We’re passionate about organic agriculture. We pay for organic food, we volunteer to help grow it and we rant about how more people should have the option of good affordable organic grub. There are many reasons we prefer organic food and think it’s the best way to feed people. This one we’ve been paying close attention to recently. Stephen has been tracking the insects and uninvited plants that have ended up on our balcony. — Clare
When your garden is on a balcony three floors up, you don’t expect to see much wildlife. There’ll be no foxes, badgers, or hedgehogs — to make it here you have to crawl or fly. The sheer range of creatures that have done so has taken us by surprise, and this post details a few of them.
Probably the oddest visitors were two leeches (pictured right), seen a year apart, crawling across the glass of the balcony doors during wet weather. How they made it here is a mystery.
The most surprising visitors, at least in terms of making us jump, are the birds — you just don’t expect to look towards the balcony and see a large bird on it. For a short time we made a concerted effort to attract birds, using feeders that stuck to the balcony glass. Unfortunately the only bird they ever attracted was a magpie — and while I like magpies, I was really hoping for a selection of smaller birds. A carrion crow stopped by once, and for a few months two pigeons (who Clare calls our ‘pigeon pals’) frequently rested in the joists above the balcony.
During the Summer we’re visited by a range of pollinators, and towards the end of this Summer I started trying to identify the species, which included common carder bees (pictured left), European honey bees, common wasps, and the hoverfly Eupeodes luniger. We’ve also had some insect visitors most gardeners wouldn’t welcome, such as the large white butterfly and its caterpillars. Clare’s favourite has been the ladybirds, both for their beauty and their attacks on the aphid population.
On long-distance gardening, brightening the community, the birds, the bees, and the things we eat.
Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Fairtrade Fortnight: Praline cake
Praline cake is the closest I have to a family recipe: my paternal grandmother made it for my dad, my dad made it for me, and now I make it for my workmates. Despite the name, praline cake doesn’t contain nuts, presumably due to its origin during the rationing of the Second World War. The original recipe combined margarine, sugar, drinking chocolate, ‘syrup’, and sweetened biscuits (my grandmother used Rich Tea), topped with an icing which my dad found too sweet. Over the course of a few experimental batches I modernised the recipe, using metric units and Fairtrade and organic ingredients.

Recipe
Crush the digestive biscuits with a rolling pin. Put the water, butter, golden syrup, and cocoa powder into a saucepan and heat, while stirring, until the butter has melted. Combine the liquid with the biscuit crumbs and then press down into a flan tin. Cut once cooled.

Recipe
400 | g | digestive biscuits (organic from Doves Farm) |
100 | g | water |
100 | g | butter (organic from Yeo Valley) |
4 | tbsp | golden syrup (Fairtrade and organic from Rayner’s) |
4 | tbsp | cocoa powder (Fairtrade and organic from Green & Blacks) |
Crush the digestive biscuits with a rolling pin. Put the water, butter, golden syrup, and cocoa powder into a saucepan and heat, while stirring, until the butter has melted. Combine the liquid with the biscuit crumbs and then press down into a flan tin. Cut once cooled.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Chocolate bourbon-free torte
Clare bought me Green & Black’s Ultimate Chocolate Recipes: The New Collection for Christmas. Combine the book with a three-for-two sale on Green & Blacks chocolate at Waitrose and the result is a flat pleasantly scented with melted chocolate.

Nick Malgieri’s chocolate bourbon cake isn’t a cake made with chocolate bourbons (the well-loved biscuits) but a torte made with very dark chocolate (70% cocoa) and one and a half tablespoons of ‘best quality bourbon’ (which I omitted). The result was rich, dense, and chocolatey, with a slight bitterness offset by a dusting of icing sugar.

Nick Malgieri’s chocolate bourbon cake isn’t a cake made with chocolate bourbons (the well-loved biscuits) but a torte made with very dark chocolate (70% cocoa) and one and a half tablespoons of ‘best quality bourbon’ (which I omitted). The result was rich, dense, and chocolatey, with a slight bitterness offset by a dusting of icing sugar.
Friday, 26 November 2010
Sloe gin, spelt, and samphire
Clare’s taking a break from the blog today, so it’s time for my first ever Vegan MoFo post.
A month ago I mentioned to a friend that we had made sloe gin for my parents last year. She remarked that she was also fond of it, so I promptly promised her a bottle. We went foraging last weekend and arrived back at the flat with a bag full of sloes and another bag full of rock samphire.
The recipe is simple: prick 200 grams of sloes with a fork, add 200 grams of organic sugar, and pour on 75 centilitres of gin. Give it a stir, and then put it into a bottle. This bottle should be bigger than the one the gin came in — we didn’t think about that and ended up tipping the spare gin down the sink (as neither Clare nor I drink alcohol).
I decorated the bottle with a wintry scene using gel pens, and made a cute gift tag which I tied to the bottle with some spare ribbon. It was well received.
Meanwhile, I used the samphire to make crackers. I pulled the leaves from the stem, ending up with about two tablespoons full, then put them in a sieve, rinsed them, and steamed them for ten minutes over a stock pot. After chopping them finely I mixed them with 150 grams of organic wholemeal spelt flour, half a teaspoon of salt, 75 millilitres of water, and two and a half tablespoons (about 40 millilitres) of olive oil. I rolled out the dough onto baking parchment to make a layer about two millimetres thick, and then baked them for twenty minutes at 200°C.


The recipe is simple: prick 200 grams of sloes with a fork, add 200 grams of organic sugar, and pour on 75 centilitres of gin. Give it a stir, and then put it into a bottle. This bottle should be bigger than the one the gin came in — we didn’t think about that and ended up tipping the spare gin down the sink (as neither Clare nor I drink alcohol).
I decorated the bottle with a wintry scene using gel pens, and made a cute gift tag which I tied to the bottle with some spare ribbon. It was well received.
Meanwhile, I used the samphire to make crackers. I pulled the leaves from the stem, ending up with about two tablespoons full, then put them in a sieve, rinsed them, and steamed them for ten minutes over a stock pot. After chopping them finely I mixed them with 150 grams of organic wholemeal spelt flour, half a teaspoon of salt, 75 millilitres of water, and two and a half tablespoons (about 40 millilitres) of olive oil. I rolled out the dough onto baking parchment to make a layer about two millimetres thick, and then baked them for twenty minutes at 200°C.


Sunday, 4 July 2010
Blueberry sauce and blueberry muffins

After volunteering at Occombe Farm last Saturday I picked up some organic Cornish blueberries from the farm shop. I had never had blueberries before, and thought it time to give them a try. Half of them became blueberry sauce, shown above on vanilla ice cream. This was the first sauce I'd made using cornflour, and I hadn't realised it would congeal the moment it hit the sauce; the result was that even after sieving the sauce it still contained little white lumps. The other half of the blueberries became blueberry muffins in two different sizes (recipe from 1 Mix, 50 Muffins), which were very popular with my workmates.

Thursday, 10 June 2010
Wholegrain spelt flour bread rolls
This is the sixth in a series of posts documenting my adventures with less common flours. Today: wholegrain spelt flour. (Previously: buckwheat flour.)

I gave an overview of spelt in my previous post on white spelt flour. This spelt flour is described as ‘wholegrain’ rather than ‘wholemeal’. If you’re wondering what the different is, there’s none: wholegrain refers to any product using the whole grain, while wholemeal is what you get when you make whole grains into flour. To confuse matters further, Doves Farm label their 25 kg sacks of wholegrain spelt flour ‘whole spelt flour’, and also offer 25 kg sacks of whole spelt grain (not milled into flour).

As before, I made four small rolls. When I cut the first roll open I was a little disappointed, as the texture made it look undercooked. Appearances were deceptive though, and it turned out to be a delicious strong wholemeal roll. Clare however found them a little dense.

I gave an overview of spelt in my previous post on white spelt flour. This spelt flour is described as ‘wholegrain’ rather than ‘wholemeal’. If you’re wondering what the different is, there’s none: wholegrain refers to any product using the whole grain, while wholemeal is what you get when you make whole grains into flour. To confuse matters further, Doves Farm label their 25 kg sacks of wholegrain spelt flour ‘whole spelt flour’, and also offer 25 kg sacks of whole spelt grain (not milled into flour).

As before, I made four small rolls. When I cut the first roll open I was a little disappointed, as the texture made it look undercooked. Appearances were deceptive though, and it turned out to be a delicious strong wholemeal roll. Clare however found them a little dense.
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Malthouse flour bread rolls
This is the fourth in a series of posts documenting my adventures with less common flours. Today: malthouse flour. (Previously: white spelt flour. Next: buckwheat flour.)

Doves Farm's malthouse flour is a fairly inexpensive malted flour (£1.39/kg) made from brown wheat flour with 15% malted wheat flakes and 3.6% rye flour. Malting is a process by which grain is left to germinate before being roasted to prevent further growth. Malted grains have a sweet flavour due to sugars produced during germination. Malted flour is often described as ‘granary’ flour, but this term is actually a trademark of Hovis, and only bread made with their flour can legally be described as ‘granary’.

Once again I made four small rolls. I'm a fan of malted bread, and I found this malted flour mix to make particularly tasty bread, with a slightly sweet taste and a much softer, lighter texture than with some malt flours I've previously used — it was possibly the best malted bread I've had. Clare, however, preferred the rolls made with the barleycorn flour.

Doves Farm's malthouse flour is a fairly inexpensive malted flour (£1.39/kg) made from brown wheat flour with 15% malted wheat flakes and 3.6% rye flour. Malting is a process by which grain is left to germinate before being roasted to prevent further growth. Malted grains have a sweet flavour due to sugars produced during germination. Malted flour is often described as ‘granary’ flour, but this term is actually a trademark of Hovis, and only bread made with their flour can legally be described as ‘granary’.

Once again I made four small rolls. I'm a fan of malted bread, and I found this malted flour mix to make particularly tasty bread, with a slightly sweet taste and a much softer, lighter texture than with some malt flours I've previously used — it was possibly the best malted bread I've had. Clare, however, preferred the rolls made with the barleycorn flour.
Monday, 7 June 2010
White spelt flour bread rolls
This is the third in a series of posts documenting my adventures with less common flours. Today: white spelt flour. (Previously: barleycorn flour. Next: malthouse flour.)

Spelt is an ancient wheat, arising as a hybrid of emmer (the oldest domesticated wheat) and jointed goatgrass. European spelt may have originated from a later hybridisation of emmer and common wheat (which itself has jointed goatgrass ancestry). Spelt contains more protein and fibre than common wheat, and is more easily digested, but it is lower yielding and hence much more expensive (£2.29/kg from Doves Farm).

I made four small bread rolls using white spelt flour. Spelt bread rises more quickly than common wheat bread, and the bread was able to rise and prove in around 75 minutes (compare to the usual 120 minutes). I found the rolls delicious, but I must admit that I found the flavour similar to that of bread made with wholemeal wheat flour - I wasn’t aware of the ‘unique nutty flavour’ that spelt is described as having.

Spelt is an ancient wheat, arising as a hybrid of emmer (the oldest domesticated wheat) and jointed goatgrass. European spelt may have originated from a later hybridisation of emmer and common wheat (which itself has jointed goatgrass ancestry). Spelt contains more protein and fibre than common wheat, and is more easily digested, but it is lower yielding and hence much more expensive (£2.29/kg from Doves Farm).

I made four small bread rolls using white spelt flour. Spelt bread rises more quickly than common wheat bread, and the bread was able to rise and prove in around 75 minutes (compare to the usual 120 minutes). I found the rolls delicious, but I must admit that I found the flavour similar to that of bread made with wholemeal wheat flour - I wasn’t aware of the ‘unique nutty flavour’ that spelt is described as having.
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Barleycorn flour bread rolls - caterpillar approved
This is the second in a series of posts documenting my adventures with less common flours. Today: barleycorn flour. (Previously: Kamut flour. Next: white spelt flour.)

Barleycorn flour is a mid-priced flour, at £1.59/kg from Doves Farm. It consists of a mixture of wheat flour and barley, with 14% barley flakes at 4% linseeds. Linseeds are high in Omega-3 and have various reported health benefits, although evidence on some of the grander claims (such as cancer-fighting properties) is inconclusive.

As before, I made four small rolls. The rolls were relatively light for a granary-style flour, but chewy and very filling (although that may be partly due to me having had a large slice of birthday cake a few hours beforehand). Compared to a malted flour it had a milder taste. Clare reports enjoying it, but I won't pass judgement until I try it on a day free from birthday cake. It was also popular with a caterpillar that escaped from our freshly-picked elderflower and found its way to the final roll, which will now be fed to the ducks.

Barleycorn flour is a mid-priced flour, at £1.59/kg from Doves Farm. It consists of a mixture of wheat flour and barley, with 14% barley flakes at 4% linseeds. Linseeds are high in Omega-3 and have various reported health benefits, although evidence on some of the grander claims (such as cancer-fighting properties) is inconclusive.

As before, I made four small rolls. The rolls were relatively light for a granary-style flour, but chewy and very filling (although that may be partly due to me having had a large slice of birthday cake a few hours beforehand). Compared to a malted flour it had a milder taste. Clare reports enjoying it, but I won't pass judgement until I try it on a day free from birthday cake. It was also popular with a caterpillar that escaped from our freshly-picked elderflower and found its way to the final roll, which will now be fed to the ducks.
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Kamut flour rolls - not the Pharaoh's bread
This is the first in a series of posts documenting my adventures with less common flours. Today: Kamut flour. (Next: Barleycorn flour.)

Kamut was the most expensive of the flours we bought, at £2.69/kg - more than three times the price of normal wheat flour. I was attracted to it by Doves Farm’s description: an ancient wheat variety used by the Pharaohs. Unfortunately further research reveals this to be a ‘marketing myth’ (or less euphemistically, a lie to sell more products) promulgated by Kamut International Limited. There is no evidence for an Egyptian origin, and genetic tests suggest it may in fact be a hybrid of durum and Polish wheat. ‘Kamut’ is a trademark of Kamut International Limited, and the company impose strict limits on what can be described as Kamut wheat. One of these restrictions is that it must be organically grown, which partly makes up for the slightly sinister concept of trademarking the name of a plant subspecies.

I made four small rolls using the Kamut flour. The result was fairly pleasant, but not exceptional. Kamut is a wholegrain flour, and high in fibre, but has a pale yellowish colour and makes a lighter bread, with a sweeter flavour, than you would expect from a wholegrain flour. It might make a good substitute for normal wholegrain wheat flour, but the price and the fact it has to be shipped from North America (which isn’t terribly environmentally-friendly) means I probably won’t be using it as a bread flour again.

Kamut was the most expensive of the flours we bought, at £2.69/kg - more than three times the price of normal wheat flour. I was attracted to it by Doves Farm’s description: an ancient wheat variety used by the Pharaohs. Unfortunately further research reveals this to be a ‘marketing myth’ (or less euphemistically, a lie to sell more products) promulgated by Kamut International Limited. There is no evidence for an Egyptian origin, and genetic tests suggest it may in fact be a hybrid of durum and Polish wheat. ‘Kamut’ is a trademark of Kamut International Limited, and the company impose strict limits on what can be described as Kamut wheat. One of these restrictions is that it must be organically grown, which partly makes up for the slightly sinister concept of trademarking the name of a plant subspecies.

I made four small rolls using the Kamut flour. The result was fairly pleasant, but not exceptional. Kamut is a wholegrain flour, and high in fibre, but has a pale yellowish colour and makes a lighter bread, with a sweeter flavour, than you would expect from a wholegrain flour. It might make a good substitute for normal wholegrain wheat flour, but the price and the fact it has to be shipped from North America (which isn’t terribly environmentally-friendly) means I probably won’t be using it as a bread flour again.
Friday, 4 June 2010
So much flour: buckwheat, kamut, gram, spelt...
This afternoon an exhausted delivery man carried a 25 kg box up two flights of stairs and dropped it off at our flat door. What was in this box? Flour, flour, and more flour (and a packet of yeast), all from Doves Farm:

That's 16 kg of strong white bread flour, and 1 kg of each of buckwheat flour, wholegrain spelt flour, barleycorn flour, wholemeal (wheat) flour, gram flour, kamut flour, malthouse flour, white spelt flour, and gluten-free plain flour. I should mention that Doves Farm wrapped the gluten free flours in plastic to keep them from being contaminated.
We hadn't initially planned to buy so much flour. We wanted a massive bag of strong white bread flour as we use so much of it, and Clare discovered Doves Farm. I then noticed their unusual delivery pricing, based on both the price and weight of the order, which can be summarised with the following table:
The £6.50 delivery on an order worth £5 seems a bit much to me, but what caught my attention was the free delivery on orders of £30 provided they aren't also over 30 kg. Wheat flour costs less than £1/kg, but adding a few more interesting flours (or any of their other products that cost more than £1/kg) will drag the order into the free delivery zone. The vast array of flour in our order totally £30.01. For once it was a coincidence that it hit so close to £30, and nothing to do with my obsessive personality.

That's 16 kg of strong white bread flour, and 1 kg of each of buckwheat flour, wholegrain spelt flour, barleycorn flour, wholemeal (wheat) flour, gram flour, kamut flour, malthouse flour, white spelt flour, and gluten-free plain flour. I should mention that Doves Farm wrapped the gluten free flours in plastic to keep them from being contaminated.
We hadn't initially planned to buy so much flour. We wanted a massive bag of strong white bread flour as we use so much of it, and Clare discovered Doves Farm. I then noticed their unusual delivery pricing, based on both the price and weight of the order, which can be summarised with the following table:
0 kg - 30 kg | 30 kg - 60 kg | 60 kg - 90 kg | |
---|---|---|---|
£0.00 - £4.99 | FREE | £5.55 | £11.10 |
£5.00 - £9.99 | £6.50 | £12.05 | £17.60 |
£10.00 - £14.99 | £6.00 | £11.55 | £17.10 |
£15.00 - £19.99 | £5.50 | £11.05 | £16.60 |
£20.00 - £29.99 | £5.00 | £10.55 | £16.10 |
£30.00 + | FREE | £5.55 | £11.10 |
The £6.50 delivery on an order worth £5 seems a bit much to me, but what caught my attention was the free delivery on orders of £30 provided they aren't also over 30 kg. Wheat flour costs less than £1/kg, but adding a few more interesting flours (or any of their other products that cost more than £1/kg) will drag the order into the free delivery zone. The vast array of flour in our order totally £30.01. For once it was a coincidence that it hit so close to £30, and nothing to do with my obsessive personality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)