The summer is bringing a bounty of fruit. Since we have only just started our perennial fruit plantings here on the Farmlet, we are lucky to have family members nearby who are willing to share theirs with us.
This year, the plum tree in my parents’ garden was laden with so many tasty red plums that it’s a wonder none of the branches broke under the weight. They were very generous about allowing us to help relieve the tree of its burden. Believe me, we were more than happy to lighten the load for that poor tree! We turned some of the plums into a large ruby-red batch of lacto-fermented plum chutney — some for us and some for my parents. (We more-or-less followed the recipe in Nourishing Traditions for lacto-fermented “fruit chutney.”) It turns out that Kevin is not so crazy about the plum chutney, but I love to eat it on meat — especially on lamb chops.
Blackberries
Some relatives of mine have a large patch of fat juicy blackberries growing on their farm. They were kind enough to invite us over to pick all we wanted. Kevin and I spent an enjoyable evening picking berries, later aided by a kind auntie. We came home with more than two buckets full of delicious berries. We have been gobbling berries ever since, and have also manufactured a jam-like substance out of a good many of them. I like the jam sour, but it looks like we’ll have to add more honey before Kevin will be able to enjoy it on his toast.
Rebecca,
I would KILL to get my hands on a bucket of those blackberries! The last time I did get such a big lot of blackberries, luckily it was just a matter of putting five dollars into an honesty box. That was about four years ago driving north on the back roads out of Palmerston North. After a tip-off from my brother. Nuff said. A few years before that we had to scrample around and get bloody in a vacant gully in Te Puia Springs. Riding instructions from the local guy: “Never pick wild blackberries from the side of the road. Covered in poison. Always find out where the locals pick them.” Fair enough.
Anyway, we took them to my mother’s place and of course couldn’t eat them fast enough fresh, so the next best thing (apart from jam) is apple and blackberry pie filling. I’ll have to end my rant there, because my desire for blackberries will drive me mad otherwise! (Not that I’m denying my current state of insanity, but you know what I mean…)