Welcome to our Free Radipole Community Orchard; 10 Years On and Still Going Strong.

It’s that time of year again, the sun sinks lower, leaves start to fall, fruits ripen.

Had a mooch through our community orchard today, to see what’s available.

Fruit, nuts and berries dotted here and there, plenty of wildlife feasting on the fallers and fruits in the trees, especially enjoying the bumper crop of golden crabapples.

These small, apple-like fruits might be sharp to the tongue but can be used in so many ways, from jellies to liquors.

If you like something a bit different, the mix of sharp and sweet why not try scrummy Crabapple toffee apples.

Ingredients

12 unblemished apples, washed, remove black flower remnants on the bottom

12 small kebab sticks

200g sugar

1 teaspoon cider or white vinegar

1 teaspoon butter

3 tablespoons water

If so desired you can add a touch of red food colouring to the toffee

Method

Push a kebab stick into the core of each apple.

To make the toffee, place all ingredients (bar apples) into a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil. Stir well until sugar has dissolved. Then boil rapidly for 2-3 minutes, until a small blob dropped into a cup of cold water forms a soft ball.

Keep your eyes firmly on the pan; it burns easily!

Remove from heat, tilt to one side and dip the apples on sticks in. Slowly spin round to evenly coat each one in toffee, then stand on greased baking paper on a tray.

The toffee takes a few minutes to set.

Perfect autumnal treats.

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Some of these fruits I’ve never tried before, my past attempts at jam and jelly making disastrous to say the least!

But then again, with such a good crop of quinces maybe it’s time to try again.

I bet some of you out there have your own scrumptious recipes to share.

If not here’s a link to some great ideas.

What Is Quince, and What Can I Cook With It?

Plenty of fallers on the ground for the wildlife to enjoy, there’s harvest for both man and beast to share.

‘Perfick’ as they’d say in Darling Buds of May.

My little mooch got me thinking, that I needed to update our plan of the orchard, something that’s been on my agenda forever!

Check it out…thanks to Canva I spent a happy morning shuffling little imaginary trees around a page, so much easier than real life gardening.

(Click on the link below to see the plan.)

Community orchard Radipole plan

If you want to know about the history of this orchard, check out the post below.

Panic When it Comes to Pruning Your Pears? Fear Not. Join us on Tuesday 13th February 10-12 am.

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