Spiced Blackberries

This is adapted from a recipe I only found this year. It intrigued me as it was so different to anything I had previously done with blackberries.

I twiddled it slightly to suit my tastes, and sorry I can't remember which bits I twiddled and in what way !

It really is to die for, and very very different.

Spiced Blackberries

2 1/4 lbs Blackberries
1 lb white Sugar
1/2 pint (UK pints) Malt Vinegar
1/2" piece of Cinnamon Stick
1" piece of fresh Root Ginger (chopped but not peeled)
1/2 teaspoon ground Mixed Spice
5 Juniper Berries
5 whole Cloves
3 rose scented Geranium leaves

1. Gently rinse the blackberries. Pick them over to remove all gunky bits and wildlife (insects). Leave to dry as much as possible.

2. Crush all the spices and put them into a 'spice bag', a small muslin bag tied tight.

3. Put the vinegar and the spice bag into a stainless steel saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil hard for 5 minutes.

4. Cover the pan and leave to stand until it is cold. Then remove the spice bag.

5. Put the cold vinegar and the sugar in a stainless steel saucepan and heat it up very gently, stirring often, until the sugar has all dissolved.

6. Add the blackberries to the vinegar liquid, and simmer until they are just tender.

7. Lift the blackberries out with a large spoon with holes in it and put them into hot, dry, sterilised glass jars (4 should be enough as this makes about 4 lbs). Use not metallic lids.

8. Keep the jars of blackberries warm.

9. Boil the remaining syrup hard, until it becomes nice and thick.

10. Add a geranium leaf to each jar on top of the blackberries.

11. Pour the hot syrup over the blackberries in the jars, making sure that they are all well covered.

12. Seal the jars immediately while it is all hot.

Pickled Eggs, Tattooed Gentlemen & Flying Donkeys

It's now dusk and I have (hopefully) secured the donkeys in their summer field with some extra poles in the electric fence, together with a new battery for the fencer itself. I live in dread and constantly expect to see them munching their way through my raspberries and mowing my precious wild flower area just outside the office windows...

All the local farmers tell me how after just 1 or 2 zaps from an electric fence, no animal will even go near it ever again. Once zapped and scared of it, they stay well away even when it is turned off...

That is all animals in Ireland except Thomas and Aoife... The only flying, belly creeping, pole lifting donkeys on the island, maybe even in Europe. They roll under the fence, they jump over it, and they will even push it over bit by bit until they can walk over it... and this is all whilst it is connected to the 'Turbo' electric fencer I bought to replace the normal one they used to laugh at.

So I am sat here this evening with my fingers crossed and hoping that my blood pressure can cope.

I thought that I would share a recipe today, which goes back to my younger years in England when guys in bars used to be incredibly macho and eat pickled eggs with their 'real' ale. In fact in some parts of the UK this traditional snack is still considered a delicacy by many a tattooed, beer swilling gentleman whilst he is partaking of his lunchtime victuals.

Pickled Eggs

10 fl oz (300ml) Malt Vinegar
2 teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
1 handful Pickling Spice
2 teaspoons Black Treacle
4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
3 dozen hard-boiled Eggs, shelled

1. Boil all the ingredients together, except the eggs, for 15 minutes.

2. Allow the liquid to cool.

3. Place the cold hard-boiled eggs (without their shells) and the pickling liquid in a 2.5kg/5lb sterilised jar.

4. Turn upside down to mix well.

5. Leave for about 1 month before eating.