Hello All
And a big Derbyshire welcome to Debbie on the follower bar and Jane and Sophie on bloglovin
A couple of weeks ago we were planning to move a colony of bees to Hathersage, A village in the Peak District of Derbyshire. Our plans didn't work out and then I mislaid their number so we aborted the move. Yesterday we finally managed it!
The colony was for first time beekeepers S. and L, who I am sure will make excellent beekeepers. They live on a farm in the hills with views to die for. Where to site the hive had to be given quite a bit of thought as the farm is quite exposed and is can be effected by strong winds. However they looked pretty snug when we left. I took a couple of pictures of them and their surroundings, but for some reason the pics didn't turn out.
Before we set off home we had a cup of tea and also tried some soft cheese that they are producing and will be marketing. And very very nice it was too, a bit like a tastier Brie (we love Brie) They kindly gave us a half round to take home, which we resisted eating as we drove along. As we drove through Crich we popped into "The Loaf" bakery and bought a light rye loaf.
Back home -out with the butter, a couple of freshly picked tomatoes, the loaf, the cheese and we ate the lot!! Oh my it was a delicious, simple meal.
A friend said that she had some plums picked for me. I was a little tied up so my granddaughter fetched them for me .. bags and bags of yellow plums!!. So far I have stoned and open frozen the perfect ones, bagged a several pounds of smaller, less perfect ones for wine, stewed 4 pounds for a couple of crumbles and made some jam ( the chickens have had the really rubbish ones)
I used a simple recipe for the jam, which is pretty foolproof. Here it is -
To each 3 pound of plums add half a pint of water and cook until soft
Add 3 pounds of warmed sugar and cook until setting point reached.
That's it. I always remove the stones and I don't crack these and add them to the jam tied in muslin as it is such a faff and I am unhappy about using plum stones as they can be quite toxic.
All for now
Gillx
We had no plums this year as I'd over-pruned the tree during last winter. Plum Tatin is very good.
ReplyDeleteooh yes! what a good idea. We are just starting to pick our Victorias, but the Marjorie's Seedling is a couple of weeks off yet and they will go very well in a tatin.
DeleteGood crop next year eh?
Fingers crossed!
DeleteI hope the bees will be OK and protected where they are living now.
ReplyDeleteHow nice to have a friend who sends you plums.
Love that the chickens even got to eat some.
cheers, parsnip
Win Win situation isn't it when you have chickens as nothing is wasted? It's a pity that we haven't got our next lot of pigs!
DeleteWinter will be a tester for the bees up there in the peaks, but they are in a valley, so should be okay.
I love the sound of the cheese, I would like to give cheesemaking a go, but perhaps I shouldn't......I'd end up twice the size! Perhaps I'll stick to making your plum jam.
ReplyDeleteTrouble is I love both. One of my favourite meals is brie with onion jam or chutney on top, wrapped in filo pastry and cooked in the oven. How amny calories there?!
DeleteWould love to know exactly how to open freeze plums Frugal. Our Victorias are just about ready but there are not many on. But the market has a stall with mountains of them and I love them so much I would readily buy some to freeze. Do you just split them in half and open freeze on a tray? And do you add sugar before you freeze\?
ReplyDeleteThat cheese sounds perfect by the way.
Yes Weave, I split them, stone them and place them open side up on trays I have covered with cling film. Next day I pour them into bags. No sugar.
DeleteThe cheese was wonderful.
Done plum - now on greengage!
ReplyDeleteJust in case we move to somewhere without established fruit I was instructed to make jam to last a couple of years, but looking at the cupboard you would think there were 20 people who eat jam!
Our greengages haven't done too well this year, too many fruits but not enough rain, so there are lots of really small ones. I love greengage jam, tho' it is not very attractive when I make it. ...A sort of khaki colour!
DeleteCan't have too much jam.
Yum! Your simple meal sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteIt really was. Doing anything else to it would have spoiled it.
DeleteDid you actually cut all the stones out? I tried to make jam with little plums one year. It was disastrous. I thought that once the plums had cooked and softened, I'd be able to get them out easily. It didn't work. I would love to know how you make your wine!
ReplyDeleteI don't take the stones out if the plums are little ones (or damsons) If using them for jam I take the stones out when they float to the top, which they will do once you have added the sugar.
ReplyDeleteFor wine I don't take the stones out at all, they will be filtered out when the wine is filtered. I will try to remember to do a post when I make the wine.