Apple cider and blackberry balsamic vinegar

This post was first posted on 11/9/2017

Today I found a bucket full of windfall apples so decided to turn them into  apple cider vinegar.
Gillie's blackberries were already ripe and felt like turning them into blackberry balsamic vinegar

       

In September 2017 our From Spade to Plate group harvested apples for eating, storing, pressing and turning into vinegar.

Autumn is here, fresh mornings but when the sun breaks through it is glorious.

We started off  by sorting the apples. The best ones were used for storing and eating, the slightly blemished ones were turned into vinegar and used for  pressing the pears and apples to make some lovely juice. Then the rain came and we went inside to make the main meal.

The summer vegetables are starting to show signs of wanting to be harvested. I have decided to harvest the french beans Faraday  ( that we sowed on 19th June)  they were lovely and tender.

 and harvest the new potatoes (put the sprouting charlotte potatoes from Aldi in the ground in June after I had eaten the lettuces) to make space for the winter onions and garlic (later next month).

Served with a tomato, mozarella and basil salad.


This went down very well.
.

From Spade to Plate: Spinach , new potato curry with garlic flat bread

As the summer has been so good to us, the vegetables in the allotment are in abundance

The interest in our group has grown too, 12 people wanted to join this Monday but as my kitchen is not big enough have decided to have two groups this week.  6 guests and me, would work well (me thinks!)

Maria, Servane, June, Akiko, Ryoko and Miyoko

What a surprise, reunited again!

The first meal we made was a Spinach, new potato curry with coconut, serviced with rice and flat bread

Ryoko picked the tomatoes and basil for a  simple tomato salad

This is how you use the picking stick, years of experience, showing the next generation

Noticed that the apples are ripening too, will pick some with the group to give them a taste of what is to come. Those apples that were slightly blemished, we turned into apple stew, topped by a few juicy black berries

Maria showing her picking technique

apple stew with cinnamon and black berries