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Daphne

So how is the season so far?

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We have some dwarf cucumbers ready but not many and although the toms are swelling and quite big they are not ripening. I haven't grown toms before but would surely have expected them to be reddening by now...they are Ailsa Craig if that makes any difference?! Our button carrots are doing well and we have eaten quite a few so far. Otherwise the pears are malformed and have a brown scabby stuff on some of them  ........  I think we'll have to either prune the tree very hard or remove it and replace elsewhere in the garden with another variety.

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I live in hope! Mind you, neither the boys nor I like raw toms so am only growing them for OH and the hamster! However, I had hoped to make industrial amounts of passata for the freezer!

Have just baked two trays of blackberry and vanilla buns with blackberries from the freezer as we are so near dashing up the road to the hedgerows to pick more and I still have four containers of frozen fruit from last year :/

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Passata is basically sieved cooked tomato but very versatile; having spent 6 months in Venice when I was 18  - ahem, some time ago now -  With fresh toms........cooked down any quantity of tomato with a little water to cover then pass through a sieve to get rid of pips skin and membrane then fry an onion or two (depending on how much tomato you have) add finely chopped fried off  pepper, then add sieved cooked toms and herbs, black pepper depending on how much you like. Simmer gently till reduced and you have a nice tomato sauce. 

Alternatively you can use the tomato from supermarkets in juice type containers and do the same as above with onions and peppers and cook it all down. Sorry, I'm not good at recipies as I am more of  a 'fling it' cook. However, if you have a glut of toms this is a good way of cooking and then freezing as you can add much to the basic passata.....tinned, drained tuna, anchovies, scorched peppers, mushrooms etc or just use it as a Bolognaise base or topping for pizza. A glug of good quality olive oil is good with it too! Hope that all makes sense!

 

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We love the passata machine - we do about 3 passes through and there really is nothing left apart from skin and seeds!  We roast ours with crushed garlic and olive oil - although that is now rapeseed oil.  We then freeze it in little takeaway containers - then it is used as a bolly base or soup (especially squid soup with scallops, monkfish and prawns - and a lot of red wine - left over wine for me ahem!).  

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I never would have thought about trying some bananas outdoors, thanks for the idea!  I made some green tom chutney last year as the last fruit wouldn't ripen, but I haven't dared taste it yet!

Yesterday was a first.  We shared our first, and only, home grown almond!  It was quite 'juicy' but not particularly strongly flavoured, hopefully as the tree gets older the flavour will mature.  I was relieved that it was a sweet almond, apparently you can still buy bitter almonds.

 

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When I was young, my parents road was lined with almond trees.  So pretty but we never used the fruit.  I guess ornamental in the main.  Lovely that you have a yummy sweet one!  My out-laws used to have a banana tree at their apartment in Spain, many moons ago.  We stayed there once and saw little baby bananas forming.  I don't think they ever tasted them though.

New house has an enormous walnut tree - so looking forward to trying those - at the same time wishing it was a pecan one because I prefer those.  Also lots of apples (I hope) and perhaps a pear, damsons and plums - again I hope there are some at any rate!  The previous owner never harvested or pruned anything!

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Loved reading about your harvest and tips.

Sugar snap peas did great.  Tomatoes lots of them but slow to ripen, peppers and chillies have tiny ones, dwarf french beans did great, 6year old salad leaves didn't hatch.  Carrots stumpy but good.  Still fighting to save the flower garden from OH's lust for growing veg all over it.

Oh and apologies if I've already written this, it's old age and memory :D

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