Fully ripe and half-ripe crab apples
One writer said that gardening is the only hobby or interest that has not been affected by the Fall. It is a reminder of man and woman in their innocency.
I have recently bought a Macro lens for my camera. Apart from its ability to take close-ups it is also excellent for portraiture.
The two images above are shots of crab apples as they ripen on my John Downie tree. Crab-apple trees are a must for the garden. In spring they are covered with a delightful white blossom and in the autumn the berries gradually turn a brilliant red. When they are fully mature we harvest them and make bottles of delicious crab-apple jelly. This can be used either as a jam or as a very tasty accompaniment to ham or various meats.
The following recipe can be found in Home Preservation of Fruit and Vegetables published by the HMSO ( ISBN 0 11 241321 8). This unpretentious booklet is a mine of culinary information, so I am told.
Wash and cut up the apples (use a food processor for speed); add just enough water to cover (2-3 pints of water to 4 lb of fruit) and simmer for about an hour. Strain the juice. . Bring to the boil and reduce if necessary; then add the sugar and boil rapidly till the setting point is reached. If other flavours are required, for example ginger or cloves or lemon peel, they should be cooked with the crab apples
Crab apples always remind me of a poem by Shakespeare
that has remained in my memory from school days. I remember it simply as Winter, It goes:- When icicles hand by the wall, and goes on to mention roasted crabs hissing in the bowl. Evidently, in Shakespeare's time crab apples were roasted till they were very hot and then they were used to heat drinks that otherwise would chill the stomach.
The Crab apples are looking ripe and delicious. My tree is so old (as you know) that it does not yield that much fruit these days. It does however have the most beautiful pink blossom in the spring and gorgious red leaves.
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