Selfsufficientish.com

Hi I'm new to allotments looking after one for a friend for the year..its in a bit of a state but is full of various fruit bushes...now I have an abundance of black red and white currants, gooseberries, stawberries, and raspberries still to come...would love any hints tips receipes so they don't go to waste.

Thanks Mel

If any of my fruit is under threat of going to waste, I freeze it. Just take off stems, wash first if necessary, and put them on a tray in the freezer. After a few hours you can put them in bags and they wont all freeze solid. You can lter process them into wine, jam, cordial, desserts, whatever.

Happy eating, Jandra

Thanks not much room in the freezer though however if anyone has any receipes my 2 daughters are fruit monster and I think we will be able to get through it ..just they may get bored with plain stewed fruit or fresh off the bush...any ideas ...

Cordial - I'm still looking for a blackcurrant cordial recipe as I've picked 5.8kg so far

Redcurrants can be reduced by making into coulis which uses a lot less freezer space! or perhaps could be bottled if you have the know-how (I don't).

Jam or jelly of course.

I am in the same situation but I have 2.5 freezers so don't have to worry about what to do with the fruit until later.

Although concentrate on eating the fresh strawbs and rasps first!

Thanks for thye advice would be very interested in a cordial receipe if anyone has one

Blackcurrant couli
_______________

pick a wodge of blackcurrants
wash them
pull the stalks off as best you can and tip them into a blender
add about a fifth their weight/volume in sugar (white or brown)
add a cupful of water
blitz until smooth
dip your finger in and taste it. does it need more sugar? if so, chuck some more in and re-blitz
taste again/adjust sugar etc until just right
pour into a sieve over a freezer container
push it thru the sieve with a soup spoon (rather tedious - keep stirring until nowt is coming thru)

you should get a nice smooth liquid - the couli - (which is great over ice-cream) in the container and all the "bits" in the sieve: transfer to compost bin. Kids love it. mix with plain yogurt. eat it on its own

also works for raspberries, and probably many others... nicely reduces volume for the freezer and gives you a ready-to-use fruit puree-type foodstuff.

Smoothies?

My basic method is to stick a banana and a glass of apple juice in a blender, then a few handfuls of berries and Robert is your mothers brother
Or a handful of fruit in a blender with a glass of milk = milkshake a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you are in the mood for a special treat.

Or... get yourself an ice-cream maker off of freecycle and you can live off of fruit sorbets, great in this weather.

I think I'm going to offer my redcurrants to a neighbour cos my freezer still has recurrant coulis (cooked version) from last year and I've still got some jelly left. I don't need any more redcurrants and I'm still picking the blackcurrants! I never thought 2 bushes of each would produce so much!!!

Thanks for all the advice have just been boing the currants up with sugar and using this with yoghurt or cereal in the morning...might now freeze some batches to keep....any have any good gooseberry jam receipes please

The OH has just made that strawberry and gooseberry jam that Mr Whittingstall made on tv last week, and I have to say it's bloomin good stuff. He knows his food that bloke

gooseberry jam
3lb gooseberrys
3lb sugar
1 pint water
put water and gooseberry in pan cook until soft mix in warmed(?) sugar then boil the buggery out of it until it sets
ive just made goosebery and rhubarb jam equal parts of fruit water for appropate amount of gooseberrys (see above recipe) equal wieght of sugar to fruit yum yum
all soft fruit can be made in to wine so id go mad making jam and homebrew
enjoy

Gooseberry and banana jam

1 kg gooseberries
1-2 ripe bananas
1 kg sugar + 1 packet powdered pectin ( or 1kg jam sugar, which has the pectin added already)

Top and tail gooseberries, add mashed bananas, sugar and pectin, leave over night to draw juices. The bring to boil and cook for about 10 minutes. Bottle boiling hot in screw top jars, turn upside down until cold (for some reason that makes them keep better - so they say).

The banana takes some of the acidity out of the gooseberries - so particularly good if yours are rather sour!

Fruit leather for the kiddies (you'll have to google a recipe, sorry) and for the adults you can half fill a bottle with berries, top up with brandy (rum or whatever), cork and leave for a year, delicious liqueur.

Jam, jam and more jam. Print off pretty lables on the 'pooter and then give them to friends and family as Christmas presents.

Cheers
Zoe

I've found a place on the internet selling ice lolly moulds which ships to France so now I'm going to make redcurrant as well as blackcurrant cordial and make ice lollies out of them - a lot cheaper than having packs of Magnums in the freezer!