The Orchard Year ~ Wassailing

As previously mentioned last year we were writing for a magazine, this is article that went out in February 2019 we thought it would be interesting to put it on the blog so we can compare last winter with this:

For some the Orchard Year starts with a Wassailing ceremony, it’s not a Fenland custom, but, they’ve been Wassailing cider orchards to scare off evil spirits and encourage the apple trees into growth for hundreds, maybe thousands of years in Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.  

Traditionally performed on Twelfth Night, or Old Twelfth Night, offerings of cider soaked toast are hung in the apple tree and a libation of cider poured on the roots whilst a traditional rhyme is recited:

Here’s to thee, old apple tree,

That blooms well, bears well.

Hats full, caps full,

Three bushel bags full,

An’ all under one tree.

Hurrah! Hurrah!

There’s also a great deal of noise made to scare away any evil spirits that may be lurking to ruin the apple crops, banging saucepans with sticks that sort of racket!

I’m sure the birds appreciate the toast next day.

We’re in the middle of a cold spell here and the birds are decimating the windfalls and unpicked apples. It’s a hard time for birds, they only have 8 or 9 hours a day to find enough food to ward off starvation during these winter months. 

Frost and ice make it especially difficult for our orchard woodpeckers, we leave as much dead wood as possible to provide food for invertebrates who in turn provide food for the woodpeckers, but, even so frozen conditions reduce the supply of beetle larvae.

As the old saying goes, “When the days begin to lengthen, then the cold begins to strengthen”, we’ve certainly been grateful for our wood burning stove in the tea room! 

It’s a lovely time of year for a brisk walk around the orchard followed by tea and cake in front of the wood burner. Or, if it’s too cold to venture out a lovely time of year to enjoy cooking, and eating, a traditional Sunday roast dinner, not something we all have time for with our busy lives these days. 

Here’s a family wartime recipe for apple mint jam which goes wonderfully with roast lamb though I admin to be rather partial to it on my roast potatoes never mind the meat :

1. Wash your apples and halve them before placing them in a pan of cold water.
2. Simmer until soft, remove from the heat.
3. Rub the pulp through a sieve into a measuring jug.
4. Return to pan with 3/4 lb of sugar for each pint of apple pulp along with a bunch of chopped mint.
5. Cook, stirring until the jam begins to set then jar in the normal manner.

The Orchard Tea Room & Farm Shop

Redmoor Lane

Begdale 

Elm

Wisbech

Cambs

PE14 0RN

Telephone: 07527 046184

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