Bergamots

I do love to make a new discovery and proudly present my citrus discovery for January 2018:

 

 

and what wonderful little gems they are.

Reliably identified as the sour orange hybrid Citrus bergamia Risso,  I discovered them at my organic market this week, imported from Morrocco (this is the only time of year where I am to be found blogging about imported produce!), and I snapped them up purely out of curiosity.

 

And I am so glad I did!

“Grapefruit overtones, a spicy galangal-like punch (which calms down once cooked), as well as orange and lemon nuancing in the background, becoming lingering lime once cooked”.

That is my bergamot sound bite.

And this is what I have done with them so far: a classic soft set marmalade of delectable dimensions 🙂

 

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For those of you who do not already know it, meet:

Galangal

Think: mild ginger with a soupcon of camphor and a peppery punch if you use lots of it!

A root related to ginger, widely used in Far Eastern cookery, and described by German medieval medicine woman Hildegard of Bingen as “warm and healing”, particularly for those suffering from “heartache”.

For those with a bad back she recommends Glühwein with galangal.

In the kitchen Hildegard of Bingen paired galangal with quinces (as well as with pumpkin, fruit salads, jams in general and marinades).

Clearly a lady after my own heart and so I have followed her example: the very last of this years’ quinces have become

Quince Jelly with Galangal

And what a very good idea that was: love it!

If you are quick you can get a jar with a subscription from our Online Orchard Shop – limited edition!

Contemplating Quinces

Its that quince time of year again!

 

 

And I’m thinking: Quince & Honey Sorbet this weekend:

You will find plenty more quince inspiration here under Recipe Index, 

or you can just subscribe to all this mellow fruitfulness and have Quince Jam or Quince Jelly delivered to your door from our

Online Orchard Shop

 

 

Red Wine & Chillies

Slow roasted,

our red muscatel grapes:

and fiery,

Tom’s habanero chillies:

That’s the main mix for our

RED MUSCATEL CHILLI CHUTNEY

homemade from our red muscatel grapes and Tom’s chillies!

Tom is serious about chillies and talks in terms of Scoville when describing his hand-reared hot crop! Fresh, dried and salsa’ed – he does it all and while I am certainly not in his league when it comes to Scoville & Co, I do know that you can’t go wrong pairing chillies and red wine (in this case, red grapes)!

This is where you can get your jar (the chutney goes well with anything from cheeseboards, burgers of all kinds, salad dressings and dips):

https://anediblelandscape.wordpress.com/our-online-orchard-shop/.

 

 

 

SLOW ROASTED RED MUSCATEL GRAPE JAM

Getting in the grapes for another batch of

SLOW ROASTED RED MUSCATEL GRAPE JAM

Homemade from our own grapes and apples, refined with a dash of winter spice (the grapes are slow roasted before being gently simmered together with the apple juice and spices).

Here’s where you can get yours, online ordering and dispatch within the EU: https://anediblelandscape.wordpress.com/our-online-orchard-shop/