Brogdale deadline missed again

Yet another year when I simply haven't got round to thinking about ordering graftwood early enough. The deadline for ordering from Brogdale is strictly the end of January, as pruning commences in earnest during the first week in February. I have quite a bit of topping and changing to do with wood from my own trees, and still haven't decided what to do with my new land (general maintenance will probably take all my limited energy again this year).

I almost went to the 'National Scionwood Exchange', held at Stowe Landscape Gardens. I have a lot of pear wood to exchange, and wondered if I could buy pear stocks in small quantity, as I need some maidens to establish new cordons. I got a pretty patronising response. No they didn't have any Quince A, but had I thought of using Pyrus communis or wild pear? I thought of my in-laws' 100 year old wall pear, which produces a profusion of spiny suckers, uncontrollably vigourous growth and very poor quality pears, plus the great length of time I'd have to wait before such a tree produced its first pear,  and bit my tongue quite hard so I didn't feel tempted to reply with what was going through my mind. 

Following that suggestion, I've a fair idea that the only wood on offer in exchange for mine would be 'heritage' varieties I've never heard of, fine to keep going if you have unlimited space for a fruit archive, but probably varieties I would personally discard within my own semi-intensive system for not offering minimum standards of health, productiveness or fruit quality. I'm all for the preservation and re-establishments of traditional orchards, but the primary purpose of growing fruit has to be for personal need; maintaining fruit museum would be lovely, but simply not practical for the majority for small amateur growers.

Happy New Year

A belated Happy New Year to my few followers. Another year begun badly with nearly all online and offline activity cut for months due to a bout of keratitis, I hope this is finally responding to steroids.

Lets start the New Year, with the remnants of the Old, with the last of last year's crop just about lasting. This is the first year that Josephine de Malines produced a crop and they have kept much longer in store than my other late pear Winter Nellis, most of which seemed to disintegrate when the temperature fell to -12º before Christmas. Shrivelling slightly at the top, but still quite firm. Flavour isn't top notch, a little dry and astringent but hardly surprising this late. Apples are still firm, almost crisp but I think Pixie is starting to lose flavour a little now; the Rosemary Russet is holding up better, but we will shortly run out of all of them.

some autumn photos

Crop: Vranja

A good crop again, 11.5 kg (25 lb) not counting the early windfalls. The scent is wonderful.

crop: Pixie and Rosemary Russet (our late varieties)

A very disappointing crop of both Pixie and Rosemary Russet, our late apple cultivars. Rosemary was probably having a slightly 'biennial' year after cropping well last year, but Pixie was very badly affected by codling moth for the first time, leaving us with only one medium-sized box to see us through into Spring.

Rogue Red

Just a couple of pears on one spur again this year. 

Crop: Winter Nelis

A much better crop of Winter Nelis this year, weighing in at 3.5 kg, despite quite high losses to squirrel damage at various points. Picked October 16, for reference.

Pear Crumble

My patent recipe for pear crumble (in case I forget!)

topping

6 oz ( 200 g) plain wholemeal flour

3 oz (100 g) margarine or butter

3 oz (100 g) soft dark brown sugar

6 large pears

3 tablespoons soft dark brown sugar, or to taste

1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

glass of Marsala, Sherry or Madeira

Sieve flour into bowl with cinnamon; add sugar, having broken down any lumps. Rub fat into flour/sugar until 'breadcrumb' consistency is achieved.

Peel pears, core and chop coarsely. Place in quite a deep oven-proof container, preferably glass. Sprinkle on sugar and add alcohol. Cover with crumble mix. Place in pre-heated oven at about 160ºC for about 35-40 minutes, until caramelised juice can be seen bubbling around edges. Take care not to burn the dark sugar.

Photo shows a mixture of Sucrée de Montluçon, Conference, Rogue Red, plus a small amount of finely diced quince.

Crop: Sucrée de Montluçon

I deliberately restricted the crop of Sucree de Montluçon to 7 fruit, as I wanted some decent-sized ones to enter in the culinary pear category at the local show, though in the end I did not bother. The theory worked, and I had nice, large even crop, which started dropping this week. The small crop weighed in at a respectable 2.1 kg (nearly 4.5 lbs).

Sucrée is an odd pear, and I can't say I'd agree with other descriptions of its qualities. The texture is very coarse (see photo) and slightly gritty, but very juicy like slightly chewy melon. The flavour is sweet with a slight aromatic quality reminiscent of guava or star-fruit, though overall a bit thin. I usually cook them while still hard. I expected the very hard, green ones I prepared today to be under-ripe, but one just starting to yellow was just right for eating raw.

Using over-ripe pears

Although poorly-ripened pears are usually extremely disappointing eaten fresh (hard on the outside, brown mush on the inside), they actually cook very nicely, as long as they are not too far gone. If the centre is only slightly discoloured, just scoop out the soft bit, and will be very nice for recipes such as fruit crumbles. Even soft pears will keep some substance once cooked, rather than 'fall' to mush like a cooking apple, and the addition of a little brown sugar and a dash of Marsala will compensate for the thin flavour. Not suitable for poaching, use large, slightly under-ripe pears such as Comice or Bartlett types. Varieties with higher acidity, and a more astringent skin flavour often have the best flavour once cooked. I do grow a couple of varieties of 'culinary pear' just for the sake of having a full collection, but so far they have not yet produced fruit. My rationale is that a variety such as Catillac will keep longer than even the late desert varieties, and be ready around January.