Here's the last of the 3 articles that we wrote in 2019 for a now sadly defunct online magazine, if you'd like to read the other 2 you can find them on this blog here & here:
Springtime at The Orchard invariably means blossom, at the time of writing the plums and cherries are in full blossom. By the time you read this the apple trees will probably be blossoming their hearts out and the orchard will be a froth of pink and white.
Before the demise of Britain’s orchards coach trips were organised so that folk could view the spectacular orchard blossom and AA “Blossom Trail” signs were a familiar sight in apple growing country. Sadly these events aren’t so common now with perhaps the exception of the Vale of Evesham where a 45 mile route is sign posted for people to view cherry, plum, pear and apple blossom.
Special events like this must have been tricky to organize because blossom time is dependent on the weather, it’s early this year having started in March, sometimes it doesn’t start until May. For the fruit grower, late is preferable, frost is one of our greatest enemies and a hard frost now could decimate this year’s plum crop.
Something else that was early this year was the rhubarb, perfect for crumbles or just with custard, after a long winter that slightly acidic edge is just what the palate longs for.
We’ve mentioned before how lucky we are here at The Orchard to have people share their delicious family recipes, we sometimes post them on our blog, http://theorchardtearoom.blogspot.com/
Here’s a seasonal one from Lionel:
RHUBARB AND ORANGE CHUTNEY
2 oranges
1 kg of prepared rhubarb
3 chopped onions
900 ml malt vinegar
900 gms demerara sugar
450 gms raisins
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tbsp peppercorns
1 tsp allspice
Squeeze juice from oranges and finely shred peel. Place in a large preserving pan with the rhubarb, onions, vinegar, sugar and raisins. Tie the spices in a piece of muslin and add to the ingredients in the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer until thick and pulpy, about one and a half hours. Remove bag, then jar and cover.
Makes about 3.6 kg, ready to eat in about 3 weeks.
Springtime and eggs go hand in hand don’t they?
Right now we have goose eggs in the farm shop, a rare treat for those who like them and with their thick shells they’re perfect for those who use eggs in their craft work.
A little known fact is that our tea room is actually built on the site of the farm’s old hen house. We don’t keep our own chickens in the orchard anymore but we’re fortunate to have the most marvelous supplier of free range eggs only a short distance from us. Meaning that our eggs are incredibly fresh especially when compared to supermarket eggs and as you can imagine eggs are of immense importance to us. We use them for our delicious cakes, sandwiches, quiches etc and they’re one of our best sellers in the farm shop. All this brings us to another recipe we’d like to share with you
JENNY’S APPLE CURD WITH A HINT OF LEMON
450 grams of Bramley apples
2 large lemons
125 grams unsalted butter
4 large eggs
450 grams caster sugar
Cook and puree the Bramley apples
Juice the lemons and finely grate the rind
Melt the butter
Beat the eggs
Put all the ingredients into a heatproof bowl that fits over a saucepan of simmering water, be careful to make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl.
Using a wooden spoon stir until thick, this will take about 20 minutes, then remove from heat and jar.
Jenny’s top tip : Always use a wooden spoon as metal can spoil the flavour!
