Snackles at sundown

During one of my visits to Pretoria in 2015, when Keith was still working there, we went to a garden market at the erstwhile home of Prime Minister, General Jan Smuts, in Irene. In the antiques section, I came across a kitchen tool that fascinated me. It had a wooden handle attached to what I would describe as a metal comb with three teeth. Fixed on each of the ends of the “teeth”, was in sequence heavy metal shapes in the form of a square, circle and triangle.

I bought the tool hoping to do some research on it later. My only clue was in the name “Snackle”, visible on the metal shapes. I discovered that it was manufactured circa 1958 in the town of Brakpan in the old Transvaal Province. The company also manufactured Jaffle irons, used to make toasted sandwiches on gas, electric as well as open flame cooking.

Jaffle iron  (image source: https://kreatiewekosidees.com/2013/11/12/snackle-iron/)

The Snackle is a tool with which to make sweet or savoury casings for fillings for finger snacks. One can still buy them. They are based on the same principle as rosettes, traditional Norwegian and Swedish Christmas cookies that come in butterfly, star or circular shapes. I remember eating the snacks at church fetes, especially the butterfly shapes, dusted with castor sugar.

Scandinavian rosette iron (source: https://pinchmysalt.com/scandinavian-rosettes-recipe/)

Scandinavian rosettes (source: https://pinchmysalt.com/scandinavian-rosettes-recipe/)

I learned that I had bought myself a three in one Snackle iron. If you are lucky, you might even find one online with its original packaging and instructions.

Snackle iron (source: http://inenomdiehuis.blogspot.com/2013/07/snackle-resep.html)

I decided that it was time to try out the Snackle iron. After finding more than enough information and recipes online, I thought these little casings to be perfect for use in the preparation of cocktail snacks.

Snackles fresh out of the hot oil

I followed the instructions from the original instruction booklet and used the recipe for salt snackles.  

   

Recipe for salt casings

1 Egg

125ml Water

125ml Milk,

1 ml Salt

½ ml Pepper

250 ml Cake flour

Method:

Beat the egg, milk and water together.

Mix in the dry ingredients to make a runny batter. (It reminds me of pancake batter.)

Heat enough oil to cover the shapes of the iron in a deep enough pan. Heat the oil with the Snackle iron submerged. Shake off the excess oil and carefully dip the shapes in the batter (don’t let the dough go over the edge of the shapes though). Place in the oil for ±25 seconds. The casings are ready when they are light brown and crispy. After the first Snackles, one does not have to pre-submerge the iron in the oil. After removing the casings, simply repeat the process by dipping the iron in the batter and then the boiling oil.

Place the casings on absorbing paper.

Use fillings that are not too wet as it will make the otherwise crisp casings soggy.

 

My successful snackles

Things that can go wrong.

If there is too little oil on the Snackle iron the first time, the batter will stick to the shapes.

If the Snackle iron is removed from the batter too quickly, the batter will fall off.

If the oil is too hot the batter will also fall off.

 

Snackles with fillings

My first attempt was frustratingly disastrous. But, if your oil is hot enough, the whole experience is quite fun. The end results are snacks as diverse and interesting as your imagination. Did I mention that it is a very economical way of making snacks? This mix can give you up to 60 casings.

Snackles and sundowners

I think it the perfect snack-maker for sundowners over the festive season.

On losing lemons and celebrating citrus

After weeks of trying to rescue a favourite lemon tree, I had to accept that it was not going to recover. We decided to remove the tree. It appears that there might have been a problem with the soil. This could have been caused by seepage from the canal, resulting in a swamping of the surrounding soil. We decided to remove the soil around the ailing lemon tree. We then disinfected the sides and bottom of the resulting hole and the bordering earth.  The removed soil I then used to repair some soil erosion damage at the municipal dump. Much to the delight of the resident manager.

Homemade Limoncello

We decided that life is too short to plant small trees. This meant collecting a well-grown replacement specimen from a nursery near the town of Tulbagh. Tulbagh is located about 130 km from Bonnievale, in a mountain basin known as “Het Land van Waveren”. The trip to the nursery provided for quite an adventure. Slowly, the landscape changed from green vineyards and orchards to freshly harvested wheat fields. The nursery itself too, held for a pleasant discovery. I was amazed by its size and the generous selection of garden plants. I had known it primarily as a tree nursery and had not expected such variety.

Tulbagh Nursery - garden plant section

I was briefly distracted by the selection of hydrangeas. I was contemplating where I could plant some in the Towerwater garden when a nursery employee asked if he could assist us. I was reminded why we were there and decided to focus on the task at hand.

A tempting hydrangea 

Their selection of citrus trees is quite extensive. Their larger trees under the shade netting was not quite the size for which I was hoping. After explaining my preference, the nurseryman’s face lit up. He explained that what we were looking for, was to be found in another section of the garden around the corner. We followed him, but after walking briskly for 15 minutes along a gravel road, I was starting to wonder if I should not have brought my bottle of water along.

Tulbagh Nursery - citrus selection

It was a hot day. Although most of the walk was in the shade, we could feel the 36° C in the still air.  Suddenly, we walked into a clearing. There before us was a forest of citrus and other trees. The sight of the trees made me wish that we had more space to plant more of them.

The baby lemon

I chose a Eureka lemon tree of 2.2 metres tall. The nurseryman looked impressed with my choice. He pointed to a tiny lemon fruit on the tree saying I would not regret my choice. At that point I was hoping that I didn’t get charged extra for a tree already ‘in fruit’.

Tulbagh Nursery - rose section

As we walked back to the office, the nurseryman conducted an animated discussion on Eureka and Lisbon lemons. I was enlightened on their rootstocks, pip and juice quantity and the size of their thorns.  We were happy with our choice of the Eureka lemon.

He used a tractor and trailer to fetch our lemon and brushed aside my concerns that the tree will not fit into our bakkie (pick-up). Apparently, I had just to leave everything to him, something I gladly did. I joined Keith in the rose section of the nursery where he was selecting roses to introduce into the rosarium. In the rosarium, two yellow roses particularly, were not performing and were up for replacement. The newly selected rose bushes were strong and healthy. Keith selected “Amber Queen” for the Floribunda and “Casanova” for the Hybrid Tea positions in the rosarium.

Our future lemons

With the lemon tree and two roses in the back of the bakkie, we decided to return home via an antique store in the neighbouring town of Ceres, located 21kms from Tulbagh. In no time, we had identified three pieces of furniture that could work in the Victorian cottage in Cape Town. The lemon tree- filled bakkie prevented the purchase and we decided to make another antique-buying trip later in the year, or early next year.

Back home at Towerwater, we immediately planted the roses and lemon tree. Suddenly it seemed as if we had never lost a lemon tree. The single lemon and a couple of blossoms on the new tree held good omens for marmalade making next year. 

After a hot day and vigorous gardening escapade, we could relax on the lawn at sunset with a Limoncello Martini. A special feature of the martini was that it was mixed with our own Limoncello. Limoncello that had been made with some of the last lemons provided by our sadly departed favourite lemon tree. We could celebrate the memory of the old lemon tree and the promises of the new, now freshly planted, for the Towerwater garden.