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Gingernuts – a true biscuit

January 18, 2015 by sarah
Gingernuts must be a uniquely British biscuit. I have not come across them anywhere else in the world (though apparently they love them in New Zealand too) and there is a dearth of recipes in blogger land. For me it is the satisfying snap and pleasing gingery warmth that makes the gingernut such a popular biscuit. It is also a top dunker for a cup of tea as it holds together well. There is no way this is an American style cookie. I am not sure why they are called ‘nuts’ rather than biscuit but that is the English language for you. There is some suggestion that is because they are as hard as nuts when freshly baked or that the small pieces of dough that are measured out are called ‘nuts’, but whatever reason they are one of my favourite biscuits.

So here is my version. As usual it is an amalgamation of several recipes with my own tweaks. It was very easy to throw together a batch and they are so much nicer than bought biscuits. It is entirely optional if you wish to add crystallised ginger; it is not traditional to add them but I like the occassional chewy gingery nugget that they add to the experience. The gingernuts have lasted for a couple of weeks in an air tight container. If they go soft then put them on a tray in a moderately hot oven for a couple of minutes then allow to cool and they will be as good as new.

Gingernuts
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200g unsalted butter
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240g golden syrup
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40g treacle
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400g self-raising flour
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150g golden caster sugar (white if you don’t have golden)
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3 tablespoons ground ginger (make sure not old or stale)
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1 tablespoon ground mixed spice
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1 teaspoon salt
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1 ½ tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
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Demerara sugar (optional)
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Crystallised ginger, finely chopped (optional)
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Preheat the oven to 160 ºC/140 ºC fan.

Line a couple of large baking trays with baking parchment.

In a small pan, put the butter, golden syrup and treacle and warm over a low heat until the butter is melted.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, excluding the demerara sugar and crystallised ginger.

Once the butter has melted, use a wooden spoon to mix this into the dry ingredients to form a soft glossy dough. Add the finely chopped crystallised ginger at this stage if you wish.

Using clean hands, break off walnut sized lumps of the dough and roll into smooth balls. Place on the prepared baking trays leaving a good 7-8cm (about 2 and 1/2 inches) between each ball. Gently press each ball onto the tray but you don’t need to make it very flat – the baking process will flatten it. If you like, sprinkle a little Demerara sugar on top of each biscuit – it makes them pretty but doesn’t add to the crunch.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning the trays half way through, until they have risen and deep auburn brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Category Home, Recipe Index | Tags: baking,biscuits,ginger | No Comments
Spice 9 – Nigella seeds or Kalonji – Mango Chutney

January 11, 2015 by sarah

You can buy a perfectly nice mango chutney in the supermarket to be honest, but when shopping last week I could not believe my luck when I found a 2kg crate of mangoes reduced to £1! If anyone is reading this in the future when inflation has taken its toll, £1 is how much a moderate loaf of bread costs. I like a chutney to go with curry that is not too spicy to counteract the heat of the curries it is served with. Probably why I like raita too, but my husband cannot understand why you would eat yogurt with a savoury dish and prefers the very hot spiced chutneys.This recipe is an almagmation of several. As normal for me, I cannot decide on one or I like components from several. You cannot really tell what a chutney is going to be like except after several months of maturing but I can feel this is going to be a good one. It smells so fragrant and I tasted a little and it has a lovely balance of sweet and vinegary.

The spice that is particular to this dish is Nigella seeds, also known as Kalonji. They are sometimes called black onion seeds but are unrelated to onion and have a mild peppery flavour that can also be a little bitter. They are commonly used in Indian cooking such as this chutney and dhals, and are also used in a decorative way sprinkled over flat breads like naans.

Sarah’s Mango Chutney

2kg mangoes

100g fresh root ginger, peeled and cut into julienne strips

100g medium strength red chillis, deseeded and cut into julienne

15g fresh garlic, peeled and cut into short lengths

400g golden caster sugar

500ml cider or white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 teaspoons corriander seends

12 green cardamon pods, split and discard green case

1 teaspoon tumeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons Nigella (black onion or kalonji) seeds

Prepare the mango; peal, stone and chop roughly.

Dry fry the dry spices except the nigella seeds until fragrant then grind in mortar and pestle or spice grinder until fine.

Add all the ingredients to a large preserving pan and heat gently until all the sugar is dissolved. Now simmer gently for about an hour, stirring frequently towards the end.

When thick, pot hot into hot sterilised jars and seal.

Leave for a couple of months to mature before using.

Category 40 Spices, Home | Tags: chutney,nigella seeds,spices | No Comments
Stollen

January 7, 2015 by sarah

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas cake bread found all over the continent at this time of the year and making its way over to the UK. Rather than buying an over priced cake drenched in that awful sweet powder that is not sugar, I decided to give it a go making one myself especially as it would give me an excuse for trying out an enriched dough recipe. An enriched dough contains butter or eggs (this recipe has both) which means the action of the yeast is suppressed. Basically this recipe cannot be rushed as the yeast will take longer to rise so find a day when you are in all day and start early in the morning. Our house does not have heating during the day so to give the yeast some warmth in which to do its magic, I placed the covered bowl on a vivarium heat mat. This heat mat is essential for me to make bread as the house is fairly cool even in summer – it only cost about £10 from eBay (something like this).

I am not sure if you would call stollen a yeasted cake or an enriched bread – they are the same thing I guess. The bread part is sweet and almost cake like in taste and texture, the mixed fruits add interest to the texture and the spices just scream Christmas. I love the taste of marzipan so I cannot think of anything better than stollen but if you don’t like marzipan I suppose you could leave it out (you heathen). I think I left my stollen to prove too long the second time as it slumped in the middle. Has anyone else had this problem? I also made it as one huge stollen but it was a real monster and would probably do better as two smaller loaves. Stollen freezes well once baked so by having two loaves, you could have fresh stollen for the whole Christmas period!

Stollen

500g strong white bread flour

100g butter, melted

50g caster sugar

225ml warm milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

5g salt

10g fast action yeast (one and half packets of usual supermarket size)

an egg, beaten

For the filling

100g raisins

100g currants

100g mixed peel

50g flaked almonds or chopped blanched almonds

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 green cardamons, seeds removed and crushed

25g butter, melted

200g marzipan

For the icing

25g butter, melted

icing sugar

In a large bowl put the flour and sugar. Add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the salt on the other. Add the melted butter, beaten egg, vanilla extract and most of the milk and using your hand, mix well together until comes together. Use the extra milk if the dough is dry; this dough starts off very sticky but will become shiny, smooth and elastic as it is kneaded. It needs kneaded for 10 minutes. When the dough is soft and elastic, place in a well floured bowl and cover with cling film.

Leave to rise somewhere warm to double in size – this may take a couple of hours.

In a clean bowl, mix together the filling ingredients except the butter and marzipan.

Once the dough has risen, knock back the dough in the bowl and then transfer the dough to the filling bowl. Mix the filling into the dough by kneading the dough from the outside of the bowl into the centre.

When all the filling is incorporated into the dough, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a rectangle (either one large one or two smaller ones). Sticking down the edge of the dough to the work surface nearest you and rolling away from the body is the easiest way of achieving this.

Roll out the marzipan to a rectangle that fits within the dough the dough rectangle. Brush the dough rectangle with the melted butter, lay over the marzipan and roll up the whole lot, making sure the marzipan is completely enclosed and the long edge and ends are well sealed (squidge with fingers). Place this rolled loaf or loaves onto a floured baking sheet, place inside a large plastic bag (I had to use a bin bag to get one big enough) and leave somewhere warm to prove. It needs to double in size again and when touched, the surface springs back.

Preheat the oven to 180 ºC/fan 160 ºC. Bake the loaf/loaves for 40 minutes to an hour depending on the size; they should be pale golden. When the loaf/loaves are removed from the oven,place on a wire rack, brush with the last lot of melted butter and dust liberally with icing sugar.

Once cool, wrap in paper or cling film to store. Keeps for 3 or 4 days.

Category Home, Recipe Index | Tags: baking,bread,dough,dried fruit | No Comments
Chocolate Cake and Swiss Meringue Buttercream

January 3, 2015 by sarah

To remind you what I used these recipes for, here a picture of the finished cake. Unfortunately I haven’t got a picture of the layers inside as I forgot to take my camera to the party where it was served and I was asked to be the one to serve up the cake. It is kind of hard destroying your own piece of art but it was in a good cake eating cause!

The cake recipe is slightly modified one from Donna Hay, an Australian online magazine, but has been extensively reused in blog land. Despite having never made this recipe before and it being a little odd (gallons of water in the recipe) I felt sure enough to give it a go for the cake proper, though I did have back up ingredients in case I needed to go back to a regular sponge cake. I used one batch of the cake recipe to make three 8″/20cm layers and a second batch to make one more tier and a tray bake of 25 x 35 centimeters . The orginal recipe states to cook in two 20cm tins and then cut each in half to get the four layers but I wanted stouter layers for the stump cake so went with an extra layer. I think either would work. This cake is lovely and moist and despite being flavoured only with cocoa powder, has a surprisingly good chocolate taste. I don’t think it would last very long as it is made with a lot of water so is likely to dry out quickly. It didn’t last long enough to find out this time!

Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake

375ml water

190g unsalted butter, chopped into chunks

50g cocoa powder

450g plain flour

1 and 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

550g caster sugar, golden if you have it

4 medium eggs

180ml buttermilk, or couple tablespoons natural yogurt in 150ml milk

1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grease and line with baking parchment (silicone paper) two or three 8″/20cm cake tins.

Preheat the oven to 180 ºC/ fan 160 ºC.

Place the water, butter and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over a low to medium heat, stirring occassionally until all the butter is melted and the cocoa powder has dissolved and then take off the heat.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar and bicarbonate of soda.

In a jug beat the eggs and then beat in the buttermilk (or yogurt/milk mixture) and vanilla extract.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry (make sure the cocoa/butter mix is no warmer than blood temperature), scrapping down the sides of the bowl and bottom a couple of times. This is much easier to mix in a stand mixer with the mixer paddle attachment.

Divide the batter between the prepared tins and place all the cakes on the same shelf in the preheated oven. Cook for 40-45 minutes. They are done when a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean and the cake has shrink away from the sides of the tin a little.

Leave to cool in the tins for 10-15 minutes then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely. I covered them with a clean tea towel while they cooled to stop them drying out (and stop cat hairs getting on them!). Trim the tops of the cakes level before assembling.

Swiss meringue buttercream sends even experienced bakers into fits of weeping. Too many bowls of wasted buttercream when it splits, curdles or seizes. My previous attempts at this type of icing where not particularly successful (see last years icing for the wedding cake) but the more I read about it, the more I wanted to give it another try. Several times during the process I thought it looked a disaster, but as I read other blogs about just keep whipping it and it will come right, low and behold that is what happened. I thought the butter had been too cold when I added it because half way through I could still see lumps of butter but I just turned the mixer up to medium/high and left it for 15 minutes to console myself reading about other peoples Swiss meringue buttercream disasters. When I looked back, it was perfectly smooth and just as it should be. It wasn’t a fast process to make this icing but the results are spectacular – soft, silky smooth with a perfect balance of butteriness and sweet without cloying. Just like eating chocolate mousse on a cake! Perfect!

This recipe made enough to ice the 4 layer stump cake (between layers and all over) and a small amount for the top of the tray bake. This icing pipes very well but you would need probably double if you were going to pipe on the textures, whereas I only needed a thinner layer which would hold on the chocolate bark. This icing keeps for up to a week in the refrigerator but it needs to come up to room temperature before using (and will need rewhipping for 5 minutes) or eating. It can apparently be frozen for a month or two but I haven’t tried this.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

6 egg whites (180g)

300g white granulated sugar

400g unsalted butter, take out of fridge and cut into cubes

1/4 teapoon fine salt

200g dark chocolate, melted

Place the egg whites and sugar in the mixing bowl of the stand mixer and sit this over a saucepan of barely simmering water (a bain marie). Using the whisk attachment from the stand mixer, whisk pretty well continuously (but it doesn’t need to be vigorous) until the sugar has completely dissolved (cannot feel any grains under fingers) and the mixture looks opaque white. If you have a sugar thermometer, you are aiming for 60-70 ºC or 150-160 ºF.

Remove the bowl from the heat and fit to the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip on high speed until completely cold i.e. the bowl feels neutral to the touch. This took me at least 15 minutes and I was getting impatient to I took the bowl out of the stand mixer and put it outside for half an hour and that cooled it down.

The critical bit now is the temperature of the meringue and the butter. The meringue must be cool and the butter must be soft but still cool (I had to put it back in the fridge for a little to cool off as the kitchen was too warm as the oven was on).

Switch over to the paddle attachment on the mixer and add the butter a cube at a time, allowing about 15 seconds between cubes, with the mixer on low to medium speed. *

Once all the butter is added, you can add the flavourings and salt, and colourings you might like. In this case it was chocolate, but like the butter it must not be warm when added. Vanilla extract and bean puree can be added, or lemon zest and oil, fruit purees (make sure concentrated so minimal water is added).

*If the mixture looks like it is curdling or lumpy then don’t add any more butter, set the mixer up to high and leave until it has come back together then you can resume adding the butter. If the buttercream seems too loose then put in the fridge for a while before trying to pipe or ice. Conversely, if the buttercream has become too firm (for example kept in the fridge) and it does not become satiny smooth after 5 minutes of rewhipping then microwave a quarter of the buttercream for just 10 seconds, add this back into the main buttercream and continue whipping.

Category Home, Recipe Index | Tags: baking,chocolate,layer cake,swiss meringue buttercream | 2 Comments
Meringue Mushrooms

December 30, 2014 by sarah

My idea for the stump de Noël cake came indirectly. I saw pictures of beautiful traditional bûche de Noël that were decorated with meringue mushrooms but a bûche would not be large enough to feed the number of people expected at the Christmas party so the cake metamorphosed into a larger stump which required more and more elaborate mushrooms. They are all made very simply from French meringue; field mushrooms with dark chocolate gills, bracket fungi from half moons of meringue dusted with cocoa powder and fly agarics decorated with the quintessential toadstool red cap with white spots.

I felt I had to try and make the fly acargic toadstools; the myth from the far icy North of reindeer flying apparently comes the eating of fly agarics which are supposedly hallucinogenic. I don’t recommend trying them; all our mushroom collecting books suggest they are nasty poisonous. The fly agarics were the hardest to make because white chocolate is a nightmare to work with. Three times I melted white chocolate and added red gel paste and three times the chocolate seized. I read all the tricks I could; I added it before melting the chocolate, I added it to some melted chocolate and then added it to the rest. I tried freeze dried raspberry dust moistened with water instead but that wasn’t red enough. In a fit of desperation I read somewhere in blogland that adding a little water to chocolate is a disaster (it seizes) but if you add alot then something miraculous happens. And it did. I added about equal volume of hot (almost boiling) water to a lump of seized white chocolate which I had coloured red, beat it vigorously with a wooden spoon and lo and behold, liquid red chocolate! I used this to dip half the cooked meringue tops (I did it twice, repeating the process when the first layer was set in order to get a good strong red colour). Once set, I added white dots in melted white chocolate. I think next time I make them, I will try colouring the meringue for the tops red so there is no messing around with finicky white chocolate.

Meringue Mushrooms

3 medium egg whites (60g) at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

pinch of salt

75g caster sugar

25g icing sugar

cocoa powder and melted chocolate to decorate

Prepare two large baking sheets by lining them with baking parchment (siliconised paper).

Preheat the oven to 100 ºC.

Make sure a large glass/pyrex bowl and whisks are completely clean of any grease – I wipe down with kitchen paper dampened with vinegar.

In the large bowl, whisk the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form.

At this stage, add the caster sugar one tablespoonful at a time, whisking well between each addition. When all the caster sugar is added, sift over the icing sugar and then whisk again until the mixture is thick and glossy. Stop at this stage otherwise over beating will cause the bubbles in the egg whites to breakdown and you’ll end up with runny meringue.

Put the meringue in a pipping bag fitted with a 1 to 1.5cm plain nozzle.

To pipe the caps, hold the bag vertically just above the baking sheet and squeeze the bag with even pressure until a round is formed – size and height up to you. Stop squeezing and twist the bag to remove. If any meringue peaks stay sticking up then you can flatten them with a dampened finger. Repeat this to make about 20 caps, leaving at least a couple of centimeters between each disc.

To pipe the stems, hold the bag vertically again but as you squeeze the bag, pull upwards to form a vertical stem of meringue. Don’t worry if they are a little lopsided – it adds to the mushrooms charm. Use the remaining meringue to make as many stems as possible.

The bracket fungi were made from meringue piped into semi-circles with the inner circumference roughly what I though the curve of the cake would be.

Dust with a light shower of cocoa powder over the meringue caps that will become regular mushrooms (I did half and half without).

Place in the preheated oven for about an hour and half. Turn the oven off, prop the door open ajar and leave to completely cool.

To assemble the mushrooms, use a metal skewer or small knife to make a small hole about 0.5cm diameter in the underside of the mushroom caps.

Melt plain chocolate and when cooling down, paint the underside of the caps with the chocolate, use a toothpick to draw gill lines in the chocolate, drawing into the centre and firmly press a meringue stem into the centre of the underside of the cap so that it seats itself into the hole you made with a good glob of chocolate around. Set upside down on a baking tray until the chocolate has set.

For the fly agarics, I made the holes in the underside of the caps then decorated the caps with red chocolate and piped on white chocolate spots and once dry I used some more melted white chocolate to fix the stems into the underside of the caps.

Category Home, Recipe Index | Tags: baking,chocolate,meringue | No Comments
More machine embroidery

December 28, 2014 by sarah

I decided to use my new found embroidery talents to make Christmas presents.

‘Secret’ santa present for a nurse at work – Betty the basset hound.

Christmas present for my Mum – her springer spaniel Corrie.

And her working cocker spaniel Millie.

Category Home, Making | Tags: free motion embroidery,machine embroidery | No Comments
Stump de Noel – a special chocolate Christmas cake

December 27, 2014 by sarah

Here is a picture of the chocolate cake I made for our work Christmas Eve party. I am very proud of it!

I feel this was one of my most successful cakes yet. It looked stunning and tasted delicious! By 6pm that evening there was just one small knob of cake left and some crumbs!

Inside is a four tier moist buttermilk chocolate cake. I also made a tray bake using the same recipe and decorated it with left over meringue mushrooms and buttercream. Between the two, the cakes fed 30-40 people with generous slices. I will post the recipes for the chocolate cake and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and I’ll put up the directions for the meringue mushrooms imminently. This was my second or third attempt at Swiss meringue buttercream. Previous attempts were rather heavy but this time it turned out how is was supposed to be and it was the perfect soft creamy feeling in the mouth but not overbearingly buttery or sweet; almost like eating chocolate mousse on a cake! I think the difference has to be in using a stand mixer to make it; it really gets lots of air into the meringue. So I can reveal one of the Christmas presents from my husband; a Kenwood stand mixer. I had to open it before the day so I could use it to make this cake but is had been sitting on our bedroom floor for about 3 weeks prior to this so I knew what I was getting (plus my husband asked what model I wanted so it was a bit of a give away)!

It wasn’t until I had added the extras to the finished cake did it sit so resplendent on its old silver tray. This whole cake is most definitely better than the sum of its parts; meringue mushrooms, chocolate shards for bark, fudge cut surface with rings, oreo cookie dirt, green coconut moss, chocolate and tuile biscuit leaves. It was an endevour to get this cake together. I think it was a total of about 10 hours work; 4 hours at the weekend making chocolate things and the meringue mushrooms and 6 hours on the afternoon/evening before the party to make the cake and icing and assemble it. I love how this cake looks rustic and rough around the edges but that it only adds to the reality of the finished art work. It is a cake to be proud of!

Here are some pictures of me making it.

The cat helping.

The four tiers and some of the tray bake.

Piping on the icing.

Perfect SBC consistancy.

Category Home | Tags: art,cake,Christmas | 1 Comment
Chestnut and Almond Cake

December 20, 2014 by sarah

Being a foodie has it down sides. Apart from the inevitable battle of the bulge (i.e. weight gain, not anything to do with trumpets) and the critical assessment of every meal you eat, you end up with an odd assortment of ingredients lurking in the fridge and cupboards and nothing real to eat on a day to day basis. Or at least I do. After a bit of a cupboard tidy out at the weekend (really to fit in more special buys), I found a tin of chestnut puree (out of date by 6 months) and some tiny jars of homemade marron glacé in syrup (in which the sugar had crystalised – I made them at least 2 years ago). Most of the recipes I searched for required sweetened chestnut puree or marron glacé puree but they sounded too sweet and sickly. So this recipe is a hash up of a couple of different recipes; Nigella in’How to be a Dometic Goddess’ and this recipe on someone else’s blog. My recipe can easy be made dairy free (see the added notes) and is naturally gluten free, being based on ground almonds and the chestnut puree. It is not calorie or guilt free; it is rich and dense but not overwhelmingly sweet or cloying like some chestnut based recipes can be. It is so moreish and decadent; perfect for this for this time of year. And apparently chestnuts are good for you.

This year I bought my chestnuts from Oxford covered market and they are a complete contrast to the ones in the supermarkets. They are so large, moist and sweet. We roasted them on our sitting rom fire last weekend and the sweet nutty smell filled the house with seasonal joy. I made my own marron glacé a few years ago but I have to say it was not worth the effort, no matter how expensive they are! I did find a small jar of crumbled bits in syrup that I had stashed away and that made a perfect finish for this cake. Feel free to buy them rather than make them; I won’t hold it against you. Next time will try adding 250g melted plain chocolate to the mixture, as Nigella has in her recipe. This recipe is very rich and feeds 10-12 easily. It doesn’t need cream to counteract any sweetness but some creme fraiché would go well if serving this cake for desert.

Chestnut and Almond Cake

4 large eggs, separated

200g caster sugar

100g butter (or replace with 70ml of vegetable oil for vegan version)

200g ground almonds

400g tin of chestnut puree (make sure unsweetened)

1/2 orange, zested

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoon honey flavour liqueur or rum or almond milk

For the chocolate covering

200g plain chocolate

1 tablespoon glucose syrup or golden syrup

pinch salt

70g butter or 100ml cream or 70g dairy-free margarine

Preheat oven to 180 ºC/160 ºC fan.

Line the bottom and grease well a 20cm/8 inch springform tin.

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract together until light in colour and creamy.

Add the melted butter – make sure it is only at blood temperature, no hotter.

In a bowl, tip the chestnut puree and fork up until smooth paste.

Add the chestnut puree, ground almonds, orange zest and baking powder to the egg/sugar bowl and mix well; add the extra liquid as required so mixture not too stiff (it should fall off the spoon easily).

In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add a quarter of these whisked whites to the cake mix and beat to loosen the mixture. Gently fold in the rest of the whites being careful not to knock out too much air.

Pour into the tin and place in the middle of the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool entirely in the tin before running a knife around the outside and turning upside down onto a plate. Don’t worry if the cake looks dry and cracked – it won’t be dry inside.

Make the chocolate covering by putting all the ingredients for the covering into a bain marie (i.e. a bowl over a gently simmering pan of water), stir until smooth then pour over the cake. You may need to wait 10 minutes or so for the covering to thicken – if it is too thin it will just run off the cake.

Allow the covering to set before serving.

Category Home, Recipe Index | Tags: baking,cake,chestnut,chocolate | No Comments
Medlars – cheese and jelly

December 14, 2014 by sarah

When we were on holiday in Suffolk at the end of October, we came across a medlar tree in the car park of a National Trust property. I had a vague recollection of reading about medlars and being intrigued about this very old fruit, so after asking we filled a carrier bag full. They didn’t seem promising at that stage. I bit into one and it was hard and astringent (really unripe) but after some internet research, I found that they are only edible after ‘bletting’ which really is just another word for allowing to go rotten. So when we got them home, I laid them out in a flat box and put them in the shed. And forgot about them. Until this week. When I entered the shed I could smell a ripe fruity smell, which I followed to find the box of now bletted medlars! They had changed colour from a yellow green to deep brown. Eating them fresh is probably an acquired taste because at first I wasn’t sure if they were any good but after a few days of trying them, they grew on me. The fresh is a disgusting brown colour and a grainy but completely mushy texture, but the flavour is unique; like stewed apple with a hint of rhubarb. So here are a few posts on what I made with my medlars!

Medlars are related to roses and therefore apples. They contain about 5 large pips and a have a fairly tough skin. They were a fruit popular in medieval times and known as ‘cats (or dogs) arse’ because of their curious shaped bottoms! I have to say from a veterinary/anatomical point of view, they are not very anatomically correct. An unusual sweetmeat was made from spiced medlar cheese called chardequince, though it was made from that Cinderella of the British orchard, the medlar rather than the more popular quince. The historic food website has all manor of old food facts and trivia and you can see these chardequince. Also this kind of cheese is not a dairy cheese; it is an old-fashioned preserve made with fruit puree and sugar that is slowly simmer for a long time to reach a stiff consistency that is sliceable. Fruit cheeses are traditionally served with cheeses or meats but can also be eaten as a sweet (kind of like fruit pastilles) at the end of a meal or with nuts and port. They should last for a long time, a year at least, but I am keeping them in the spare fridge just to be safe as I don’t have an old fashioned larder (on the wish list though).

I have included both recipes here on the same page because they both start out the same. Take the bletted medlars and squish them in your hands into a large pan; if they are well bletted then this is easy. Add enough water to come half way up the fruit and simmer on a medium heat for 15-20 minutes until well and truly mushy. Use a potato masher to get the flesh out of the fruit.

Medlar Jelly

Put the cooked fruit and liquid into a jelly bag and suspend at least overnight to allow the juices to drip out. Give a little squeeze to release some more juice (I think I did it too much because the finished jelly was cloudy). Measure this juice into a pan and add the juice of a lemon and 450g granulated sugar for every pint of medlar juice. Warm slowly until the sugar is dissolved and then boil furiously until setting point is reached (it took about 10 minutes for mine). Take off the heat and allow to stand for a few minutes, skim off the scum and pot into sterilised jars while still boiling hot.

Medlar Cheese

Take the stewed medlars and push the flesh though a sieve, discarding the skins and seeds. This takes ages; put some music or course work on in the back ground!

Weight the puree into a heavy bottomed pan and add three quarters this weight of granulated sugar (e.g. 1kg puree will need 750g sugar) and the juice of a lemon.

Heat gently, stirring frequently and constantly towards the time when the cheese is thickening. It is ready when you draw a spoon through the mixture and it stays parted for a few seconds – like the Red Sea! Prepare some moulds (muffin/cupcake pans, mini loaf tins, large loaf tins) by greasing the insides with some oil with no flavour (I used regular sunflower oil) using some kitchen paper. VERY carefully tip/spoon/pour some of the mixture into the moulds and level. Be very careful; it is like molten lava! Leave to cool overnight before turning out and wrapping in greaseproof paper.

UPDATE 21/9/15 – I tried making damson cheese with this recipe but waiting long enough for the Red Sea meant the mixture was over cooked – it tasted like burnt sugar and was so hard, it would not come out of the moulds and was not cuttable! I think less cooking next time. It is also very time consuming; took over and hour and a half to get this thick.

Category Home, Recipe Index | Tags: cheese,jam,jelly,medlar,others | 8 Comments
Spice 8 – Mustard seeds – homemade mustard

December 7, 2014 by sarah

Mustard seeds are small seeds of three related brassica (yes them of cabbage, turnip and broccoli fame) plants that give black, brown and white/yellow mustard. It is one of the few spices that will grow in the UK. The heat and fire in mustard seeds is only released once the seeds are broken down and this usually means grinding them and adding moisture. The heat molecules (icothiocyantes) are short lived unless something acidic (like vinegar) is added to the mix and are heat inactivated so once roasted like other spices often are, they remain with just a vague sense of mustardiness is left.

Mustard seeds are a common ingredient in Indian cuisine and others of the region, especially in pickles, chutneys and vegetable dishes. Mustard oil, extracted from the seeds, is also often used. But perhaps the biggest use for mustard seeds in the cuisine of Western countries is as made into the condiment mustard in all its multitudinous varieties, for serving with cold meats, roast beef, and adding to mayonnaise, vinaigrettes, marinades and sauces. In its dry form, powdered mustard lacks potency; the addition of water releases the pungent compounds. The pungency of mustard is always reduced by heating; if added to a dish during cooking, it gives less pungency than if added afterwards. The many varieties of prepared mustards have a wide range of strengths and flavors, depending on the variety of mustard seed and the preparation method. The taste and “heat” of the mustard is determined largely by seed type, preparation and ingredients.Preparations from the white mustard plant have a less pungent flavor than preparations of black mustard. The temperature of the water and concentration of acids such as vinegar also determine the strength of a prepared mustard; hotter liquids and stronger acids denature the enzymes that make the strength-producing compounds. Thus, “hot” mustard is made with cold water, whereas using hot water produces a milder condiment, all else being equal.

Mustard seeds can easily be bought in bulk from Asian/Indian grocery shops. The advantage of making mustard condiment yourself, is that is infinitely customisable and you know exactly what has gone into it. You could use a local beer or mustard for a local feel or herbs from your garden (tarragon is traditional). You could alter the heat by increasing the proportion of black seeds or even adding a chili. This mustard will keep for at least a month in the fridge.

Homemade Beer Mustard

200g black mustard seeds

150g yellow/white mustard seeds

500ml beer or ale

175ml cider vinegar or white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sea salt

8 tablespoons runny honey

1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric

1 tablespoon ground mace

Mix the mustard seeds and beer in a glass bowl, cover and leave overnight or 24 hours.

Sterilise small jars for the mustard – clean well and set in an over set at about 120 ºC for 15 minutes or so, leave to cool in the oven.

Tip all the ingredients (including the soaked mustard seeds and any excess beer) into a food processor and process until thick. You will need to scrape down the sides a couple of times. Stop when the mustard has achieved the desired consistency – I like mine more whole grain.

Leave the mustard to sit for 15 minutes at least before tasting and adding more honey etc as you think it needs it.

Spoon the mustard into the cooled jars, tapping gently on a a wooden board to release trapped air bubbles. Seal tightly and store in the fridge.

Category 40 Spices, Home | Tags: beer,mustard,spices | No Comments