Sloe Cooking

We're coming into the most abundant time of the year...the hedgerows,trees and fields are starting to bow down under the weight of the fruit they hold. I've just come back from a wonderful walk with Alice in our favourite place. We met my parents, sister, nephew and my Mum & Dad's dogs, Jojo & Ivy. My father is the most knowledgeable person I know on all things wild...flora and fauna. He spent the time pointing out edible mushrooms, wild marjoram bushes, the best blackberry places,wild raspberries, hazelnuts...I'll be back with proper collecting bags!

On my way to meet them, I found lots of wonderful sloes, with their vivid blue bloom,all ready for picking:

luckily I had a clean plastic bag in my pocket and I quickly filled it with the gorgeous bounty!

So now, my task is to prick each one with a long pin and pile them into jars to fill with caster sugar and vodka. Then I'll leave the jars in a cool, dark place and turn them over once in a while. By Christmas at the earliest, we'll have a deep ruby red liqueur to sip on frosty nights...and the shrivelled, alcohol-soaked fruit are wonderful stoned and added to brownies (NOT for general consumption!) and served after dinner with coffee. Mother Nature gives us so much for free if we know where to look, I'll be searching out more treasures in the months to come.

The cake I was trying to think of in my last post turned out to be a Spiced Honey Cake...gorgeous. Today I've made a Fresh Lime Drizzle Cake, a Raspberry Vanilla Sponge, Toasted Pecan Brownies, Banana Blueberry Cake and Spelt, Cinnamon,Raisin Muffins. Time for tea and to look forward to the weekend.

In complete contrast, my friend Rami is in Thailand with his family and is posting the most wonderful stories of their meals there....I am enjoying reading them so much as I sit in windblown, autumnal England!

Happy Weekend! xo