There are still some apples on the trees and good ones on the floor in the old orchard by the river and a few cooking apples in a similar state up in what was the jungle. Joshua and I collected a basketfull of those this afternoon as the thunder rolled across a dark sky and grew louder and louder, a prelude to a dramatic storm. Tonight, I stew apples. But last night it was chutney making.
Cooking apples were retrieved from my rack where they are stored in newspaper. That does not guarantee they they are preserved. I reckon that I am chucking about one in six. But I have enough for my needs. The apples were peeled, cored and diced and heated up with organic apple vinegar, sultanas, mustard seeds, ginger powder, brown sugar and 2 onions. And then put into sterilised jars of which one is below.
The larder is now bursting with jars of jam, chutney, crab apple jelly and, preserved from last year various other things. But I am not done yet. The Mrs groans as I warn that there is more to come. But when Christmas comes and I drop off various jars to friends and neighbours and hand out as gifts my siblings to go with the traditional Yarg cheeses I give, she will, as always happens, give a grudging acknowledgement of my efforts.
