The Urban Foodie: Crab apple jelly with Spruce

Tuesday, 23 October 2007

Crab apple jelly with Spruce

As Autumn is in full swing, I am taking particular comfort in finding all sorts of 'wild' seasonal fruits making an appearance at my local farmers market. Crab apples used to be the missile of choice when I was a naughty kid, flung at great speed from the end of a willow branch. Now of course I am marginally more respectable in my old age, so have better uses for these brightly coloured litle bombs of sourness. The obvious choice is a jelly, but flavoured with Spruce needles, used in a similar way to rosemary. What are also quite delicious are rowanberries, either as a subsitute or addition to the sour, fragrant, balsamic jelly. Once made, the jelly is particularly good accompaniment with game - pheasant and venison are good choices - (both on the side or used to glaze a suace or gravy), but is also delicious with mackerel, used as a glaze before roasting or grilling.

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MUSINGS AND QUOTES ON FOOD

"My weaknesses have always been food and men, in that order."

Dolly Parton

"Fish, to taste right, must swim three times - in water, in butter, and in wine."

Polish Proverb

"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do."

P.J. O'Rourke

"An empty belly is the best cook."

Estonian Proverb

"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch."

James Beard

"The smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls, ready to remind us...."
Marcel Proust

"When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries."
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

"People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it is safer to harrass rich women than motorcycle gangs."
Unknown

"Scallops are expensive, so they should be treated with some class. But then, I suppose that every creature that gives his life for our table should be treated with class."
Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet

"Never eat more than you can lift.."
Miss Piggy, Diva.

"The squid is so cooperative. Its body forms a tube that can be stuffed with marvelous fillings. You don't have to be Greek to enjoy this one. "
Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet

"The joys of the table belong equally to all ages, conditions, countries and times; they mix with all other pleasures, and remain the last to console us for their loss."
Jean Antheleme Brillet-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste