Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

Autumn finally arrived. Suddenly, my Monday morning ride to work was shrouded in mist, my feet wet with dew and more worryingly, my cycle helmet wreathed in October cobwebs. My legs and arms ached from a weekend of exertions and yet it was a very satisfying ache. The kind of satisfaction that comes from knowing you have realised, what you set out to achieve.

Carnage and Cleaning

The reason for my sore limbs, was that we (my family, plus some friends and their children) had pressed five gallons of apple juice, from the fruit off Southampton Common and from Hedge End. That’s a whole lot of chopping, milling, pressing and cleaning followed by a warm glow of contentment (and a bbq) afterwards. More about this though, in a later post.

Medlars

The trouble with Autumn is that all its bounty comes at once; hence harvest festivals, pickling and preserves. The day after the cider pressing, my son and I also set off to pick Medlars; those medieval munchables that can be made into ruby red jelly or pale and interesting wine, amongst other things.

My son had been playing rugby in the morning but the tree was loaded with fruit and he was up the trunk in seconds, like a simian shoplifter. In about 10 minutes we had filled my bag with plenty of the curious looking, golden-brown beauties. Now we  need to think about how we should prepare them.

However, our day was not yet done! We thought it was high time to see if the walnuts were dropping yet. They were... We were bang on time and as we searched, you could hear the odd rattling as fresh nuts fell to the pavement. 

Competition, the Grey-Coated Gangster of the Nut World

The noise soon escalated into a clattering storm, as I shook the outer branches with my apple picker; I wasn't actually trying to get them to fall on my boy, as he scampered about grabbing them, but I managed to once or twice. I got one in the eye myself at one point.

Walnuts - Ripe and Ready to Drop

We Got Loads! Of course, Walnuts will keep for ages; especially with this quantity in our cupboard. They can be used in many recipes, including chocolate brownies. We also had a great year for Hazel or Cobnuts, so we will need to think of some interesting ways to utilise the nutty hoard we have squirrelled away. My son suggested Walnuts covered in melted chocolate... Unsurprising, but it would make a totally tasty Christmas treat/gift.

Finally, we rewarded ourselves with a quick trip to Mansbridge Community Orchard for a couple of ripe and juicy apples – I'm quite sure we deserved them after our afternoon travails.

Apple Day celebrations at Mansbridge will be held on the Octavia Road Open Space 26th October. Bring your own apples for pressing into delicious juice, or pick some from the trees on the day. More details soon - don't touch that dial!

Hedge End Apples

One of my Favourite Trees

As if on cue, the weather suddenly shifted as the Autumnal Equinox fell. The Indian summer we had been enjoying turned cold, windy and wet.

Official Taster

Fortunately, we made the most of the last sunshine on Saturday by nipping out to Hedge End to pick some more apples.

Each Apple is off a Different Tree

There are several trees in this location and although it has been a bad year generally for fruit, some trees have still managed to do the business.

10Kg Small Cider Makeweight Apples

We will be storing nice apples for the winter months and converting any that are not good enough into apple juice or cider.

13.5 Kg Bucket-Load of Different Varieties

Past experience has demonstrated which trees grow the tastiest eaters and the best cooking keepers.

12 Kg Best Eaters for the Apple Store

Having said this, we are not fussy with our fruit; we know that knobbly apples can conceal the sweetest flavour and the fruit that is the sharpest to savour, crushes to create the coolest cider.

One Half of the Apple Store Filled

We filled our boot with a healthy 35.5 Kg…

The Lost Orchard Of Hedge End

When I wander around Hedge End during my lunch hours, I often locate new fruit trees.

Spring is the best time to find trees which may bear fruit later on. The blossom is beautiful and is associated deep within in our psyche with romance and rejuvenation.

I found an area in a local park that was quite literally swarming with apple trees. It must have once been an old farm orchard that has been forgotten. Last year I made quite a lot of cider out of these apples and kept loads for eating through the winter too.

Other people do use the trees that are near the carpark but my picker allows me to reach the higher fruits.

It’s great fun working out which apples are the tastiest and which will keep best during winter.

Generally, I find that the earlier fruits are softer and the later/hardest fruits keep best.

People often ask me if I know what the different varieties of apple are but I niether know nor really care. Maybe one day I will have enough free time to learn a bit more about naming the fruits but for now, I'm happy to locate, pick and use them. These are mostly eating apples.

There are a couple that look Russetty but they do not taste similar at all. Almost all of the fruits are good to eat.

These red / green stripy ones are the crunchy and sweet winners in my opinion. They also keep very well.

All of these different varieties of trees can be found in a public park within an area of about 100 meters. I'm pleased to see that other people do pick them a bit more now but there are a lot still left on the trees.