in what water would fit and left it to do it's thing for a week.
Meanwhile, I went and bought another brew barrel fermenter. When it was time to strain and add sugar, I strained it into one of my brew barrels. When it started to get a bit full, I split the total volume in half into a second barrel. I put all the skins and pulp that I'd strained out back into the storage crate and added water. I let it sit for a while and then strained it again to top up my wine to the total volume of water I was short. I added the sugar to both barrels, put the lids on and fitted the airlock bubblers. 48(ish) litres of wine fermenting away madly. And they are fermenting madly. Two weeks later and the bubblers and going flat out.
Hubby had an old recipe book that had a chapter on beverages - most were wines and liquers. Hubby had previously tried the grape wine recipe but when he opened a bottle of it a year or so later, it smelled like petrol and the colour was uneven (dark pink/purple at the bottom and clear at the top) so he'd thrown the wine out. He'd written some of his calculations in the book and gotten them terribly wrong somehow.
I tried making wine from the recipe, exactly to the recipe.
Grape Wine (from the NZ Truth Cookery Book circa 1960s)
3 lb. black grapes, 4 quarts cold water, 3 lb. Sugar.
Put grapes in bowl and crush. Cover with water, let stand 5 days, stirring several times daily, then strain. Add sugar and stir until dissolved, set in a warm place to ferment. Leave 10 days, then strain and bottle.
I bottled this wine and then had to clean up all the bottles that blew their corks. So I put what remained back into the brew barrel and waited until the air lock stopped bubbling and then bottled it again. It was a lovely pink colour, somewhat sparkling and very sweet.
The next year I made it again, but I did it in two batches. One was straight grapes, and the other was blended with redcurrants. The idea was that the redcurrant mix wouldn't be as sweet.
As it turned out, the grape wine was very different from the previous year's. It wasn't as sweet, it was a darker colour and tasted a lot like port. Very drinkable and rather alcoholic. The grape and redcurrant mix took a few years before it tasted like anything worth drinking, but now it's very nice.
My grapevines this year had finally grown up over the archway and the grapes were hanging down and easily pickable. This is from just two grapevines.
 |
| What is left of the grapes I didn't pick. |
This time, I used not just my own grapes but some frozen ones I'd been given. Some friends had been told that freezing your grapes first makes better juice more easily extracted. All up I mashed 11 1/2 kg of grapes. Then I did the maths for how much water I'd need. 48 litres of water. Crap. I didn't have anything big enough to hold it all. So I asked the Hive Mind that is facebook how soaking the mashed grapes in less water would be likely to affect my wine.
Most of my homebrew winemaking friends said that they never add water. Many of them never add sugar either. Their wines are purely grape juice. Hmmm. I then consulted google, the ultimate guru on all things. I found articles explaining where water is added after fermentation to keep the alcohol content to a level able to be sold legally in some countries. I found an article that talked about how long to leave the skins in the water to improve the colour of a red wine. Then I found an article explaining how water keeps the fermentation process going. I also found an extremely technical article that included calculations to determine how much tartaric acid to add to your water based on degrees Brix and a whole bunch of measurements I'd never heard of.
I dithered and second guessed everything for a few hours. Then I decided to follow the recipe as well as I could. My recipe has been working for me for years. I always make a great wine that tastes good and has a high (although unmeasured because I've never quite understood or bothered to find out how to do that) alcohol content. I used a large plastic storage crate and added in what water would fit and left it to do it's thing for a week.
Meanwhile, I went and bought another brew barrel fermenter. When it was time to strain and add sugar, I strained it into one of my brew barrels. When it started to get a bit full, I split the total volume in half into a second barrel. I put all the skins and pulp that I'd strained out back into the storage crate and added water. I let it sit for a while and then strained it again to top up my wine to the total volume of water I was short. I added the sugar to both barrels, put the lids on and fitted the airlock bubblers. 48(ish) litres of wine fermenting away madly. And they are fermenting madly. Two weeks later and the bubblers and going flat out.
 |
| Two brew barrel fermenters fermenting madly. |
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