It may be wild and windy in the garden but things are still growing. Two weeks ago we planted winter wheat. Now it has germinated. It may not look like much but with a bit of luck and some weeding we will have wheat to harvest in July. Local bakery e5 in London Fields now has a mill so with their help we should be able to mill some wheat into flour and maybe end up with a loaf of bread grown in the school garden.
These are the processes needed to turn a grain of wheat into a loaf of bread:
This is Billy Rae's picture of his wheat.
We've also been growing onions (and measuring them each week), keeping a record of the fluctuating temperatures and yesterday we chopped apples and onions to make apple chutney. It was cooked and bottled later on and will be on sale at the Winter Fair. Get there early if you want a jar.
If you want to make your own here is the recipe we used (Jojo's):
Apple chutney recipe
Makes
about 5 x medium jars (350ml)
1. 5 kg apples peeled,
cored and sliced
450ml distilled
vinegar
400g onion, finely
chopped (2 good sized onions)
250g sultanas (you can also use apricots)
500g soft light brown
sugar
1 tablespoon of
pickling spices (a few cloves, mustard, cardomam, coriander and fennel seeds
plus a dried chillie)
1 teaspoon sea salt
Prepare the apples.
Put the pickling spices into square of cloth and tie up tightly. In a large pan
put the onions and half the vinegar, simmer for 10 minutes then add the fruits,
sultanas and ginger. Simmer until the fruits have broken down. Add the sugar,
the rest of the vinegar, the bag of spices and the salt. Stir
until the sugar has dissolved and then simmer very gently until the mixture
thickens and starts to look jammy. You should be stirring almost continuously
at the end to make sure the mixture does not catch. You will know when it is
ready as the liquid on top will disappear and when you draw your spoon across
the bottom of the pan you will a satisfying sizzle.
When you’re happy with
the consistency spoon the chutney down into hot, sterilised jam jars (run them through the dishwasher). Leave
the chutney in the cupboard for at least a month before eating.
