10 Comments
Aug 30, 2023Liked by Julia Watson

Plums are my favourite fruit, I've grown Victoria - reliable croppers and delicious picked at their peak - as well as damsons and greengages. Alas, no Mirabelles, which I adore ... I'm so glad Granny's recipe book has a lot of spare pages left ... (Among other fascinating items, she has a 'cure' for amoebic dysentery!) Lovely to learn more about the history of the mango, in Kenya there was one growing in the yard of the flat we lived in, and in my grandmother's garden. These were very much smaller than the ones we get in the supermarket here, and in Kenya were much preferred to the large ones, more juicy and with sweeter flavour.

Expand full comment
author

Smaller can be so much more rewarding - strawberries? Sprue as opposed to asparagus? Jersey Royals and fingerlings? In the mangoes line it's definitely true.

Expand full comment

I always have some of the little alpine strawberries, tiny, certainly, but with a beutifully swet flavour, and so much more prolific than their larger cousins. Especially good in icecream or trifle. Sprue I haven't come across, though I'm experimenting with asparagus in pots. And my favourite potatoes are Edzell Blue and Scots Fir Apple!

Expand full comment
author

If it takes around 7 years to create as asparagus bed, how long before a pot gives a meal?

Expand full comment
Aug 31, 2023·edited Aug 31, 2023

I'm hoping for a few spears next year, with increasing amounts as time goes by. Of course, living alone, I don't need to produce much! I'm going to try some from seed, as well as crowns

Expand full comment

I'll try this tart when I've healed from making the last one... sliced my thumb open rather deep with a Victoria plum pit!

I love these hyper-seasonal fruits that don't travel, as I find in an age of produce from everywhere they're a highlight to look forward to. Though I became incredibly sad for my friends across the pond when I discovered there are no sloes in America.

Expand full comment
author

Ooh nasty! The stones in mirabelles are much smaller though the same can't be said of greengages. Hyper-seasonal is a great description!

Expand full comment

Almost healed over, but annoyingly I can't bake bread until it is closed as I've found dough and plasters / open cuts don't mix...!

Expand full comment

Loved that movie and I can’t imagine making a tart for 4000. Wow!

Expand full comment
author

I did once make an 8 foot long banana split but nothing longer.

Expand full comment