Enjoying Summer Fruit

As much as I love strawberries, I’ve had my fill now of picking and preparing them! We’ve had many scrummy bowlsful though and I have a good stash in the freezer. I will make some jam on a cold winter’s day. A favourite job in my warm kitchen when rain is lashing the windows and the garden has gone to sleep.

I kept some jars from jam I bought years ago with lovely strawberry patterned lids. I love to see my own strawberry jam glistening inside them.

Here is a recipe I came up with for a summer dessert.

Strawberry Mousse

200g Strawberries
3 tablespoons Sugar
200g Cream Cheese
300ml Whipping Cream

Wash and prepare the strawberries. Save a few nice ones for decoration.
Put into a small saucepan and crush with a potato masher. Don't add any water.
Add the sugar and stir well to dissolve. Heat until bubbling and allow to bubble for 5 minutes. 
Cool and chill. ( Leave overnight if more convenient.)
Whip the cream to soft peaks.
In a separate bowl mix the strawberries into the cream cheese.
Add the strawberry mixture to the cream and mix well but gently, making sure the strawberries are evenly distributed.
Spoon or pipe into dishes.
Place a strawberry on each dish.
Chill for a few hours before serving.
Can be frozen but don't add the decorative strawberries before freezing.





The peas have been very generous. Podding takes time but is worth the effort. The peas are delicious and my treat is eating them raw as I open the pods. That fresh Summer taste takes some beating. I grow a variety called "Sugar Ann". They can be eaten as mange-tout or left to ripen into peas. Both are really good.
I grow peas in the polytunnel. No little grubs to spoil them because the pea moths can't find them and lay their eggs. Perfect peas every time.

I harvested my small crop of onions. I planted these last autumn. They were tiny, bought plants and didn’t look promising. They haven’t grown very big but that’s fine. I don’t need large onions. I have spread them on the greenhouse bench to dry. When the tops have withered I’ll trim and store them.

The kohl rabi are swelling. They’ll soon be ready. Best eaten just slightly smaller than a tennis ball for tender sweetness. The French beans are just developing some pods.

Here are some other treasures in the garden at the moment.

I spotted a beautiful dragonfly resting on the rosemary.

With so many strawberries to eat I overlooked a couple of bananas. They were very ripe but still edible so I made some custard and sliced them into it. Haven’t done that for years. It was really nice.

I’ve never mastered the art of making custard from eggs and milk ( except in a baked flan or pudding). The tubs of custard powder make quite good custard though and take the strain out of the process. It’s easy to make it thick or thin and here’s a tip you might not know. If you sprinkle sugar, lightly and evenly over the top of the hot custard it will not make a skin as it cools.

That’s all for now. I hope you too are enjoying summer fruit and lovely flowers. With you again next week.