So much fruit

[SaraR]

We’ve got a fair amount of rosehips this year, which I might make something with. Usually, I just pick a few and leave the rest to the birds, but I haven’t had a chance to pick up rosehip soup powder for quite a while now, so maybe I should just make my own.

 

[Billy-o]

....aubergines ?

Oh, the love I have for aubergines!!! And they are, I suppose, a fruit.

Skewered they dry out a little on the grill and become nice and chewy. Flattened out in rounds, they soften up a lot and get that rich taste. Smeared with oil and a hint of anchovy paste or miso, they are very, very good.

For grilling fruit, yoghurt (especially a fruit yoghurt) works well as a dressing. Lots of experiments to do there, and I remember a particular coconut yoghurt and a Muller Light that had maybe papaya and mandarins in it was very good. Can't get them here, and may taste better as a memory.

 

[Toddy]

If you like spicy, then try curry paste You can 'thin' it down a bit with plain yoghurt to make the kind of marinade on it.
Also works as the coating to hold cornmeal to make a crispy outside.

 

[TeeDee]

What can one do with Hawthorn Berries. ?

 

[Suffolkrafter]

What can one do with Hawthorn Berries. ?

I made a 'hawsin' sauce last week. I think it was based on a high fernly whitingstal recipe. It worked quite well. Fruit leather works well too.

 

[TeeDee]

I made a 'hawsin' sauce last week. I think it was based on a high fernly whitingstal recipe. It worked quite well. Fruit leather works well too.

Can it be made into anything... < whispers >.... alcoholic....?

 

[Suffolkrafter]

Can it be made into anything... < whispers >.... alcoholic....?

I don't know. But you could add it to something alcoholic. Not sure it would constitute an improvement though...

 

[Toddy]

Maybe it's just the ones around here, and that I know of them as part of the heart herb plants, but I don't get the appeal of Hawthorns. We have masses of them too. They're just kind of mealy/blah though.

M

 

[Suffolkrafter]

Yes, as fruit goes, they are fairly lousy. But there are loads of them and they're free. It's more of a theoretical enjoyment. Never mind that I'd rather have tomato ketchup with my chips - I made the hawsin sauce myself and I'm going to eat every last drop of it.

 

[Toddy]

We select and breed for choice traits. You'd think that for as long as we've had hawthorns producing so much fruit around us we'd have tried to do that to them too. Big, sweet, tasty fruits would be a pleasure

I mean look at sloes and plums....one is pretty much inedible raw and the other is brilliant even dried into prunes.

 

[Billy-o]

On that subject of variety; Are these apples, do you think? Maybe ornamental. They sort of look and taste like apples. But they are red inside. Trees round here are full of them. About the size of grapes

 

[Toddy]

There are some weird cross amongst the 'street furniture' type crab apples. Ornamental but not squishy, iimmc ? even when they rot and drop. It's supposedly nicer to use in the urban environment and doesn't attract vermin or even the pigeons.

There are two trees in a carpark in the next village along that look awfully like those ones in your photos.
All I could think of when I opened one up was malus of some kind

Bound to be someone on here who does

 

[Suffolkrafter]

They are hanging in the manner of cherries, in pairs.
There are so many odd hibrids about. I spent two years trying to identify a tree behind my house in a park. It had berries like enormous haws but with leaves more like hazel. It drove me mad for a long time. Turned out to be medlar thorn.

 

[Toddy]

We live and learn
I'd never heard of a medlar thorn before. Interesting

 

[TLM]

Turned out to be medlar thorn.

Now Google did not know that name, you don't happen to know the Sci one?

 

[Suffolkrafter]

Now Google did not know that name, you don't happen to know the Sci one?

Crataemespilus grandiflora, according to Colins tree guide, the result of a graft. I see it described as a 'botanical curiosity' on the Cambridge university botanic gardens website.

 

[TLM]

Crataemespilus grandiflora,

Thx, I am somewhat at loss to understand how grafting produces a genetic cross but I guess that is a minor detail.

 

[Suffolkrafter]

I think I was mistaken, and that it is a hybrid, and there should be an X infront of the scientific name. A + would have denoted a graft.
Crataemespilus is a generic term for hybrids between medlars and hawthorns, according to Wikipedia.
It's all a bit beyond me. The botanical equivalent of a mule I suppose. Actually no, mules can't reproduce. I'm out of my depth.

 

[TLM]

The few sources I got also referred it as "graft". Curious. All say it is a rarity, good work identifying it even if with some time.

 

[baggins]

As with everyone else, such a glut here. Had a go at making some hedgerow jelly. 50% crab apple and the rest, whatever berries you can find. We used Haws, Hips, sloes, elder and blackberry. Simmered to a mush (30mins), then strained in jelly bags. The resulting liquid is then mixed with sugar, 450g per 600ml is a good starting point. Slowly bring up to setting point, jar, cool and then eat a huge amount with some cream .