Autumn Produce

So the summer is almost over and the long weeks of holidays, sun, lie-ins and barbecues are coming to a close. But with today being the first day if metereological Autumn there is still much to look forward to. 

The best time of the year for garden produce makes this the time to make preserves, chutneys and jams.   Even though we live in the city our garden is full of an abundance of fantastic fruits just ready to be stored and eaten. 

The apples on our two trees are perfect for picking and eating straight from the branches or peeled and sliced and mixed with blackberries picked from the local park to create arguably the best crumble filling ever considered. Just don’t forget the custard!

At the bottom of the garden our pear tree, which in previous years as been decidedly unproductive, has this year been dropping delicious pears every day for the last three weeks. Together with the addition of walnuts, sultanas and copious amounts of cider vinegar (with a little sugar for sweetness and undisclosed spices) these beauties have been transformed into a pear and walnut chutney which will accompany the Christmas cheeseboard in four months time. 

The damsons, always a highlight of our late summer harvest, have again not let us down. These little sweet and sour plum jewels are the star attraction in jars of damson jam, damson and cherry relish and plum ketchup. 

However this year the best is yet to come as from the beginning of April we have been cultivating from seed a bumper crop of tomatoes. Two varieties of tomatoes, San Marzano and Roma, grown specifically for sauces and ketchups have been carefully tended and are currently just becoming ripe in our vegetable beds. 

Due to the success of the original germination a large number of plants, probably too many for the space, were planted and then with watering, sunshine and seaweed extract has produced a bountiful supply of delicious looking plum tomatoes that are currently ripening on the vine.  Following timely advice from Monty Don on the BBC gardening programme the leaves have been cut back to ensure the tomatoes get the warmth of the late summer sun in them to help them ripen whilst providing ventilation to prevent the dreaded tomato blight. 

The next couple of weeks will definitely include the slow cooking of these beauties over a charcoal fire to produce a smoky, slow roasted base to make jars of delicious pasta sauce and bottles of homemade ketchup. 

These will help keep the summer alive as the nights draw in and the frosts begin. 

All we need now is a perfect recipe!

And my fledgling lemon tree to grow...