Candying Angelica and Painting a Picture.

At Christmas I always buy angelica to decorate little iced cakes. It has become a tradition. Now I have an angelica plant which is maturing nicely and I have always wanted to try candying my own. So I have been doing just that.

Because the plant has some lovely flowers developing I didn’t want to strip it bare so I just took a few small stems. Anyway I thought best not to do too much in case it goes wrong or I’m not happy with it.

It’s a really simple process but takes a few days to complete.

First, I cut and cooked the stems in water for about an hour to soften them. Then I made a sugar syrup from 200g sugar to 250mls of water. Stirred it well, gradually heating it before adding the drained stems.

I simmered the stems in the syrup for 15 minutes, removed it from the heat and set it aside until the next day.

The second day I gently warmed the syrup and stirred in another 100g of sugar until dissolved. Brought it to the boil and then simmered again for 15 minutes before setting aside again until the next day.

On the third day I added 100g sugar again to the warmed syrup, brought it to the boil then simmered for another 15 minutes. It’s important to bring it to the boil steadily or the syrup could burn and caramelise.

On the final day I simmered again in the syrup ( no extra sugar) for another 15 minutes. When it had cooled a little I drained it, split the stems and rolled in caster sugar. When it has dried a bit I shall store it in an airtight jar.

The bought version is a deep emerald green because it has food colouring added. Although mine is a dull green I prefer the natural product so I haven’t added anything. Of course it’s full of sugar but only small amounts are used for decoration so I’m not worried about that. I could have used that amount of syrup for many more stems but as this is a trial run it doesn’t matter. Perhaps I can find a use for the syrup.

The flower heads or umbels, as they’re called, will open into lovely white flowers which bees will love. There were bees and other pollinators buzzing about today in the garden despite the cold, wet weather.

I’m up to my ears with cabbages now. I have tried making sauerkraut in the past but it always seems to go mouldy. Not bothering again. Any surplus cabbage will make good compost.

I tried a different mangetout this year and they have taken forever to flower so no peas yet. One beautiful flower has finally appeared and it’s so lovely that I can forgive the long wait.

All gardeners know by now how important it is to avoid peat-based composts. I’ve been using coir. It’s fine for starting seeds off but as there’s no goodness in it I’ve been repotting into homemade compost when the time is right.

Because it’s been so cold I’ve only just sown runner beans, French beans, cucumbers, courgettes and squashes. They’re all very tender and don’t like the cold. Much like myself! They are beginning to peep through the coir and should grow nicely now the nights have warmed. They’re snug enough in the greenhouse until planting out time.

The parsnips and carrots are growing well. The spring onions are a tasty treat with a sandwich.

The garden is not at its best but here are some pretty bits captured by my camera.

My clematis montana “Elizabeth” has grown right up into the top branches of the old plum tree. It looks lovely tumbling down among the leaves.

With all the rain I’ve had time to finish my painting. It’s a scene from last summer in the garden. There was a campanula spreading prettily among the leaves poking through the fence. I took a photo and I’ve tried to capture it in my painting. Took a while. Lots of detail to do but enjoyable. Painted with gouache. Here it is.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos and perhaps you might fancy a bit of candying. Easy to do and pleasurable. Stay safe and don’t let the weather get you down. With you again in a few days.