My parents have a house in France which they are renovating and behind huge amounts of brambles and weeds they found an apple orchard and Sloe trees. I am currently learning as much as possible about these so I can grow and look after them myself one day. I hope to go out there next summer for as long as possible so I can harvest the fruit and possibly plant more fruit trees I have grown from seed. This is why I want to start now as I have heard it can take up to 2 year for a seed to germinate…. Patients is not my most redeeming feature!
So for now my mum and dad brought loads of sloes back from France, when I mean loads I mean 5 shopping bags full and apparently this wasn’t half of them! The last time I went to france was when my son was 3 months, so didn’t get to do much exploring, now he’s 18 months he would happily explore by himself and I can keep an eye on him from a distance. So I am hoping to go there next year to figure out the different trees and fruit they have there. But I made a Sloe Chutney with the fruit brought back to go towards my wedding favours and I managed to make 8 jars of it with second-hand jam and sauce jars I had collected, which I thought was impressive as Jam doesn’t seem to stretch very far. The recipe is listed below, but i left out the chilli powder as I am not a chilli fan. The jar will be opened in December as it needs 3 months maturing, so perfect timing.
Enjoy!
xxx
Sloe Chutney
1 lb Sloes
2 tart apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 medium sized onions, sliced
1lb raisins
1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder
2 inch piece of fresh root ginger, grated
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
12 cloves
juice and grated rind of 2 oranges
1lb of soft brown sugar
1 pint of organic white wine vinegar
Put the ingredients in a large cooking pot and stir, using a wooden spoon. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally. Reduce the heat so the mixture simmers, stir occasionally, for 3 hours or until it is thick. Ladel into clean, warm jars. Cover, label and leave in a cool place for a couple of months.
lovemumx 