Gooseberries

Sticking with the elderflower theme of earlier this month, I decided to make gooseberry and elderflower jam.

First you have to find your gooseberries...

We must have been stuck for somewhere to plant our gooseberry bushes, they are all at the back of flower beds.

It is worth the search, but the fruit is not easily given up by the bushes.

Having picked a few pounds of fruit, and some elderflower heads it is time to head for the kitchen.

The recipe is three and a half pounds of gooseberries, five elderflower heads, one pint of water and three and a half pounds of sugar.

Top and tail the gooseberries put in your pan with a pint of water and the elderflower heads (tied in a piece of muslin).
Simmer until liquid is reduced by approximately one third.
Remove the flowers, add the sugar, bring to the boil.
Test for set and pot.

Et Voila! Gooseberry and Elderflower jam! The kitchen is positively fragrant after this.

Redcurrant Jelly

The weather is still very unsettled, in fact so much so that I didn't have time to take pictures of the fruit bushes in all their glory before the rain started.

However I did pick enough to start on the redcurrant jelly.

After removing the currants from their stalks add two pounds of redcurrants and two pounds of sugar to a saucepan. Stir continuously until it comes to the boil.

Boil for eight minutes. Strain the fruit off and then pot. Couldn't be easier!

Enjoy with roast lamb, or on a slice of toast.

Elderflowers

As part of Westmeath Slow Food we hosted an elderflower workshop on Saturday. Luck was with us and the weather held for the day.

The flowers are truly beautiful when looked at closely.

We walked down the fields and picked some of the high growing elderflowers from a ladder. Helen wanted to save the bushes nearer the house so that we can pick the elderberries in the autumn to make Elderberry Jelly.

A trug full of blossom.

It was nice to be able to take time to enjoy the view after picking some flowers.

Returning to the house we decided to make an elderflower syrup. I think this is the easiest of the many recipes we looked at. 

700 g granulated sugar

18 elderflowers

1 lemon

Measure the sugar and grate the lemon zest into a saucepan. Add 600 ml cold water. Heat slowly until the sugar melts and bring to the boil. Add the elderblossoms to the pan. Push the florets down into the liquid and bring back to the boil. Cover and set aside until the contents are cold. Squeeze the lemon juice and stir into the syrup. Strain through a sieve and bottle. Store in a fridge. This will keep for eleven months and can be used as  the base for elderflower cordial and to flavour batters, milk puddings, mousses, custards, creams and ice creams.

Elderflower vinegar was also made by bringing cider vinegar to the boil and pouring over the elderflowers. This was set aside to mature for a fortnight.

Another elderflower vinegar recipe just asked for the vinegar to be warmed gently with 2 or 3 elderblossoms in the vinegar and then removed and bottled when cold. Both will be a delicious addition to a summer salad dressing.

More information on the event can be found at the links below:

www.pix.ie/wmeathslowfood/photos

www.slowfoodireland.com/index.php/westmeath.html

With the Elder still in flower and inspired by Ella's McSweeney's blog we are off to pick some more to make Elderflower Champagne!

'Snip's' Big day Out

We know that some of you do not use Facebook, so we thought we had better post this news on the blog as well......

Snip and Helen went to the local Fete in Castlepollard and entered the dog show.

Snip is now 14 weeks old. Leaving her mother and grandmother behind and wearing her brand new lead she conquered the hearts of many who met her.

When we got home with her second prize and all her winnings, she thought she should eat them.

Maybe red's more her colour!!