Monday 11 November 2013

Harvest Monday - 11 Nov '13

The picking has been good again but this last week marks a change in the harvests with some crops on their way out and others on their way in. New pickings have included a nice big bunch of beetroot,


which today I have made into a Beetroot Relish.


Pretty colour isn't it?

I also picked the first of the broad beans and one of the last pickings of the sugar snaps, there are few left on the plants now.


The last of the cauliflower glut has now been picked,


and turned into a Cauliflower Mustard Pickle. I am a bit disappointed that the mustard powder doesn't seem to have dissolved and the jars appear spotty with the powdered spice. I had thought that I might enter these into the local agricultural show competitions but seeing as the mustard is a bit spotty, I'd best not... clearly not good enough!


Oh well, I am sure it will taste good but next time I will dissolve the mustard powder before adding it to the pan.

There has been dill and chives picked and these have gone into breakfasts of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. The Lad makes a great scramble.


I've picked a handful of strawberries - I must get more strawberry plants - a handful is clearly not enough of a crop.


This week I have also picked all of my garlic crop and plaited them up,


and last but not least, I have bottled up the limoncello  I started steeping a few weeks ago. 

That's all of my picking and preserving efforts this week. What's your garden up to? What are you picking or preserving? 

I am contributing this post to Daphne's Harvest Monday. Pop over to her blog to see other people's produce. There will be plenty to view when the earth turns a little more.

10 comments:

  1. Have you no pity? The sight of your oh so beautiful garlic is just toooooo much especially as I'm still mourning the failure of my crop. Great work though and I now need to eat scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for breakfast tomorrow...

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    1. I know, it is cruel of me! But after having tried for several years and failed I am overly delighted with the success. I am putting it down to the miracle of sheep pooh and stinging nettle tea.

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  2. Great harvest! I thought of you a couple of weeks ago when we visited a local ag show. I noticed that a number of the entries in the preserves categories had used normal jam jar lids and had cut out rounds of red and white gingham that they'd stuck on the top of the lid to hide the branding. I remembered the discussion last year about whether you could paint the lids and the material seemed like a really good solution :) (I was looking for tips on how to present things in case I'm brave enough to have a go at my local show in Feb!)

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    Replies
    1. Oh, great observation on lid presentation. My mother-in-law helpfully searched her cupboards for all the jars without branding so now I have a nice stash! You must, you must enter something. I will try again, my Tomato and Chilli jam at least and some thing with the peach glut that will come. And perhaps some sewing too!

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    2. I suppose it mustn't really be an issue because lots of people reuse lids but when I first researched preserving I read that you should always use new lids so I religiously do that (buying them on-line). Am I being too anal, then?

      I'm hoping to have a glut of Lebanese cucumbers so that I can make lots and lots of Liz's bread and butter cucumbers, they are a hit! Trouble is, with these frequent cold snaps we are having here in the Valley, growth has come to a standstill - I'm hoping they will take off again once we finally get some decent weather.

      Your garlic looks fabulous! Mine did well this year too but I don't have nearly as much as you,

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  3. Great looking beetroots! Mine are still babies, and I wish they would hurry up and grow. That scrambled eggs looks great! (Just minus the dill. I hate dill.) The limoncello looks great too. I keep some in the freezer and on a hot day some limoncello and soda is a joy.

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    1. That's it, soda water is going on the shopping list!

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  4. ...can I ask, how long did you steep your limoncello for? I've read various recipes that recommend from one week to 40 days! I'm getting impatient. :)

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  5. I'm sorry to see the cauliflowers go, it was fun to see those beautiful heads weeks after week. Talk about a glut. And now you tease us shivering northern hemi gardeners with strawberries. :) sigh...

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  6. Everything looks so beautiful. I wonder how a home-made mustard would really "dissolve." Seems you'd need industrial gear to make a sufficiently fine powder.

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