Chutneys and cranberries

I know that some will find the idea of starting preparations for Christmas in October quite ludicrous. But I’m actually late this year – I normally start in September!

This is the month that homemade things that need time to mature in the jar are often made. Like Christmas pickle, red pepper relish, and jars of cranberry mincemeat for festive pastries.

I’m trying to use as much as possible from the croft this year, so I’ve been incorporating our homegrown herbs, chillies, celery, carrots and tomatoes into some of my concoctions. The tomato kasundi (spicy tomato chutney) that I made some weeks ago is already maturing nicely on the pantry shelves.

A stray thought occured to me as I wrote about cranberry mincemeat – could we grow cranberries this far north?

Apparently, we could, according to the Scottish Wildlife Trust. I must see if we can source some cranberry bushes next spring and get them planted up on the croft. They’re bog plants originally, and acid-soil loving, so I have great hope that they’ll thrive in our conditions here. Perhaps in a few years we’ll be using our own berries in our cranberry mincemeat and I’ll feel really self-sufficient!

We’ve decided not to make a Christmas cake this year. We hardly eat it these days, and I hate waste. I’ll make a stollen in December instead so that we can get our marzipan hit, which husband much prefers. That, a few cranberry pastries and a regular supply of home-baked Swedish cinnamon cardamon buns and we’ll be happy.

We’re just Europeans at heart, really.

We attended a local Apple Day event on the island a week or so ago. Juice pressing, apple cakes (I donated one) and the option to taste some of the locally grown heritage variety apples. We’re looking forward to the first small batch of apple trees going in around November.

We can’t wait.