Broad Beans and Jam

I have spent most of the day in the kitchen making jam and freezing broad beans. It takes so long to pod the beans, blanch them briefly then prepare them for freezing, but it had to be done as I didn't want  them going soft and having to compost them. I shouldn't have harvested them on Sunday as I knew I didn't have time until today to freeze them. But they were fine.

The Beans podded and before blanching, some were kept back for dinner this evening and were delicious, especially the red ones. Green beans are 'Bunyards Exhibition' Red beans are 'Red Epicure'
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I harvested a huge basket of beans but the  amount of beans you get after podding doesn't look much, but then there's a huge pile of pods for the compost bin, so it all goes back into the earth again to enrich the soil for next year.

I had harvested most of my green gooseberries as they were trailing on the ground and going a bit soft.  I gave some away, but had so many left over I decided to try and make some gooseberry jam.  It turned out very good and had a great set. I also had loads of red gooseberries and wasn't sure what to do with them all. I  had frozen strawberries in the freezer from last year, so after looking through my preserve book I decided to make Strawberry and Gooseberry jam.  It's such a lovely combination and the colour is lovely.

I made three and a half jars of the gooseberry and five jars of strawberry and gooseberry. A good days work I think, now for a glass of wine !!!

What a Harvest !!

A visit to the allotment between showers on Tuesday paid off as there was a bumper harvest ready for the picking.
An amazing amount of strawberries, a huge bag of spinach, I get a bag like this every other day!  I had my first picking of broad beans, but they are still small as I prefer them small if they are going in a salad. Then there was a few tasty Tayberries which were also the first, but there are quite a few more to ripen so not too bad for the first year.  The blackcurrants were kindly given by my friend as mine all got eaten by the birds whilst still green.  They stripped the whole bush in a couple of days before I had time to net it. needless to say  LESSON LEARNT !!!

I have enough Lavender bushes now to harvest lot's to dry in the airing cupboard in a pillowcase. I will use it to fill the fabric hearts that I make.  I didn't take too much yet as they look and smell so lovely on the plot.

I made Strawberry Jam which I haven't done for ages. I made 9 jars and they were large jars as well !! it took ages to get to setting point. I doubled up on the recipe, which doesn't always work for me, but the thought of washing the preserving pan and doing it all again put me off, so I doubled up and as I said it took forever to get to the correct set.  I was still a bit unsure of how well it had set even when it had turned cold. However we had some for breakfast and it was perfect !!!! and my daughter-in-law loved it. PHEW !! so glad I didn't have to start again.  I make a lot of curd's which is so easy, but Jam is harder to set I find.

We have been away from home for a couple of days, so I'm sure there will be lot's more to harvest when I next visit the plot which weather permitting will be tomorrow.

I'm growing a 'Cape Gooseberry' in the greenhouse, well three actually.  It's the first time I have grown them and I already have little fruits forming on my largest one, which I must re-pot as it has outgrown the pot it's in.
The harvest I'm most looking forward to is the Courgettes and the mangetout.  I have flowers on the courgettes and just a few pods growing on the mangetout at the moment, so I will have to be patient.

I hope you are all getting some good harvest's.
M x