Today is the first day of spring and spring means some of my favorite seasonal produce is almost in sight. I started blanching rhubarb a couple of weeks ago but despite the warm weather we’ve had, it is not quite…
Glorious rhubarb
Categorie: Fruits
Beetroot, carrot and apple salad
It’s the kids’ spring break this week and we are at my sister’s in the Czech Republic. We might be disappointed by the lack of snow and winter conditions in general, if the weather weren’t just so beautiful. We are…
Winter greens and poached quince salad
A terrible thing happened regarding quince last year. Because I love quince, but have no way to fit a tree into my garden, I planted one in my parents’ garden in 2010. Last year, the tree bore the first fruits…
Berawecka
It is still January and because I don’t want to be the reason behind someone’s wavering resolve, I am not going to tell you about the doughnuts I made on New Year’s Eve (yet). But I thought it might be…
Coastal edibles
When I teach a gardening course, we always do a short introductory round first, when everyone shares a little about how and where they garden and what their wishes for the future are. Every now and then, somebody will say:…
Caramel Apple Jam
Apple is a fruit of mind-blowing variety – some six thousand (or more) apple cultivars exist spread throughout the world. It is therefore infinitely sad that the shops only give us access to about a dozen of them. In the…
Roasted grapes with camembert and herbs
This year has been a great year for almost every kind of fruit. Everyone with an apple tree of any size is overwhelmed by the harvest and giving fruit away. We have the first ever mini kiwis on our kiwi-vines.…
Plum and hazelnut brown butter cake
I once read a cookbook by a French pastry chef where he narrated how he made up new desserts in his dreams. I don’t make up new recipes in my dreams, at least as far as I know. But during…
Elderberry buckwheat pancakes
There’s so much to pick and enjoy in fall, apple orchards and pumpkin patches to visit. But it would be a shame to forgo supernutritious fruits that you can usually get for free: elderberries. The large shrubs/small trees are so…
Danish pastry tarte tatin
My daughter loves tarte tatin. My sister, conditioned by having worked in Paris as an au pair for a year when she was eighteen and studying French afterwards, loves it even more. Upon their request I made tarte tatin several…
Edible Garden in September
The above photo shows a typical September harvest from our allotment: kohlrabi, spring onions, Asian radishes, zucchini, lemon cucumbers, beets, beans and herbs. September harvests are still bountiful – the absence of frost so far means that even frost tender…
Hazelnut torte with berries
You know what our most valuable crop is at the moment? Blackberries. Last week I saw organic blackberries for sale, the tiniest box (150 g) going for 2,35 Euro. That same evening I picked more than a kilo, which would…
Edible garden in August
We came back from our holiday 11th August and just about the first thing we did after unloading the car was heading to our allotment. Visiting your vegetable garden after more than four weeks absence, can be a little scary,…
Blueberry sour cream tart
Do you remember how everything was better when we were young? The summers endless and the sun brighter? I also clearly remember that wild blueberries were plentiful every summer. I remember how I went to the woods to pick them…
Blueberry yogurt ice cream
Our summer holiday this year coincided with a massive heat wave. It was so hot during the day that we took to taking a siesta and any gardening (any outdoor activities really) was done either before 8 a.m. or after…