Apples and Pears (cont)

In case you were wondering what I did with all those apples and pears .. well, firstly I made mulled spiced pears and figs for Christmas presents. This was one of those torn from a magazine recipes now creased and splattered over time. We had the bit over that wouldn't fit into the kilner jars while it was still warm with a little vanilla icecream. Remains to be seen if the other jars make it until Christmas and actually leave the building!

Mulled Spiced Pears and Figs

200ml white wine vinegar
400ml ruby port
250g soft light brown sugar
heaped tspn mixed spice
a cinnamon stick
7 pears, peeled and cored and cut into 8 wedges
250g ready to eat dried figs, cut into halves

Put the vinegar, port and 200ml water in a pan with the sugar and spices. Stir, bring to the boil, then simmer for 35mins. Add the pears, bring back to the boil and cook for 2-3mins. Transfer the pears to a bowl and stir in the figs. Boil the liquid in the pan for about 10-15mins until halved in volume. Pack the fruit tightly into sterilised jars, top up with the syrup and seal.

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And I made these apple soul cakes from a marvellous apple recipe post at Tales of a Kitchen Herbwife (thankyou, Sarah!). We had them still warm from the oven with mugs of tea while watching fireworks outside on Bonfire Night. I had been reading about soul cakes and the tradition of leaving little cakes outside the front door to appease any wandering souls on Halloween, so was really excited to stumble across this recipe.

Supermarket SOS

Got the chance to try out some remedies this week, in my battle with a horrible flu thing. Not having my usual stocks of herbs and remedies, for one reason and another, I was unprepared and at something of a loss - but its amazing what you can still do with just a quick trip to the local supermarket these days. Fresh sage, fresh lemon thyme, a squeezy pot of organic runny honey, a couple of lemons and a big lump of ginger. And a ferret around in my box of essential oils. Here are some things that really worked ..

Strong cup of sage tea with a dollop of honey stirred in for a sore throat - gargle with each mouthful before you swallow.

Lemon Thyme tea with dollop of honey stirred in for nose, throat and chestiness - this one was better made in a pot and allowed to brew for a good 10minutes.

Steam inhalation for congestion - washing up bowl, hot water and a few drops of Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Peppermint essential oils - towel over your head and inhale!

A few drops of the same oils in a table spoon of carrier oil (I used sweet almond but sunflower oil would do) as a chest rub and in the bath for when you start coughing and/or it goes to your chest.

For mornings when your cold is so bad you think you will never be able to get going: lemon juice and several slices of root ginger in hot water, strong as you can take it with a nice dollop of honey mixed in. I peeled and crushed some of the ginger to get the juice. You can feel this warm you up all the way down to your toes - and its great when you can't taste anything anymore, because you will definitely taste this.

And as soon as you feel the slightest suspicion of a cold coming, take a garlic capsule every day I'm sure this lessens the impact and gets rid of it faster. I also tried a Nigel Slater thing - roasted a whole head of garlic, then popped the flesh out of each clove and spread the puree onto toast. It was absolutely delicious and I sure being in the warm kitchen smelling the roasting garlic in the oven didn't do me any harm either.
Hope this helps someone else out there feeling poorly and miserable!!

Please contribute any tried and tested cold and flu remedies that you set store by?

Making Elderflower Tea

Well, if you catch your cold during the peak cold season in January and February, its too late to go gather your own elderflowers and you have two options: you can buy loose dried herbs from a good supplier, such as Neal's Yard or Napiers (who do internet and mail order, see 'Interesting Links') or you can buy readymade organic elderflower tea bags.

To make the tea, use 1 heaped teaspoon of dried flowers or 1-2 teabags per cup. Leave your tea to brew for 5- 10 minutes, and drink it hot if you are taking it for a cold.

Note: The important thing about making a medicinal tea is to cover it while it brews. If you don't want to use a teapot, then placing a saucer on top of your mug is just as good .. you can get those little metal strainer-balls to place the herbs in. I use a lovely pottery cup which has its own lid and a little tray to hold the herbs. Its worth it if you make a lot of herbal tea.

As a regular drink, you can take 3-4 cups a day although the book I use suggests you can have 6-8 cups a day (for a FEW days only!) when you have a cold or flu.

If you are interested in collecting your own elderflowers, then the optimum time to do this is in May or June, just before they are in full blossom. Collect whole flowerheads and spread out to dry on trays in a warm place out of direct sunlight. When dry, the flowers can be easily rubbed from their stems. Store the dried elderflowers in airtight glass jars in a dark place. Dried herbs should be discarded after a year and replaced.


References:
'Natural Taste (Herbal Teas: A guide for home use)' Andrew Chevallier MNIMH (1994)
'Healing Plants' L. Opletal and J. Volak (1999)