A very happy Autumn Equinox to you all! Here we are, already half way between the longest and shortest days, and the time is flying before us just as the dry coloured leaves are beginning to fly from the trees as the rest of the harvest is safely gathered in.
British weather often seems to have a mind of its own, but this year it has been even odder than usual – just another symptom of climate change, perhaps? Some people have struggled to grow anything in their gardens this summer whilst others, against all odds, have been blessed with marvellous crops, especially apples. This time of year frequently sees people offering to share their good fortune: bags and carriers of fruit appear at meetings and in friends houses, containers are left outside gates and driveways – free to anyone who can use them rather than the fruit being wasted.
I thought that it might be useful to share a couple of old family apple recipes with you.
The first is for apple chutney, which, according to my mother’s manuscript cookery book, she first as a young housewife made in 1952. Doubling the quantities below, it cost her three shillings and eleven pence ha’penny (just a fraction under 20p in today’s money) for a 10lb ( four and three quarter kilo) boiling. It is utterly delicious, sweet and tangy with slightly warm, spicy overtones. (I shall leave you to work out how much it costs to make today, but at least the apples usually come free!)
Interestingly, my mother’s recipe includes such directions as sieving the stewed apples and stoning the raisins – life is definitely easier now! Having said that, at the end of last week, my friend and I took a whole afternoon to make ten kilos of chutney and we were pretty exhausted by the time we had finished… but a quarter of that amount should present you with no difficulties at all.
APPLE CHUTNEY
Ingredients:
1 1/2 kilos hard, sour apples (sweeter eating apples may also be used, just reduce the amount of sugar by a third to compensate.)
3/4 kilo moist brown sugar ( a mixture of soft brown sugar and ordinary white granulated sugar works well).
1/2 kilo raisins
1 pint malt vinegar
three cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
28g salt
28g fresh root ginger, grated
56g mustard seed
1/2 a flat teaspoon of cayenne
Method:
- Peel, core and chop apples.
- Using a large, heavy-bottomed pan (to avoid sticking or burning while cooking) stew apples gently with sugar until tender, then puree.
- Add rest of ingredients and boil until smooth (about ten minutes).
- Pour into hot glass jars and screw lids on tightly to form airtight seals once cooled – jars recycled from your own store cupboard work perfectly.
- Leave to mature for a couple of weeks before eating.
My second recipe suggestion is for Chesham Tart, an old desert or teatime dish which we all find utterly delicious but which seems very little known about these days.
CHESHAM TART
Ingredients:
Pastry case, baked ‘blind’
Raspberry jam
stewed apple
1/2 pint whipped double cream
Method:
- Spread a thin layer of jam over the bottom of the pastry case
- Add a good thick layer of stewed apple to almost fill the case.
- Top with whipped cream – decorate with halves of glace cherries and crystalised angelica
Alternatively, instead of a pastry case, you may use a shallow sponge cake for the base – or the bottom half of a cake.
These are both easy recipes but delicious to eat. Please do let me know how you get on with them… and if you have ever heard of Chesham Tart!
