Home made gifts from the kitchen

I am fortunate to have a large enough back garden to grow a small quantity of fruit and veg and keep chickens. If I had my own way, I would turn the whole thing into an allotment with polytunnel, but we don't plan on staying here forever, so I'll make do with squeezing in as much veg as I can in between ornamental plants. We do however have two apples trees, a pear, a quince and some very productive loganberry canes trained along one fence. I absolutely love the smell of stewing loganberries as it always reminds me of my Dad who very much enjoyed their tart/sweet flavour. They make excellent jam with a lovely soft set.

For the first time this year, I had enough quinces to make jam too. They are an odd fruit, inedible when raw, but stew down to a soft pulp. They have a mild flavour and set very easily so make a firm, pale orange jam. Pleasant enough, but I still prefer the loganberry!

I also made some orange and cognac marmalade. I have to hold my hands up and admit to making it from pre-prepared orange pulp. I made a lemon one last year and they are excellent value so I don't feel too guilty. Finally, we had about 2lb of tomatoes left on the plants at the end of the season which were unlikely to ever ripen as I don't have a greenhouse. I decided to try my hand at green tomato chutney. It's tart and tasty, but not as nice as my nonogenerian aunt's, who has been churning out chutney for the last seventy years!