The Purple Raspberries are Back

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We hope everyone has had a great Canada Day and 4th of July this week.

For us, the main event was the return of the Purple Raspberries. Almost a year ago, we arrived on the property to collect our first harvest...and these beautiful berries are back with a vengeance. We're not sure why, but this year we are finding more and larger berries, to the point that a lot of the canes are breaking under their weight. Perhaps it is our weeding, perhaps the incredible amount of rain we have been having. In any case, they are living up to their reputation: tart, sweet, and very juicy.

The Purple Raspberries are back.

Since it looks like we will be picking quite a few of these over the next few weeks, we decided it was also time to process some. Now that we have a professional kitchen at our disposal, it was a pleasure for me to begin "jamming".

We started with the Juneberries (they are coming to the end of their season). It turns out that a half and half mix of Juneberries and Rhubarb make a wonderful jam. We also discovered that Juneberries have an incredible amount of pectin. In an attempt to crush the berries, we used a food processor....and every time we used a food processor, the berries instantly jelled! In the end, it turns out that it is important to be gentle with these berries.

In the process, we managed to produce some interesting combinations of jam: Juneberry/Rhubarb, Arctic Kiwi/Cyser (yes our mead experiments are turning out well), Purple Raspberry/Bacot Noir Wine and Purple Raspberry with Juneberry.

We're back to making jams

Our work on preserving our fruits and adding value to our crops has not stopped with preserves. We finally took delivery of our dehydrator. The first fruit to go through the process were the raspberries of course and the results make for a great healthy snack. In fact everyone is already coming out with all sorts of concepts for their use, from cereals and oatmeal to trail mix.

Our first batch of dehydrated berries

Of course Chef has not stopped conceiving of recipes for both our crops and the vegetables in our raised beds. This week's success was a phenomenal Juneberry pie.

Simple and delicious: our home-made Juneberry pie

As a matter of fact, Chef is lucky we still do not have a kitchen as our home is undergoing renovations. Every morning, he has been stealing just about everything he can find. In fact, for a couple of novices, Tristan and I have been quite lucky with our vegetable endeavours. It seems everything is growing.

Chef taking advantage of our raised beds

Our only major failures have been: the bush beans, the water melons  (I really have no clue why these did not take) and a good portion of our herbs (only the dill and parsley worked out). We have been picking Broccoli, Peas, String Beans and Zucchini flowers for a while now. Along with these we see great progress with our potatoes (we've started to harvest new potatoes); our Cabbages and Cauliflower; our Zuchinis and Squashes; our Radishes, Rutabagas and Beets; our Lettuce and Fennel; our Cucumbers and Tomatoes; even our Artichokes!

We're really proud of how far our garden has come. To a large extent, I credit the sandy loam soil we have on our property. It seems to me, we can grow anything.

The raised beds when we started last year

The raised beds today

Our foraging work also continues. It turns out that this week, the wild Black Raspberries have matured. So I sent our students to collect as much as they could. It seems that these berries are very much in demand (perhaps because they are being researched for the treatment and prevention of various cancers). We just cannot keep them on the shelf.

Amanda, Julianna and Hannah gathering as many Black Strawberries as they can

I will finish this week with the last installment on our preserved Black Walnuts (until the nocino is ready that is).

For those following this blog, I noted lasted week that the Armenian preserved Black Walnuts needed to be soaked for a few days. We did this for about nine days changing the water every so often.

Once this was done, we drained the nuts and pricked them with a fork. At this point, they had completely lost their distinctive Black Walnut scent.

We then took these nuts and let them simmer in a simple syrup (half sugar, half water). At this point, the syrup and walnuts turned a deep black. The end result are nuts that resemble black olives.

Once cooked (we did this slowly over a 2 hour period until the syrup thickened), we added some cinnamon and the shredded rind of a lemon.

Armenian preserved Black Walnuts

Technically we should jar, cook and store these for a few days before tasting....but I could not wait.

Surprisingly the fleshy outer part (the green fruit surrounding the nut) was very good. It reminded me a bit of iced chestnut.

The interior however was a disappointment. It was dry with a hint of bitterness and tannin. It also was a bit reminiscent of the Black Walnut scent.

We'll now wait a few days to see if things have changed. If not, I think next time (next year I guess) I may boil these nuts first....before simmering them in the sugar syrup.