Using winter vegetables & preserving

Suddenly having loads of winter vegetables from your garden or allotment that are all ready at the same time is a joy  , but  how do you find enough recipes to use them all to the best advantage.How do you preserve them if you have a glut?This year I have such an abundance of red cabbage , savoy cabbage and leeks.

Flavoured vinegars & oils.

I just love flavourings and as I eat so many salads and spiced food,I just can’t wait to make new ones.

I probably started a few years ago with basil & mint but now make with most other herbs & chillies.

I have experimented with mustards as well which have been successful in the past.Take a look at a few ideas I have put together

What can you do with windfalls?

Somebody gave me a huge bag of windfall apples…I never waste anything if it can be helped .Apples and pears must be the most versatile fruit known and so delicious.It is thought that there are over 2000 different types of English apple but only about 5 are ever sold  in the supermarkets…What a waste!! Seek out your local apples and try a few of these recipes.

A glut of fruit & veg

This time of year there is always a glut of at least one fruit or vegetables & it is such a pity to waste them if you have grown them If you grow your own you get more & more that you hate waste.Try a few of my recipes for excess fruit & vegetables.Try my plum ketchup.

Too many cabbages

This year I have been overrun with cabbages ..They are huge and possibly the best I have ever grown.There is only so much cabbage you can eat, although if shredded,blanched and spread out on a tray they freeze very well.I decided though to try a pickled red cabbage recipe with a white cabbage and it has turned out surprisingly well.I changed the red wine vinegar for cider vinegar and added red apples to give it a bit of a lift.