Pears and apples from St Edmund College

 For the last 6 years we have had permission to pick the apples and pears from St Edmund College. This morning Mark and I went out to pick the sweet apples for Monday\s pressing.

The pears were ready to pick too and will be eaten for breakfast as they are too good to press.

A seasonal meal - last of the runner beans and courgettes

We started with a lettuce and courgette soup as the lettuce that was harvested a couple of days ago was so large, we used most of it to add to our soup. Ted, our allotment friend had some courgettes that needed using so making a lovely velvety soup was just the ticket.

  

Preparing for the Runner Bean Quinoa Salad with Maple Citrus Dressing. We changed the recipe a bit and felt it needed 1/3 less beans and the juice of one tangerine as well as the segments of one more tangerine. The roasted sliced almonds were really nice and added texture and taste. If you want this recipe to be vegan just omit the feta cheese, to be honest it did not add too much extra to the dish.

 

The dessert made with pears from the tree is the garden was delicious. Simple and quick to make but definitively a winner.

Melenddra peeling pears

    

Good place for pears and eating apples (late)

Went to St Edmunds college today thinking there would be loads of apples to pick as per usual.
However when I showed up, there was not an apple on the tree. I think the season is about 2-3 weeks early so missed the boat here.

Then went via French's road, where I normally go for late eating apples, and the kind owners were very happy for me to pick and tidy up the rotten ones.  Also their neighbours were happy for me to pick.

Then went on to Kate L. on Gough Road to pick Conference pears from her garden as well as some crab apples to make some apple cider vinegar. In her road in the verge was a pear tree which extremely large pears. Won't know yet if they will ripen or juice but will find out very soon.

Pears in September

After seeing the pears on Canterbury street a few weeks ago, I decided to go back and see how the pears were doing,  as I needed to go to the shops on Histon Road so went via Windsor Road to Canterbury road.

Good fortune as the pears had just started to drop so harvesting was easy.
After only a few minutes, I returned with a large bag of beautiful conference pears. I will store them and eat one or two a day over the next few weeks as part of my breakfast.

Juicy and delicious.