food – Page 4 – Ciaran The Gardener

Wild Carrot Seeds- Spice up your life!

Adventure, variety and spice. Black tomatoes, orange tomatoes, red brussels sprouts, red onions, blue french beans, just some of the variety of vegetable that we grew in the garden this year. We let two fruit develop on our white fruiting red strawberry, admired the pink flowers on another variety, it is always nice to tryContinue reading “Wild Carrot Seeds- Spice up your life!”

Rustic Italian Grape Cake -Recipe

24 pots of jam have been made from our haul of grapes, also nearly four liters of grape cordial Hanna made a delicious cake from an Italian recipe replacing sweet wine with white port. YUM! THE RUSTIC ITALIAN GRAPE CAKE Ingredients 225ml dessert white port wine 200g light muscovado sugar 100g softened butter 3 eggsContinue reading “Rustic Italian Grape Cake -Recipe”

Fruit of the vine- a gift of grapes means lots of grape jam

I got the call on Sunday morning,” I have friend of a friend who has a grape vine…”. The vine grower now lives in France, but the vine in question grows in Sligo. Nobody wanted the grapes, the caller thought of me, “would I like the grapes?” Yes, definitely. We arranged to meet on TuesdayContinue reading “Fruit of the vine- a gift of grapes means lots of grape jam”

Dock Seed Wafers – Finally a reason to have dock leaves in the garden

Rub them on a nettle sting. Apart from that what are dock leaves good for? Well, for a long time I have struggled to find a reason to allow a dock leaf to exist in the garden. Rumex obtusifolius the broadleaf dock is a deep rooted perennial, a thick tap root that is almost impossibleContinue reading “Dock Seed Wafers – Finally a reason to have dock leaves in the garden”

Aronia Jam

We walked under the spruce trees, passed the twisted hawthorn and down the slope. The long grass brushed our knees, the mild damp autumn evening surrounded us and calmed our senses. The small river trickled over rocks, a soundtrack to soothe as we walked in to the lower part of the garden. Here trees andContinue reading “Aronia Jam”

Kitero’s arrival and the cabbage that was loved

Amelie walked with her dad, or rather she ran ahead and he followed. Fueled by the curiosity and enthusiasm that only a young child can possess, running along the grass path and past the stone-walls she entered the vegetable patch. Calendula flowers made her exclaim, then she saw the heads of cabbage, firm pale green globesContinue reading “Kitero’s arrival and the cabbage that was loved”

Picking Blackberries and Blackberry Jam Recipe

Shining and black, tightly packed and full of flavour. Each segment a tiny drupe, like a miniature stone fruit, they line the lanes and roadsides of the Irish countryside. Blackberries are abundant, their prickled stems arch over the hedgerows and back to the soil where each stem can take root at its tip and continueContinue reading “Picking Blackberries and Blackberry Jam Recipe”