Redcurrants

How pretty do these little jewels look on a plate, add to super sweet meringues, some double cream and a dusting of icing sugar.  For extra sweetness, as the redcurrants are tart, you can add icing sugar to the cream, how about a a few drops of vanilla essence too.

I remember my grandmother having loads of these bushes and she used to spend ages taking all the currants from the stem by putting them through the fork tines to gently strip them off.  Having had a search around I find a handy video....not my grandmother!
remove currants

I posted a summer pudding recipe a while back that is always good to fall back on, super easy to make, just needs to be done in advance:
Summer Pudding

Also available are gooseberries and raspberries - for the next few weeks:

Not into puddings well how about red currant gin:
Red currant gin

Raspberries

The first pickings of raspberries will be available on Ampthill Country Market on Thursday, I love raspberries.  Along with fresh raspberries this week there will be jam to follow in the next few weeks as well.

We had homemade Raspberry muffins at the weekend, that my other half made using a square muffin tin, so thought I would share the recipe with you, delicious with a blob of vanilla yoghurt, or maybe some icecream, or clearly great on their own.  You can do the same with reasberries as gooseberries see here:
http://ampthillcm.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/soft-fruit.html

and of course the summer pudding posted last week:

http://ampthillcm.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/summer-pudding.html

Here is the muffin recipe:

I have a large jug that I always use for making muffins and find it easier to pour the mixture as it is runny, and all muffins are delicious straight from the oven.

200g plain flour
100g caster sugar
50g soft brown sugar
Cinnamon to taste (optional)
2 ½ Baking powder

½ teaspoon salt
90ml skimmed or semi-skimmed milk

80ml vegetable oil

1 large egg, beaten
5 drops vanilla extract
200gms (approx) fruit

• Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.
• Measure out flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large jug. 
• Combine milk, oil, egg and vanilla in another jug.
• Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).
• Gently fold in chopped fruit, divide amongst 10 cases, or around that number, cases 2/3rds full.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top, sprinkle with icing sugar when slightly cool.

NB I have cheated and use loganberries in the picture as that is all I had in the garden :)

Jam

We sell a wide variety of homemade jam throughout the year, and is made mainly from home grown fruit.

Homemade jam is special and the quality is far superior to any mass produced jam in the shops - come and buy a jar, so that you can taste for yourself.  It doesn't have any artificial preservatives or colours.

A selection of varieties like raspberry, damson, victoria plum, gooseberry, blackcurrant are often available. 



There is the most variety following the summer months when fruit is in abundance, what is your favourite variety and how do you like to eat your jam?

Sometimes we have scones on the stall too, a perfect partner, and we often have a victoria sandwich with homemade jam inside.

Summer Pudding

With the abundance of soft fruit in the summer months here is a really easy recipe, and it is even low in fat :)

You need a quantity of fruit, a nice selection is good - but it pretty much works with any combination of:
Strawberries
Blackcurrants
Redcurrants
Blackberries
Loganberries
Blueberries

I like to put something in with a bit of punch like blackcurrants or blackberries, but not too many that it overpowers.

I put all the fruit into a saucepan with some sugar, and a tiny drop of water, I personally think that the quantity of sugar depends how sweet you like things. I heated it up until some of the juices came out, not too much as you want the fruit to keep its shape. I took nearly all of the fruit out of the saucepan and left a bit in the saucepan, I mashed these up and made more sauce.

I then roughly lined a pudding bowl with cling film leaving the edges out, this just ensures it will come out easy.

Then it was a case of using sliced white bread to line the basin. I found a saucer than fitted on top of the basin so that it would squash the contents down. Leaving the slices as complete as possible and just filling in the gaps. The outside of each of the pieces was dunked into the sauce and put back into the basin. Then pile the fruit into the basin so it is full. Then make a sliced bread lid - again dunking the outside in the sauce.  The first time I made this I didn't dunk the outside of the bread into the sauce and I found it didn't seep all the way through.

Then pop the plate or saucer on top so that it squashes it down, and put a tin of something on top to weigh it down.

Leave over night.

The pic is a slice with some clotted cream icecream (not homemade!)

There are loads of recipes on the internet - here is one by Mary Berry it isn't a recipe that needs an exact science - just go with what you fancy, you just don't want too much juice, if you have too much use it to add to serve.

Soft fruit

Over the summer months we have soft fruit, starting with gooseberries this week, thenwe will have redcurrant and blackcurrant, raspberries and plums and greengages.  Each have a short season, but are a real treat and are so local and fresh you really must get down to the market to get some.  Shop local :)

I will post on Facebook and twitter when they are coming in.

For a simple idea for a pudding, serve up on a meringue nest served with icecream or yoghurt, or even cream.  Or crush the meringue nest and stir in fruit with yoghurt or cream.

The gooseberries will need cooking with some sugar first depending how sweet you like things,  the other fruit can be served as they come, or the currants you may prefer to add sugar.  Elderflower cordial is a perfect partner for gooseberries, and it is so simple to make, the elderflowers are out at the moment, and there are plenty in the hedgerows :)

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/531660/homemade-elderflower-cordial

here are couple of sites that will aid you identify it:

http://www.britishlarder.co.uk/elderflower-cordial

http://www.discoverwildlife.com/blog/new-series-how-find-wild-food-part-1-elderflower

Rhubarb

We will still have rhubarb this week on the stall, did you know that orange is a good partner?  so how about cooking it in a drop of orange juice or even adding an orange.  

There are lots of recipe ideas here: bbc good food

You may be interested to know that it was announced as a superfood here: NHS news

According to nutrition-and-you it has many health benefits:

• Rhubarb is one of the least calorie vegetables. 100 g fresh petioles provide just 21 calories. Nonetheless, it contains some vital phyto-nutrients such as dietary fiber, poly-phenolic anti-oxidants, minerals, and vitamins. Further, its petioles contain no saturated fats or cholesterol.
• The stalks are rich in several B-complex vitamins such as folates, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin, and pantothenic acid.
• Red color stalks contain more vitamin A than in the green varieties. Further, the stalks also contain small amounts of poly-phenolic flavonoid compounds like β-carotene, zea xanthin, and lutein. These compounds convert to vitamin A inside the body and deliver same protective effects of vitamin A on the body. Vitamin A is a powerful natural anti-oxidant and is required by the body for maintaining the integrity of skin and mucus membranes. It is also an essential vitamin for healthy eye-sight. Research studies suggest that natural foods rich in vitamin A help the body protects against lung and oral cavity cancers.
• As in other greens like kale, spinach, etc., rhubarb stalks also provide good amounts of vitamin-K. 100 g of fresh stalks provide 29.3 µg or about 24% of daily recommended intake of this vitamin. Vitamin K has a potential role in bone health by promoting osteotrophic (bone formation and strengthening) activity. Adequate vitamin-K levels in the diet help limiting neuronal damage in the brain; thus, has established role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
• Its stalks also contain healthy levels of minerals like iron, copper, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. However, most of these minerals do not absorb into the body as they are subject to chelating into insoluble complexes by oxalic acid, and excreted out from the body.