Gallery: The Wondrous ‘Howgate Wonder’, Champion Apple of 2025
Once again, the largest, most impressive apple that I’ve harvested this year is the mighty, mighty H.W.
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Nellie Willey’s 1887 Recipe for ‘Apple Snow’
Here’s a quick and easy recipe that makes good use of a bit of apple purée and a leftover egg white.
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Fruit Harvest Highlights – Summer 2025 Edition
2025 has been an incredible year for all types of fruit. Here’s part one of my harvest highlights.
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How To: Make Mini Baked Apples with Flapjack Stuffing
This baked apple pudding is simple and quick to prepare and bake, and is absolutely delicious with lashings of custard.
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Gallery – Autumn Sunshine on Allotment Apples
A morning visit to the allotment just happened to coincide with a glorious burst of autumn sunshine, so I snapped a few apple pics to celebrate.
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Gallery: Autumn Fruit Tree Foliage
It’s been an unexpectedly good year for autumn colour in the orchards, and here are a few photo-highlights.
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Cordon Apple Tree Update – Autumn 2025 Edition
We’ve had a terrific year for apples and the mature cordon trees on our allotment plot have been very productive indeed.
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Sarah Harrison’s 1760 Recipe for ‘Apple Froise’
This mid-C18th recipe for a pan-fried batter pudding sounds quick, simple and very tasty.
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Book Notes: The Story of the Herefordshire Pomona, by Bill Laws
This new book explores the history, production and impact of one of the very finest examples of Victorian-era pomology and botanical art.
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A Few Notes on Palladius’s c.420 Recipe for ‘Liquamen Ex Piris’
I’ve fallen down another ancient Roman research rabbit-hole, this time looking into a pear-based version of the Romans’ favourite fermented fish sauce.
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Giles Rose’s 1682 Recipe for ‘A Melon Tart in Slices’
Tired of the same old slice-and-scoff melon eating method? Looking for something a little different? Giles Rose has a C17th suggestion.
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Quick Website Update: Variety Lists Added
I’ve set up a page on the website that lists the varieties of fruit – mainly apples – that I’m currently growing myself, or have worked with at various sites.
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Not ‘Cornish Aromatic’? A New Mystery Apple to Identify
We’ve got another apple that’s not true to type according to the label on the tree, but which variety could it actually be?
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A Few Notes on Yellow Currants
Yellow currants aren’t a particularly common crop, and after harvesting a few hundred berries, I think I might know why.
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A Late-C14th Recipe for ‘Tart de Brymlent’
Here’s a recipe from the Fourme of Cury, for a pie with a filling that might sound a little unusual to modern culinary sensibilities.
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Seeking Information on a ‘Hundred Ha’penny’ Apple
I have a bit of a mystery that I’m hoping to solve. Perhaps you can help?
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Hannah Glasse’s 1747 Recipe for ‘Apricot Pudding’
Anyone for an eighteenth century apricot custard recipe?
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Thomas Jenner’s 1653 Recipe for ‘Syrupe Gresta’
If you’ve been wondering what to do with your thinned-out, unripe grapes then wonder no more: here’s a C17th suggestion for you.
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Gallery: Impressions of Three West Midlands Orchards
I’ve been on my travels again, visiting three more gardens with rather lovely orchard and fruit-growing spaces.
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A Late Spring Update on This Year’s Grafted Apple Trees
Sixteen of the twenty-four new apple trees that I grafted back in March are showing signs of life, despite the scorching sunshine.
