Raspberries, Celeriac and Hamburg Parsley

Friday 20th January 2011

A third day without seeing the sun actually rise. In fact, the sky this morning was a completely universal shade of grey. No contrast, no variation. There was no point starting on tree planting today as I had to work at school in the afternoon. I find it not worth starting a really big job if I have to break the job before I've really got into it.

Save The Raspberries!

So I spent the morning, in the constant drizzle, weeding a new raspberry bed and planting up the raspberries I had salvaged from one of the wilder parts of the farm. I got very muddy, and occasionally had to rinse my hands under the overflowing water butts before I continued my work. I found label - Octavia. When I looked this up I found them to be a late summer fruiting variety. Now I'm no expert, but I know there are basically two types of raspberry, summer fruiting and autumn fruiting. There is a crucial difference. Autumn fruiting bear their fruit on this year's canes. These are all cut down at the end of the year and the next spring the whole plant shoots up again ready to bear fruit on every stem. Summer fruiting bear thier fruits on shoots which grew the year before. So at the end of the year there will be two types of cane on each plant: Those with fruit, which can be harvested and then pruned out; and those with no fruit which need to be left to bear next year's fruit.

There's probably a way of telling, but to my untrained eye all the canes on these plants look the same. It my be that the old, dead canes have already snapped off, but for the moment I will leave all the canes until next year, when I can see which canes fruit.

A Parsnip Impersonator and a Bearded Celery.

When I returned from work I harvested some leeks, some celeriac and some hamburg parsley. Celeriac in this country does not quite grow to be as big and chunky as that which is flown in from elsewhere. However, as a first sortee into this field, I am happy to get any crop at all. Celeriac is, reportedly, just a form of celery wherre the base swells. This is the part which is eaten and it's actually a corm rather than a root. Which explains the mass of beard-like roots emanating from the bottom. Not widely grown in the UK as it requires a long growing season, celeriac provides a refreshing root with a strong hint of celery. Hamburg Parsley looks like parsnip, but the leaves are basically parsley and can be used as such. So a vegetable with a double use. I'd never tried it before, but the root had a subtly nutty taste.

I had an idea for these ingredients. A true rustic feast. I sauteed the vegetables with a couple of handfuls of green lentils, chucked in a good scattering of fennel seeds and then the final piece, some ham hock. Simmered until most of the liquid was soaked up by the lentils, served with mash and a chilli, chorizo sausage. Sue said it was the best meal I had ever served up! I have to admit, it was very tasty and perfect for a winter evening.