Plans for an ample apricot harvest

Summertime activities at Towerwater are dictated by the garden. A glint of yellow in the apricots tells us that within in the next two weeks we will be making preserves with apricots.

Apricots

The question every season is, do we go traditional or explore new ways of using the sun-ripened golden fruit. This year, among other things, I am planning on making apricot brandy. A number of cocktail recipes call for apricot brandy, but this is not so easily found. One of my mottos in life is, if one cannot find an ingredient, make it yourself.

A recipe for Apricot Brandy in  "Maak jou eie likeur - Jean Dickson, 1991"

I consulted my trusted recipe books. In the 1908, Hilda's 'where Is It?' of Recipes, by Hildagonda Duckitt, on page 4, I found a recipe for ‘Mebos’, (salted dried apricots). It reads as follows:

“Apricots, dried and salted

(Commonly called “Mebos”)

Take soft ripe apricots, lay them in salt water (about two ounces of salt to a quart bottle) for a few hours. Then lay them on a mat to dry in the sun; the next day press them between the hands to flatten, and let the stone come out. The next day repeat the process. At the Cape it generally dries and becomes “Mebos” in three or four days in the sun, but if the weather should be damp, they might be dried in heated rooms, or a cool oven. To crystallise the Mebos, lay them in lime water (see lime water) for five minutes, till they feel nice and tender, take out, wipe dry on soft cloth, and rub course crystallised white sugar well into each; take one and half pounds of sugar to one pound of Mebos. Pack closely with lots of sugar in between in jars that will cork well. A very nice sweatmeat, and said to be a remedy for sea-sickness.”

Treasured recipe books

On page 173 and 174 is a recipe for green apricot preserve. It reads as follows:

“Preserve (Green Apricot)
(An old Constantia Recipe)

Ingredients:
100 green or unripe Apricots.
Their weight in sugar.

Prick the fruit with a steel pin, lay them in a deep dish, sprinkle some salt over them (about a dessert spoonful), pour boiling water over them, cover with green vine-leaves (this keeps them green), lay a plate on top. Now proceed to make the syrup, taking a cup of water to a cup of sugar. When it is boiled and clarified, take the apricots out of the salt water, wash them, and pour the boiling syrup over them. Leave for a night like this. The next day preserve by gently simmering till the fruit is nice and clear.”

I find the recipes very interesting. I doubt whether I will try them this year. But I will definitely keep them in store as possibilities.

The nectarines are acquiring that beautiful red glow of ripe fruit. I can see the peck marks of the Cape White-eyes as they test them for ripeness. I will have to invest in netting to cover the fruit trees to protect them from these tiny destroyers of ripe fruit.

Nectarines

We do not mind sharing, but the birds have a habit of pecking holes in the fruit and moving on to the next instead of just eating the whole.

On page 149 of Hilda's 'where Is It?' of Recipes, I came across the recipe for nasturtium seed for use as capers. It reads as follows:

“Nasturtium seeds used as Capers

Gather the seeds before they are too hard. Keep them for a day or two with salt sprinkled over them, then put them into empty pickle bottles; pour boiling vinegar over them and leave them to cool. When cold, cork closely.

The nasturtium flowers are very nice to eat with bread and cheese, and butter; and look very pretty to hand round on a separate plate, with the cheese and butter after dinner.”

Some of the new nasturtium seedlings in the orchard

If I look at the sea of tiny nasturtium plants coming up in the dams of the fruit trees, there will be lots of nasturtium flowers and seeds. I might then try Hilda’s suggestion and experience a culinary tradition that she and her guests enjoyed around the Groote Post dining room table on the West Coast of the old Cape Colony.

An ordinary orchard

The nasturtiums on the orchard floor have finished flowering. The bright orange and yellow blooms have been replaced by wrinkly green seeds. These can be enjoyed in salads for their peppery taste. I did consider pickling them to make ‘poor man’s capers’, but there are enough laborious tasks to be done in a weekend without adding more to the list.

We removed the last of the nasturtium plants from the orchard, but some seeds remain in the dams around the trees for Mother Nature’s future use. As much as I enjoy the madness of the nasturtium covered orchard floor, I also enjoy the neatness of the clean floor with the dams neatly shaped around the trees.

Pears

It is as if Spring had a party and Summer cleaned it up. The domestic orchard was laid out to produce a variety of fruit over the seasons of the year. The fruit that it supplies is used in as many dishes as may be conjured by the imagination.

Plums

Spending time in the orchard is always a pleasure. Chores like watering and checking the fruit-fly bait stations also provides a moment of relaxation and being in a quiet, serene space.

Yellow cling peaches

Figs

With the early peaches harvested, the focus shifts to the first apricots that will soon ripen. The trees are covered in a variety of young fruit, from apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, figs, citrus and pomegranates, to plums, quinces and prunes. It is much like a symphony of flavours that awaits us for summer.

Nectarines

Every year the orchard produces the same fruit, but each time it feels like the first harvest. The orchard does not produce vast quantities, but there is still enough fruit to enjoy fresh and some for preserving. Each year I try to make some new preserves or liqueurs from the fresh fruit that I haven’t made before.

Pomegranates

The young fruit of the pomegranate resemble Christmas baubles. They create a festive mood at the bottom of the orchard. The apricots are starting out with cheeks covered in freckles. They will soon blush into the warmest of reds. The quinces on the other hand look like little furry animals with fat pot bellies.

Quinces

An ordinary orchard turns the Towerwater garden into something extraordinary. It brings so many surprising pleasures to the table in so many ways.

Spring on a plate

The early peaches are ripening. The birds are testing them as curious shoppers would with Avocado pears in the shop. The unfortunate thing is that birds can’t squeeze the peach to test if it is ready, so most of the peaches are covered with peck marks.

Fresh fruit tartlet with peaches and strawberries

The familiar old makeshift scarecrow in the tree is no deterrent. It is simply a case of the early bird or person, getting the ripe peach. 

We have a choice of peaches, strawberries and paw-paws ripening in the garden. Meals taken in the garden, have to include dessert. If nothing else, than to ensure that we can enjoy the garden offerings in situ.

I am trying to keep dessert menus interesting. My creativity is moving from preserving to finding ways of enjoying the fruit as fresh as possible.

Strawberry foam with fresh strawberries

Fresh fruit tarts are always quick and easy to make. For a spin on the church bazaar pudding my mom used to make, I am exploring afresh the possibilities of strawberries in a foamy jelly.

With longer Spring days and most meals being enjoyed al fresco, it is a pleasure to capture the freshness of the garden as a dessert menu treat.

My face is my fortune

First impressions are lasting. Some continue to haunt years later.  When we first viewed the house in 1991, it had been unoccupied for three years. Neglect was evident throughout the property. Even the orchard looked as though it needed a good dusting.

"My face is my fortune,Sir" she said

Stepping into the house, the first image that greeted us out of a wide black frame, was that of a brown haired blue-eyed girl, seductively outstretched with her hands behind her head. Her well-filled blouse and bodice suggestively sporting an undone lace. The caption below the picture read, “My face is my fortune, Sir”, she said.

The print in the dining room before restoration of the house.

The large image, although provocative, is really quite modest in today’s terms. As a Victorian print though, it must have raised an eyebrow or two. With a loosened bodice accompanied by that quotation, the observer could be forgiven an opinion.

By Edwin Thomas Roberts (1840-1917)

We inherited the young lady in the picture when we bought the house. From the sun room where she doubtlessly added warmth, she moved to the dining room and finally to the loft.

I was always curious about the origin of the painting and its accompanying quotation.

I was surprised to find that the quotation was from a nursery rhyme whose origins could be traced back to before 1790. I found it in the Archaeologia Cornu-Britannica; or an Essay to preserve the Ancient Cornish Language, by William Pryce.

It is listed under “A collection of Proverbs, Rhimes, &c.” as a Cornish song. There is a footnote on the page that states “☞ This was the first Song that ever I heard in Cornwall ; it was sung at Carclew, in 1698, by one Chygwyn, brother-in-law to Mr. John Grose, of Penzance. — (TONKIN.)”

The rhyme had several different mutations and in The Real Mother Goose (1916) it appears as follows.

"Where are you going, my pretty maid?"

"I'm going a-milking, sir," she said.

"May I go with you, my pretty maid?"

"You're kindly welcome, sir," she said.

"What is your father, my pretty maid?"

"My father's a farmer, sir," she said.

"What is your fortune, my pretty maid?"

"My face is my fortune, sir," she said.

"Then I can't marry you, my pretty maid."

"Nobody asked you, sir," she said.

It is evident then, that the girl in the print was a milk maid. The image could of course be suggestive of a rather warm day, or that she had several cows to milk.

My face is my fortune by Edwin Thomas Roberts (1840-1917), https://www.the-athenaeum.org

The artist signature in the left bottom corner

Having found the origin of the line, I started searching for the artist of the original painting. I could not find a copy of the painting online, but I could trace the artist through his signature in the print.

Full Swing by Edwin Thomas Roberts (1840-1917), https://www.the-athenaeum.org/

He was Edwin Thomas Roberts (1840-1917) the son of the artist Thomas Edward Roberts (1820-1901). He exhibited extensively in London from 1862-1886, including at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal Society of British Artists. He was a quintessential genre scene artist of the Victorian period, depicting light-hearted scenes of young children and elderly figures. Source: http://www.mkgallery.org/downloads/186/galleryguidetreasuresinmk.pdf

Grist to the mill  by Edwin Thomas Roberts (1840-1917), https://www.the-athenaeum.org/

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica the subject of genre painting is invariably intimate scenes from daily life and focuses attention upon the shrewd observation of types, costumes and settings. Source:  https://www.britannica.com/art/genre-painting


He painted what might have been the same model a couple of times and there is another of his paintings called “My face is my fortune” but this one is of a milk maid with two pails of milk. Clearly he had a preference for a certain look in his models.
https://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=tu&aid=6376

Unmasked by Edwin Thomas Roberts (1840-1917), https://www.the-athenaeum.org

It would have been interesting to find the identity of his muse, but I consider myself fortunate to have discovered the information that I have.

The "voorhuis" before restoration.

How the print came to be in the house, I never did discover. That it was a well-loved painting was clear, when one considers its original prominence of position. Perhaps it reminded the previous owner, at that stage an elderly widower, of someone special in his life. 

“My face is my fortune”, has been quite prophetic for the old house. Today we count ourselves fortunate to be able to live in this grand old lady and recount the bucolic scenes of the past and present through this blog.

Limoncello Salt and Coriander Pesto

Towerwater does not only give us an abundance of fruit, vegetables and herbs, but it also challenges our creativity to use the offerings from the garden optimally.

The generous lemon trees give us enough fruit to be relaxed about using it all. Growing up in a home where wasting food was not acceptable, has taught me to use as much of the garden produce as possible.

We use the Cape rough skin lemon to make lemon cordial. This year, I decided to use the skins for limoncello before I squeezed out the juice to make the cordials. After bottling the limoncello, I had a lot of vodka infused peels that would be perfect for baking a lemon cake.

I had no time to bake a cake, and so I decided to dry the lemon peels instead. That would give me a bigger variety of options to use the dry ground peel in salads, cooking and baking. After drying the vodka infused lemon peels, I roughly ground them and added some to a salt grinder to make limoncello salt.

The coriander seeds seemed to struggle when I sowed them in the herb garden last year. This year, I decided to sow them in one of the vegetable beds. The result is that I have coriander coming up like weeds. I made a note to focus on companion planting when it comes to my herbs in future.

With a healthy crop of coriander in the garden, I needed to use a lot to really make use of them at their most flavourful. I decided to make coriander pesto. Coriander pesto brings together three of my favourite flavours, coriander, Parmesan cheese and garlic.

Making the pesto, filled the kitchen with the fresh fragrance of coriander, the rich nuttiness of the Parmesan and the earthy aroma of the pine nuts. Just to add some Towerwater flavour to the pesto, I decided to use my freshly made limoncello salt instead of the plain salt required by the recipe.

Towerwater coriander pesto

1              bunch coriander

4              garlic cloves

100ml      pine nuts

1/2         cup olive oil

1/4         cup grated Parmesan cheese

Limoncello salt and pepper to taste

Put the coriander in a bowl and chop with a stick blender. Add the garlic and pine nuts and pulse to combine. Add about half the olive oil and blend until a paste begins to form. Add the remaining olive oil, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts and garlic. Blend to a paste. Add salt or pepper to taste. Enjoy on crostini or pasta.

It is amazing how much one can use of a lemon if you think about it a little.    

The beauty of running errands

Opening the shutters of the big double doors on Saturday mornings brings a sense of anticipation. The first view of the garden is always different. With new light, the garden is constantly changing adding new colours and textures.

The joy of a garden goes hand in hand with the work that goes into its creating. Saturday morning started with the cooling fan of the irrigation pump that needed replacing. We are not complaining because it served us very well for more than 20 years.

With the fragile fan in a container, I headed off to Robertson in the hope that I would find a replacement. I took the fan with, although I thought I had taken enough photographs of the pump with the fan, the pump without the fan and the fan on its own. Finding the right part is always easier if one has the original as a sample.

The early morning drive through the valley became less of an errand and more of a soul-restoring drive. Driving through the vineyards and orchards lifted my spirits. Although the broken fan was an inconvenience, it offered me the opportunity to enjoy a drive through the valley.

Over the years the vineyards have crawled up the mountain slopes. Hiding behind hills where the temperature is just right for that specific cultivar. New grape cultivars are introduced into the valley making for some exciting wines. Broadening the available range at estate cellars.

The magnificent mountains form a dramatic back-drop to the sprawling vineyards and orchards. Most of the old fruit orchards are being replaced by espaliered orchards. But, there are enough old orchards to lend the valley its particular charm.

The irrigation store was an experience. As usual, I enjoy browsing and looking at what is available. I am like a child in a candy store. The possibilities of what one can do with the equipment that is available are endless. I had to stop myself from re-designing the irrigation system in the garden. I focused on the task at hand, and was lucky enough that they had one single replacement fan in stock.

Driving back to Towerwater, I allowed myself to enjoy the beauty of the valley. Not even the stop and go’s at the road construction works could spoil that drive for me.

The rose-lined avenues at De Wetshof are breath-taking. The valley is covered in a green patchwork of early summer vineyards and orchards that are vibrant against the dark-etched mountains. It is a privilege to live in such a beautiful place, where running errands becomes a visual joy.