Apricots, Apricots and more Apricots

Abundance of Apricots

From the bright colour of red cherry to the sun kissed shades of apricot and peach. January 2013 has been an amazing season for apricots.

Although I don't have any apricot trees in my garden but my neighbours, Joe and Lucia do. Yes, it's always Joe and Lucia and their amazing backyard produce that provides us with our source of home-grown vegetables and fruit - Still, it contributes to fulfilling my dream of self-sufficiency - The day nears, hopefully,  when I will be able to take part in this exchange. I'm sure they feel sorry for me as they watch each day how much effort I put into watering and tendering the garden without too many visible results as yet.

Each day I find a bag of apricots on the BBQ beside the back door. Lucia called out one day for Matthew to come and pick the apricots high up in the tree as he is tall and no one else can reach the beautiful ripe apricots at the top of the tree. We took an ice-cream container and a few bags. We climbed the tree and picked heaps of apricots.

We ate them nearly as quickly as we picked them. The taste was amazing! They actually tasted and smelt like apricots! There is no comparison with the apricots you buy at the shops that are picked way too early, chilled and stored for days. The juiciness of a ripe and sweet apricot is a real delight.

I also made jam with some of the apricots. I used an old recipe from a cookbook my mother gave me which is in an old Dalmatian-Italian dialect. The old recipe originally comes from the coast of Dalmatia, now Croatia.It's so simple and easy to make apricot jam and made with Joe and Lucia's apricots, it has a strong apricot flavour and colour. I am very proud of my first home-made apricot jam.

Apricot Jam

1kg apricots
1lemon
500g sugar


Clean the apricots and take out the stone.
Place the apicots in a large pot.
To the apricots add the grated rind of one lemon and lemon juice.
Cook on medium high until the apricots become a pulp and then a a thick liquid. It should be bright orange now. Let it boil until it froths.
Reduce heat and add the sugar.
Simmer without frothing until the sugar dissolves and the apricot mixture thickens.

It takes approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

Jam is ready when a teaspoon  of the apricot jam is placed onto  a plate and when slightly cooled, the jam should not run or appear watery. It should have a thick consistency and be slightly firm.

Jars and lids should be sterilised by washing and keeping in hot water until ready to fill with the jam.
Place the hot jam in the jars and seal immediately.
Label and date jars.

Enjoy!

 

Cherry Picking over the Festive Season

Happy New Year!

Wishing you health, happiness, love and peace for 2013.

Cherry Picking at Wombat Heights

I took a little break over Christmas and New Year's from blogging, but here I am again ready for the challenges this year poses.

Previously I mentioned that the cherry slugs had much enjoyed my cherry trees early in the season and hence no cherries for me, only annoyance and extra work to get rid of the slugs.

I haven't continued to spray, instead leaving nature to restore the balance. In no time, lady bugs and other insects as well as birds fed on the slugs, ants and other pests attacking the cherry trees. The leaves have healed and the trees look much better now. However, since there are no cherries for this season, I didn't want to miss out on one of my favourite fruits. Instead of buying the cherries at the supermarket I was determined to buy locally grown cherries.

I researched local orchards on the Internet, unfortunately I wasn't able to find any growers nearby. There were none around Canberra. I thought it very strange as the climate is perfect for growing cherries. The nearest orchards were to be found around the town of Young in New South Wales - the cherry capital of Australia.Young together with Orange produces up to 50% of the total cherry production in Australia. The first cherries were planted in Young in 1847 and the first commercial orchard was established in 1878.

Each year Young holds a Cherry Festival at the end of November and beginning of December. The cherry harvest is celebrated with a street parade, Celtic tattoo, a cherry festival carnival, bush poets, markets and stalls, the cherry queen, fireworks, cherry pie eating competition, cherry pip spitting competition and other fringe events.

I instead found an orchard where you could pick your own cherries at a place called Wombat Heights, just past Harden town but not as far as Young. So off we went to pick our own cherries. The orchard is approximately an hour and a half out of Canberra. It is a lovely drive through the countryside, past the renowned wineries of Marrumbateman and small characteristic townships.

Along the way, I stopped to visit an old friend who lives in Harden and had lunch at the old Wombat Heights Hotel where I ate the biggest and most delicious pie ever.

Driving up the long winding driveway, we finally arrived at the Womat Heights Orchard 'Grog Shed' to be greeted by the owner of the orchard. Matthew and I were given a bucket each and told which rows were best to pick the cherries. We walked to the rows pointed out to us. I was so excited and couldn't wait to taste my first cherries of the season that I ran to the big, juicy Black Douglas cherries and started to gorge myself. It was only after 20 minutes that I realised I had left the bucket behind.

 

 

After picking a few kilos, we headed back to the Grog Shed to pay for  the cherries. The owner said to me: "Did you enjoy the cherries?" The red stain around my mouth and fingers was a dead giveaway I had been enjoying the produce.

 

 

 After chatting with the grower for a while (I got a few good tips on dealing with cherry slug and how to grow healthy cherry trees) and playing with the rag doll kitten, Matthew and I took a look around the 'Grog Shed'. The owners make their own jams, preserves, limoncello and cherry wine. We ended up buying a bottle of their famous cherry wine which the owner claims keeps forever! (I won't know as our wine will be gone soon enough).

It was a truly enjoyable day - a drive in the countryside, catching up with an old friend, a great pub meal, fun picking and eating lots of fruit, meeting and getting to know someone new, kilos of cheap cherries and a bottle of good wine. It really put me into a festive season mood. An experience I certainly would not get from going to the supermarket.