Pontack Sauce or what to do with elderberries

This year I have tried a new brew called Pontack Sauce, somewhere between witchcraft and magic; this a glorious concoction made primarily from elderberries, vinegar and spices. I read several recipes and having not managed to pick many berries this was my final version.

Strip elderberries from their stems and put into a pyrex casserole dish with a good depth of vinegar. Place in a 50^oC oven overnight. The next day some magic will have happened, the house will be cloaked in a vinegary smell and the mix will have changed into a deep port colour. Then fry off some red onion and strain the mix into the pan squishing well to make sure all the goodness but not the skins has passed through. Add mace blades, whole cloves and juniper berries. Bubble in a pan until satisfyingly brewed. Strain and bottle.


Wait seven years.


Seriously – this is what the recipes seem consistent about; it improves with age and is at its best in seven years time. I doubt I'll wait that long so will take small samples periodically to test.

Illustration Friday - on not drawing

I really wish I could draw.  I admire the work of so many artists and now I am working in a school I love the idea of learning techniques as they are taught in schools these days; fantastic.  One of the nicest things about twitter and the web is that people who create work can quickly send links to all sorts of art.  I appreciate this is not the same as seeing things in the flesh. Looking closely at art from different perspectives and handling pieces can make such a difference; as can talking to the artists, so Open Studios can be greatly illuminating.  The web though offers one little gem - Illustration Friday, a theme is posted each week and artists submit their work. This week's theme is 'Pattern', so I thought I would add this petite creation, generated using brushes on the i-phone.

She’s got the drupes – or what to do with a glut of plums, damsons, sloes et al

It's OK, I haven't got "flop bot" like Tricki Woo.* What we have had is a fantastic season for the fleshy stone fruit, known as drupes; including the whole of the plum collection. The first to really cause me fun and games were the green plums which I wrote about previously. Next have been the damsons from Saxtead Mill House pub. When Ruth first showed me the tree I promised to come back; but I don't think she believed me. The next thing I knew was a bucket full of plums arrived. These I felt would be too small and fiddly to stone so I just rinsed them and brought them up to the boil to make jelly. I had hoped the stones would separate from the pulp enough so that I could remove the stones and call it jam, but this was not the case.  Jelly it was. Having strung my jelly bag up from the cup hooks overnight I could not stand to leave so much pulp going to waste. Having made the jelly I decided to spend the evening forcing the pulp through a sieve to make damson cheese.


If you have not made a fruit cheese before here is a quick how to:

Use the pulp from making a fruit jelly, transfer the pulp to a sieve and force through using the back of a spoon to create a fine, smooth paste. Weigh the pulp and add an equal weight of sugar. Cook in a heavy bottomed pan, stirring frequently until you get the "Red Sea" effect, ie when you drag a wooden spoon through it there is a distinct parting which takes a second or two to fill. Put the mix into sterile warmed pots or moulds, I use little ramekins. Ideally store for a couple of months and then turn out and slice. This is great with dairy cheese or on its own with Suffolk rusks or scones.

* Foot note: so much nicer than hyperlinks don't you think….

Do you remember the James Herriot vet books? Mrs Pumphrey had a spoilt little dog called Tricki Woo; it, James and Tristan suffered from Tricki's flop bot

Onion Cats – the final instalment of the Puglia Holiday

Our holiday in Puglia was long and relaxing. The villa is home to many cats and watching their escapades I started to think of their stories and how they perceived us humans.  As we played and chatted; just what did they make of us?  So brewing at the moment is a bunch of stories and ideas about the Onion Cats, hand scribbled on every scrap of paper I could find; I am transferring them on to the PC and cogitating as to their merit. Am I brave enough to put them forward for publishing? Only time will tell, watch this space.

The value of the EHIC card and relationship to Shakespeare

Or what I did on holiday in Puglia, Part 3

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Is any holiday ever completely glitch free? I've previously commented on the UK trains but we did manage one other problem. 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears,' we should have read the small print; one of our party ended up with an exquisite ear infection. After 2-3 days of saying, it'll get better, take pain killers, we eventually had a tearful night and bloody pus.

It was a Saturday morning when we realised that we would need help. The fantastic Debbie agreed to come too, and we started our tour. First trip the Pharmacia in Torchiarolo, there they said we should go to the Pronto Socorro and the centre. We pitched up at about 10.00 and found a sign saying that this was the time the staff would be in attendance. Five minutes later a rounded chap on a bicycle turned up; after a bit of chat about the symptoms he took a deep breath and in rich Puglian, Italian suggested that we should go to the Pronto Socorro in San Pietro Vernotico some 4 kilometres away.

When we arrived there we were told that with blood from the ear we would have to go to the Hospidale in Brindisi. So a quick hop back in the car and a drive up to Brindisi to the A&E. They requested the EHIC European Health Insurance Card and checked the passport. Thank goodness we had checked the dates and had new EHICs issued before we left. We were then sent to the ear, nose and throat specialists' clinic.

A very lovely Italian doctor with enough English to converse and reassure asked the necessary questions and then with great care explained his diagnosis and prescriptions of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and drops. It is interesting to ponder what would have happened in the UK, but we are not lending any ears to test the system.