Catch Up Time

 Fungi melody

Sorry been away from the blog for a few months so I am now playing catch up, we had a bit of a mushroom forage back end of September, collecting field mushrooms, a lovely giant Puffball and our prize of the day was Beefsteak Fungi, we have never found one before so it was with great excitement that we collected this beauty, I was hoisted up by hubby knife in hand to cut it down from the Oak tree we found it growing on, upon getting home, we checked the identification of everything and had a mushroom melody fried in garlic and butter, it was a large haul so some of it got the dehydrator treatment, and stored away for a rainy day.

 Rose Hip Syrup

Our next foraging trip was for Rose Hips and Sloes, after we had a frost, so it was a nice batch of Rose Hip syrup, packed with vitamin C, a teaspoon every morning to help ward off those winter cold bugs.

Chutney at the start

Chutney after cooking

 

Clearing out the last of the tomatoes from the greenhouses was also on the list of things this autumn, as there was a fair amount of green ones what better than a big batch of Green Tomato Chutney, it takes a few hours to make up chutney but well worth the effort, it is now sitting in the cupboard maturing, should be ready for Christmas to have with cold meat.

 Vacuum Packing

 

With the dehydrator going at full steam ahead, I decided it was time to get a vacuum sealer, it helps to preserve the dried food and the food is easier to store and takes up less space. not an expensive purchase approx £40 and it came with a few rolls of bags as well, so it was ready to go as soon as it came out of the box.

 Dutch Oven Bread

 

I tried a bit of an experiment cooking bread in the Dutch Oven, and wow what a success, whats the point you may ask, well what if the electric goes off and I need bread, I now know i can cook a decent loaf on an open fire using the dutch oven, and with the plan to go self sufficient there may be many occasion were I end up cooking on an open fire, who knows a handy skill to have, we have cooked several meals in the Dutch Oven but not tried it for the basics, something I want to try more of.  So that is just about everything up to date, will not leave so long next time.