Soup, Jam And A Stranger?

We are sort of in a phase now, weather-wise. To get anything done in the gardens, one must take his moments when he can in-between the showers and wind gusts.
I was determined to do something this weekend come what may, so friday night after "Autumnwatch" was over on the telly...we had a little chat and made plans:
--Replenish the bird feeders
--Check the plots and soil
--Weed the leek and Purple Sprouting Broccoli patches
--Go the the Snertfeest in the clubhouse
--A dinner engagement with a colleague

.........after speaking with Nelleke during the
Snertfeest further plans were made:
--Pick Mispels
--Make jam and/or jelly
--Meet Nelleke the following day to help her with transplanting two Blueberry bushes that I gave her.

Well, there it was--my weekend, all planned out.
It was ambitious-sounding, and with the weather as a determining factor, uncertain in an exciting sort of way.

Saturday was rainy here. It started out partly cloudy and then degenerated from there. We consulted the "Buienradar" ("Shower Radar")
http://www.buienradar.nl/

and decided to hang about and take it easy until it was time to head on out to the allotments.

We had a nice ride in the now sunny weather all the way out to the garden complex. When we turned into the little parking space in front of the clubhouse I saw a few autos but lots of bikes.


We parked the bikes and then opened the door and stepped into the foyer. Then when I opened the door to the inside, there was a warm blast of air and the din of jolly conversation was almost deafening. Smiles and gestures greeted us as we greeted everyone there.


I began peeling off layers of clothing as I immediately ordered a bowl of snert (split pea soup) and a little sandwich.
The ladies behind the bar were really chatty, as we had not seen each other for a while. They used to have the garden directly across from us.
One of them held up a bottle of Jägermeister, a popular drink here at this time of year.


Normally I eat so much soup and sandwiches and drink so much cola and oj that I don't need any supper, but not this time--we had a supper engagement with a colleague so I had to restrain myself.
So for the coming couple of hours, I sat and chatted with all the characters that I have written about in the past and other ones lesser known to you. It was really good to catch up with them and hear the latest gardening and personal news.

At one point I saw my gardening neighbor, Nelleke come in the door, and when our eyes met, I motioned for her to come over.
I had offered her two blueberry bushes back in the fall and now is the time to do transplanting of fruit trees and bushes, so I asked if we could make a date to do that tomorrow (weather permitting, of course). She agreed.
Then my partner piped-up asking her what she was planning to do with her mispels. She looked all round-eyed and said, "Nothing, I bought the tree for the flowers. Can you really eat those fruits?"
"Yes, of course", my partner said. Nelleke's eyes twinkled and I knew we had her attention.
"What do you want them for"? she inquired and I said, "To make jam".
"Can you do that? Really? How do you do that"?
My partner proceeded to explain it all. When through, Nelleke said, "But they are all soft and rotten now".
I grinned, realizing that one step in the preparation could be skipped.
She suggested that we go and have a look....right at that moment. I like enthusiam. Away we went.

The light was fading, but I could still seem them hanging on the tree. They were indeed very soft. The best way to explain it is--like applesauce contained in tiny brown paper bags. They were so ripe that if one squeezed them too hard whilst plucking them the soft, brown insides would spurt out as the stem let loose, making your fingers quite sticky.
I produced a bag from my coat and we began picking. When the tree was clean, we headed back to the party.
We were pretty excited about things and looked forward to tomorrow.
I was sitting at a table and looking at the fotos that my partner had taken on the camera and lo and behold...I got quite a flush! I thought that I saw DaisyBeans in one of them. Just standing up by the bar. That girl in the grey sweater and jeans.


It was an odd sensation, and I knew that it could not be true, but I scanned the room anyway. hahahaha
I asked around, but no one noticed the woman in gray. I laugh, but little irregularities like that occupy my thoughts. Could it have been...Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Right?

It was time to hurry back home and get ready for supper at my collegue's house. I stepped out into the twilight, clicked on the bike lights and we pushed off.

The next morning, we began right away on the mispel jam making.

Mespilus germanica...known here as Mispel, and english speakers call it Medlar.
Here are the pickings:


In this picture you can see Mispels/Medlars that are not quite ripe enough (white and brown insides) and ripe ones (totally brown and soft insides).


We decided to make jam and jelly to see which one we would like better. Like we did with the Quince.
We put on two pots of the medlars to boil--one for jam and one for jelly.
Here is one.


The jam we pressed through a sieve to keep back the skins and seeds.


Periodically we had to scrape the pulp off the bottom of the strainer.


The boilings for the jelly we simply poured into a colander lined with two layers of cloth and let it sit and drain.

When making the jam we just added sugar and a little pectin; however, the jelly required some spices along with the sugar. --Powdered cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cardamom. Luckily I did not have to measure and weigh all these, I found a little container of the powders already mixed.

The finished products


No sooner were the jams and jellies finished that we had to head off to the lotties to help Nelleke with the transplanting. Of course we took one of each for her.

While we were waiting we cleaned up a leek bed and a purple sprouting broccoli bed. We had just sat down to watch the birdies when Nelleke rolled up on her bike. HUP! Off we went again.

While Nelleke stood leaning on her shovel, I was on my knees, sinking that blueberry bush into it's hole...I sort of looked up sideways at Nelleke and asked, "Did you by any chance notice a stranger dressed in a gray sweater yesterday at the snertfeest"?

 

Haha, I read the topic, enjoyed it immensely and forgot to post a reply. What am I like! So I had to go back and read it again, I hope you don't mind my cotton-wool-stuffed brain's slow action today.

 

I enjoyed the post, too. I picked some yellow squash and little tomatoes and that last watermelon yesterday. I think it's about time to be clearing the stuff now. Maybe Daisybeans would come help me! dooley

 

What a lovely weekend you had Sjoerd. I have a Medlar tree in my garden, it was a housewarming gift from my mum when we moved one time. It is now in the ground and quite big. I have fan trained it over the years to shield the garden from neighbouring houses and it does a good job. The flowers are lovely in spring and I also make Medlar jelly with the rotting fruits. I mix the fruits with equal quantities of apple and don't bother with pectin. I have never made a jam like preserve though.

I wish we could grow blueberries but our soil isn't acid enough. I know I could grow them in pots, but I am a lazy gardener and don't have time to mollycoddle plants, so I grow what grows successfully. I do covet your blueberry preserves though.

 

Hiyah TONI-- yes, I find the inside of the medlar the same consistency as that of over ripe rose hips (once the skins have been peeled-off. Not the flavour though. I used to enjoy collecting and making rose hip jelly from wild roses in Alaska. The only drawback was that I had to wait in line with lack and brown bears. They plundered everything edible. :-?
Rose hips, quince and medlars are all in the rose family, but do taste distinctly different to me.

Yeah EILEEN...I wonder too. No one has yet identified her. I like a good mystery.
I have not tasted the jam or jelly properly yet as I had none left over. I got to taste a little on my fingertip from time to time when testing for stiffness while making the stuff.

Hahaha DROOPY-- of course not. I am amazed that you would take the time to read all that a second time. Glad you liked it though.

DOOLEY-- I am pleased that you liked the account of the week end's activities. If you still have that watermelon, I would like to see the inside of it when it is cut open. The thought of a bite of melon (of any sort) right now is appealing.

Thanks EJ--I really feel for anyone who can't grow blueberries...but of course that is only because I like them so much. I know that you do not have time to mollycoddle because you are enormously busy. I on the other hand have limited my obligations and have more time (still not as much as I would like though). I like to mollycoddle, pity it drives my partner round the bend sometimes. chuckle.
How would you like the taste of the medlar jam? I ate some preserves once that a Turkish student gave my partner. His mum made it. I found it wildly sweet, but I still ate it and did like it. I suppose that it was made to the taste of the student's mum.

My blueberry jam is a but too sweet for most everyone that eats it...besides me.
If you ever make it to West-Friesland, I will give you a jar to try.

 

Wellllll, Sjoerd, you know I am fascinated by the lottie there and haven't I said several times that I have developed wanderlust looking at everyone's photos... ... and that's all I have to say about that!

And Dooley, now that I'm home, I mean, now that I have some time, I'll be there in a jiff to help you out!

I did enjoy your post. I've never heard of medlar. Does it taste like anything I might recognize?

The party was, I mean, looks like it was a lot of fun! Sorry, I have to tease.

I am thinking of planting a blueberry bush but not sure where I am thinking is a good spot. It's beneath and beside a large pine tree, where I grew veggies in the summer. How much mollycoddling do they need???? And of what type?

See you all soon.

 

I enjoyed reading your post very much as i always do.That sure looked like DaisyBeans slipped in amoung all of you and didn't enven introduce herself.Shame on her
Your mispels look something like our persimmons we have that are wild in Texas and I'm sure in other states too.
I love the Japanese Persimmons so much.
Your outings are so much fun to be enjoy by all of us here on the Stew too.Your jams and jellys look great.

 

Now DAISY--shame on you for being so sneeky. Coming here on a recon maneuvre like that and not even saying "hello". Well I never! Pretty slick. Only one siting. You're good, I'll give you that.

Moving right along...The taste of medlar: Well, I do not know how to describe that. It really does have it's own flavour. My impression from having only tasted little bits during cooking is that the flavour is a little apple-ish, in a remote sort of way...but not really.

I think that you and I have spoken of planting blueberry bushes before, haven't we?
Generally it sounds a good place--over by the pine tree, as they must have acidic soil. I would only suggest that you have more than one bush and make sure that they are NOT the same type of blueberry because they will perform better for you if they are different varieties.
As for the mollycoddling: well, to be honest I do not do alot of that now that my bushes have settled-in. I just put more pine needles or azalia soil on them every year or two.
I believe that the most important part of "handling" is at the time of planting...get that right and there won't be anymore mollycoddling afterwards, except for insuring that they stay moist (not with fresh tap water, because that will have too much calcium and chlorine in it).
Once the ground is good and soaked then you add pine bark chips librally and that will hold your moisture in.
You could protect the young blossoms if a hard frost is coming in the spring. I use fleece for that upon occasion, but not every year by any means.
If you ever do decide to plant some blueberry bushes let me know, and we'll talk about it.

GLENDA--I know Persimmons. I have eaten the small and the large variety. You are right, they do look a bit similar.
If the jelly and jam is any good, I will have to wait until I can open one--I already have two other pots of jam open at the moment...so it'll be awhile.
Thank you for your kind comments about the posting.

 

what a wonderful weekend sjoerd! i enjoyed all your 'doings', especially the 'mystery' guest!

interesting about the Medlar. i have never heard of it before. am going to have to look into them. i too am very curious about the flavor. ej, what's yours taste like? i imagine apples cause you add them to your jelly, right?

i, also, am very interested in any knowledge you can give about blueberries sjoerd. i have one i've been babying for a couple years now. first year its leaves turned a rusty red color. second year, someone stepped on it and the main stem broke. didn't do much after that. hopefully this spring it will return. i also planted a few new ones last spring. they really struggled all summer. do they need shade? so many questions...

i also wanted to say that watching tv a week or so ago, i caught a bit of 'The Amazing Race' where people travel throughout the world. there was a place in the Netherlands, can't remember where exactly, where the people were playing that type of soccer (kind of) game (can't remember what you called it) that you posted about.the one where you all kicked a ball around the fields? it was cool to see after reading your post and seeing your pics!

 

Good question about the amount of sun. Why is it that so many people talk about having to baby blueberries? It makes me hesitant... Thoughts about that?

 

Thanks Bunkie. Yeah, thay mystery guest really got me going there for a sec.

You asked for some info about blueberries:

The first thing to know is that they like acidic soil...like for rhododendrons or Azalias. This may mean that you have to do some serious work on the ground.
What I did was:

--Dig a hole in the soil at least twice as wide and twice as deep as the present root ball.

--Fill it with a mixture of compost and rhododendron/azalia soil.

--Scoop out a hole, sprinkle a very small amount of bone meal in the bottom and fill the hole with water. Plant the bush in it. Water it in again and add more rhododendron/azalia soil around the plant's base so that the soil is even with ground level, because the soil will have sunken-in somewhat with the watering.

--You should dress the soil only with some shredded or chipped pine tree bark and needles. (This is something that you should do each year). It will act as a mulch and hold moisture. Additionally it gives the blueberry plants the correct pH.
*Some people add a mulch on top of this; however, be careful in doing this. I would suggest rough pine bark only and not chips from other types of trees. Using chips of other sorts of trees could have an adverse effect the elemental balance of the soil.

--Blueberry bushes need to be pruned every year, and I do it in March. Basically it's a question of cutting off dead, damaged and useless branches and twigs.

--The question of feeding. Most folks that I know do not give much "food" to the plants, rather they just add more pine bark and needles.
If you do elect to feed them use Azalia/rhododendron food. I do this some years, but not every year.
*With young or newly planted plants phosphorus in one form or another is very helpful in new root development. Once they are established, this will not be so important.

* Another thing that I must mention is frost- If it is due to frost when the blossoms are on the plants --COVER THEM. Cover them with fleece. I found this out the hard and sorrowful way. I really underestimated this once.
You can remove it during the day if it will not be below freezing, but replace it if it is due to freeze in the night again.

Well, what about seeing that show after reading my posting on here. That really is amazing. Did you enjoy the show, and feel that you already knew something about it?

 

Well, I don't really think that you have to baby them too much especially after the first year. They will be established by then and it's just a matter of adding some acidic soil and pine bark chips every other year or so and keep them moist.
The most work that I do in a season in my blueberry patch is weeding.

 

It looks like a great time you had...pass a bowl of snert please...