What's been going on here? Lots. Hence the non-blogging.
Can't even begin to remember what it's all been, so we'll just carry on from here, eh?!
Currently, beech leaves are steeping for gin:
If you want to know how to do this, see here: http://mazsplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012_08_01_archive.html
I'd like to report that beech leaf gin is FANTASTIC. I think it's the best booze I've ever made, which is why I'm making it again this year. These leaves look a little more bruised than last year's example. This is because I foolishly thought I had a load of cheap gin in the cupboard to pour straight on the leaves. It turned out to be vodka. So I had to whizz out and do a curséd weekly shop and stock up on cheap gin (they must think I'm such a dipso - oh! I am.). By the time I'd finished wading through the tedium of cat litter, cornflakes and loo cleaner (ooh, cheap coke is BRILLIANT for cleaning loos as a good friend informed me recently), the leaves had oxidised a bit.
I'm guessing it's going to turn out just fine, though. It smells good already.
Bread is currently baking for lunch:
http://mazsplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012_10_01_archive.html
And tomatoes are roasting - also for lunch:
http://mazsplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/gluts-and-what-to-do-with-them.html
So while I've got half an hour - blog time!
This week, having noticed what a fabulous month this is proving to be for dandelions, and following an interesting chat in the pub with a drunken mentalist in a great leather hat, I have decided to make dandelion wine. SO satisfying when a plant which is rampant in your garden goes from being a weed to a crop, and you can suddenly refer to weeding as 'harvesting'. So oi been a-harvestin' me dandeloyns, me loves.
I'm not sure whether to be pleased or miffed that the entire front and back gardens, including the veg patch, which appeared to be solid gold when the dandelions were still a weed, looked a lot greener, suddenly, when they had become a crop and didn't yield the gallon of petals required by the recipe. I sheepishly knocked next door and asked if I could possibly 'harvest' their dandelions, too - thank you, my lovely neighbours.
Although their garden is far better kept than ours, it all adds to the total!
I also then managed to find a recipe which called for three quarts rather than a gallon of petals. Once I'd consulted Mr P to find out what the holy hell a quart is, and found an online converter, I was good to go.
I'm going to have to wait a year to find out whether this stuff is any good, and there's going to be demijohns and bubble traps involved, possibly even rubber tubing (lawks!) - all kindsa malarkey. But my paternal grandmother used to make all manner of country wines, so I figure it's probably in the blood, and worth a go.
I'm going to copy out the recipe I'm loosely using, and put it here, because then I know I can't lose it. Clever, eh!? But bear in mind, it's completely untested (by me, at any rate), I will probably mess about with it no-end, and I can't vouch for it in any way.
3 qts dandelion flowers
1 lb white raisins
1 gallon water
3 lbs granulated sugar
2 lemons
1 orange
yeast and nutrient
Pick the flowers just before starting, so they're fresh. You do not need to pick the petals off the flower heads, but the heads should be trimmed of any stalk. Put the flowers in a large bowl. Set aside 1 pint of water and bring the remainder to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the dandelion flowers and cover tightly with cloth or plastic wrap. Leave for two days, stirring twice daily. Do not exceed this time. Pour flowers and water in large pot and bring to a low boil. Add the sugar and the peels (peel thinly and avoid any of the white pith) of the lemons and orange. Boil for one hour, then pour into a crock or plastic pail. Add the juice and pulp of the lemons and orange. Allow to stand until cool (70-75 degrees F.). Add yeast and yeast nutrient, cover, and put in a warm place for three days. Strain and pour into a secondary fermentation vessel (bottle or jug). Add the raisins and fit a fermentation trap to the vessel. Leave until fermentation ceases completely, then rack and add the reserved pint of water and whatever else is required to top up. Refit the airlock and set aside until clear. Rack and bottle. This wine must age six months in the bottle before tasting, but will improve remarkably if allowed a year. [Adapted recipe from C.J.J. Berry's First Steps in Winemaking]
This recipe is exactly as it appears where I found it. Personally, I think it's a bit odd to tell you to measure out a gallon of water and put a pint aside for what will amount to several months, but then this winemaking stuff is new to me. As are gallons and quarts. If I could be arsed, I would go and work out what a gallon is and work out what it was minus a pint, but I can't. Oh, hang on, I'll ask my Imperial guru! He says that would be seven pints. So why not tell people to use 7 pints, then add a pint right at the end ... oh, anyway! Mine is not to reason why, mine is just to make some wine.
So the dandelions are in a big pan, where they will be stirred twice a day for the next two days, by which time Amazon, curse their non-tax-paying convenience, will no doubt have delivered my yeast and yeast nutrient. Whatever that is. It's all very exciting.
I fear the machine that goes 'ping', aka the oven timer, is about to tell me that the bread is done, so I'm going to post this before I change my mind.
More nonsense will follow soon - I promise.
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