If you know anyone living in Tasmania, you’ll have probably heard us moaning at length about the terrifically awful spring we’ve just had and the general non-summery offerings that so-called summer has offered up so far (which somehow included snow and firestorms in the first week or so alone). If you’re a fellow Tasmanian reader, well you’ve lived it so… I hope your tomatoes are coping.
Although speaking of tomatoes, did I mention I have a nice fancy greenhouse now? I feel like I’ve told everyone who might be interested and several more who aren’t at this point. I spent a small fortune on a model designed not to blow away at the first hint of a gust…let alone the 100km/hr+ blasts that this island is known for, and diligently raised a small forest of seedlings on my heat mat starting back in August. I’ve now got a borderline Day of the Triffids situation underway so if I go missing anytime soon, check the greenhouse.
This month I ripped out the remaining broad beans – some of which are being dried for adding to the pantry soup staples, others frozen and the rest of what wasn’t eaten fresh went into frozen dips. The regular climbing beans have since gone in, alongside some very sad zucchini and pumpkin seedlings. Odds are not great that I’ll even get a crop at all.
The berries have now started properly ramping up, although I didn’t do anything more elaborate than throwing them in the freezer at this stage, and will ways to use them up (adding to fruit pies, making jams and cordials) as the year goes on. One helpful recipe I’ve found for using up the now 6+kg of redcurrants I get in a season is Swedish redcurrant sorbet – aka rödvinbärssorbet. It also makes a nice base for a simple cocktail on lazy hot days.
Finally, early summer is the perfect time to be harvesting and drying a lot of herbs – especially those used in herbal teas such as chamomile, mint and lemon verbena – and taking advantage of the final flush of elderflower to make a few more batches of cordial.
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