Addendum to 'Sunset on Summer'....

 

The crabapples and quinces were not to be outdone by the green tomatoes and I have been preserving the very last of the fruits this week.

I decided to make the batches slightly more adventurous and added herbs and spices to subtly enhance the standard jellies I normally make.

The crabapples (Malus sp) we grow are 'Gorgeous' (both in name and flavour), grown on MM106 rootstock. The tree has done fabulously well again - thank you tree.









I made crabapple jelly with cinnamon and cloves - mmmmmm, smelled divine and the spice flavour will really draw out the taste of chicken and turkey as well as ham.

Ratio of ingredients is:

2lbs crabapples
1 pint water

Throw all the apples, unpeeled and uncored in to the preserving pan with the water and simmer until it turns to a pulp.

In go a few cloves and some sticks of cinnamon....

Put the pulp through a muslin/jelly bag overnight. Measure your juice collected and then put into the preserving pan with 1lb of sugar for every pint of juice collected, boil rapidly until set then seal in sterilised jars.

I also livened up the quince jelly by adding a few sprigs of Thyme and some Sage leaves and the shredded peel of 1 lemon. Our quinces are 'Taihape', a tree that survives droughts, flooding and possum attacks.....well so far anyway!

And of course - it always helps to rustle up some muffins whilst the jellies are boiling - Peanut Butter and chocolate chip, yummy.......

 

 

But true to form, you are going to need something wet to wash it down with - a lovely cup of Yorkshire tea did the job for me this afternoon !

Mix these dry ingredients in a large bowl
2C self raising flour
1/3C wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 C caster sugar

In a small bowl mix together -
100g melted butter
3/4C peanut butter (smooth organic)
1 egg
1C full fat milk

have extra peanut butter to hand

Mix the wet ingredients to the dry ones, folding together until damp but not smooth.

Divide half into a 12 hole standard muffin tray, then plop a dollop of peanut butter onto the batter before adding the other half of the mixture to all 12 muffins, so enclosing the dollop between the layers.

Bake at 200 degrees celsius for around 15 minutes - until they spring back when pressed gently.