19/10/2025
My friends who love to grow have shared so much this year, an abundance of apples and a bunch of grapes grown in a tunnel here in West Cork. The grapes were about the size of blueberries, their skin the darkest purple almost black. The deep colour gives a clue to the antioxidants they contain, resveratrol and anthocyanins. They went into a savoury galette, a rustic tart where a piece of rolled out pastry is filled with sauté shallot, soft goats cheese, a few thyme leaves and the outer edge folded over leaving the filling still exposed. A little egg wash and a sprinkling of sesame seeds around the edge were the finishing touches. The grapes were the last addition before heading to the oven.
On a recent visit to another garden, I saw melons growing in a glass house, a pumpkin outdoors, and branches laden with apples. Tiny crab apples, russet eating apples and cooking apples galore. Gifted a pot of her mesmerising jewel coloured apple jelly made from boiling and straining her crab apples, red currants and vitamin C rich rosehips – all from her garden. Makes me want to have a mindful moment and just stare at the clear colour. Apparently, it is a talent not to produce a cloudy jelly.
Preserving was a tradition to make the harvest last longer and keep tasty food in the pantry for the bleak winter months when nothing grew. With supermarkets full of produce all year round, we have fallen out of the practice of eating with the seasons.
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