Been making...

Dulce de Membrillo, or Quince cheese to you and me. It took ages - cleaning the quince to remove the fuzz...


then chopping (which was hard!), then cooking with lemon juice for 3 hours...



before pushing through a sieve and cooking the pulp with lots of sugar for 30 mins stirring continuously.


But it was worth it. It tasted delicious and impressed my lunch guests when I bought out the cheese, fruit, crackers and membrillo.

Been picking...

I love this time of year, reaping the rewards of the year's hard work. I've been picking apples, from my 2 trees plus a neighbours. Have also had a fantastic crop of William bon chretien pears - the boughs were bending under the weight. We have 10 jars of plum jam from my fantastic crops of Czar plums. I also have my first crop of Vranja quince to pick. Counted over 30 of them!

My daughter and I have also been doing one of favourite late summer past-times - wondering the river banks and hedgerows at the allotment picking blackberries.

Think we'll be making another apple and blackberry pie today!