Pea and broad bean houmous with goats cheese and sourdough

Pea and broad bean houmous with goats cheese and sourdough

remaining zest, then grind over a little black pepper. Top with a few pea shoots and

serve.

Recipe from Good Food magazine.

Come and see us at this EWT event. We will be making Sausages, Jam, Chutney, Bread, Smoking. 

As well as selling EESG Jams, Chutney and Jelly's.

Not forgetting members Pumpkins and Herbs will be for sale.

A lovely family afternoon out.

.

Elderberry Liqueur

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

This recipe produces a warm, rich liqueur that will remind you of a tawny Port wine. Elderberries are in many ways little grapes, with a similar aroma, bloom on the skin and color; they even have little seeds inside. So I treated them like winegrapes for this recipe.

You need fresh elderberries for this, although I am sure you could use dried ones somehow. Maybe simmer them in water to reconstitute? And with the fresh berries, remember to destem them all — NO stems, as they are slightly toxic.

I’ve tested two recipes for elderberry liqueur: One where you buzz the berries in a blender, another using whole berries. I vastly prefer the method using whole, fresh berries, so here it is:

elderberry liqueur

Makes about 1 quart.

Prep Time: 30 days

• 1 pint fresh elderberries
• 1 quart vodka
• 3 one-inch pieces of lemon rind, white pith removed
• Sugar

1. Put elderberries into a quart Mason jar and pour over the vodka. Add the lemon rind (make sure the rind has no white pith, as it is bitter.) Seal and put in a dark cupboard for at least a month, or up to 6 months.
2. The alcohol will extract flavor from the elderberries over time, so the longer you let it sit, the inkier it will get.
3. When it is the color you want – anything from a Pinot Noir color to downright black — pour the vodka through a strainer lined with cheesecloth into another jar and add sugar.
4. How much sugar? At least 1/4 cup, but to your taste; I go with 1/3 cup. Shake to combine and put back in the cupboard.
5. After a few days or weeks, the sugar will completely dissolve and the elderberry liqueur is ready to drink. It keeps forever.

Source:

http://honest-food.net/veggie-recipes/sweets-and-syrups/elderberry-liqueur/

Pygmy Goats For Sale

For Sale

Three Pygmy Goats

1 x female

1 x wether

1 x entire male

£200 for the lot.

Contact Raj 07792778441

Thinking of starting with Geese

Geese Breeds

• African - A larger form of the Chinese Goose and is normally a gentle breed with a pronounced dewlap. It has the upright carriage of the Chinese along with the 'knob' which is the ornamental head appendage of the Chinese. It is said to be originally from China and not Africa as its name would suggest.
  They can become very tame if hand reared.
  Available in white; brown (grey) and buff.
  Egg colour – white
  Egg numbers – 10-20 per season
• American Buff - A heavy smooth breasted and double lobed breed. As a dual-purpose goose, it produces both eggs and meat. The meat is a rich, dark meat. The American Buff is an apricot-fawn colour with a whitish abdomen, brown eyes and orange feet and bill.
  Requires deep water, but rarely flies - a good all rounder.
  Egg colour – white
  Egg numbers – 10-20 per season
• Brecon Buff - A welsh breed that was officially recognised as an individual true breed in 1934 based upon stock used by Brecon farmers. The Brecon Buff is hardy, breeds well and responds to being allowed to forage rather than be kept in a yard.  They require grazing and water.
  Egg colour – white
  Egg numbers – 10-20 per season
• Buff Back – A large distinctive goose with a buff back and head.  It is a good egg layer, rarely flies and is a good all rounder.
  Egg colour – white
  Egg numbers – 30 per season
• Chinese (Swan Goose) – From China, this breed is smaller than others and is distinguishable from other geese by the knob or protuberance on its head. Chinese geese go broody easily and are generally better layers.
  They can be susceptible to severe cold.
  There are two varieties, brown and white. The brown variety has a brown bill and eyes, and orange legs. The body feathers are brown and lighter on the underside of the bird. The white variety has a bright orange bill and legs, blue eyes and pure white body feathers.
  The has been known to attack small dogs. It rarely flies and is a good back garden all rounder.
  Egg colour – white
  Egg numbers – 50+ per season
• Diepholz – Originating from Diepholz in Northern Germany. It has been bred there for the last 100 years and in 1925 the Diepholz Goose was recognised as a breed.
  It is a light breed, with white feathers, and an orange bill and legs.
• Embden (Bremen) - A northern Dutch breed that migrated throughout Europe to Italy where it was imported into the UK to cross with our native white breeds. It is a large white breed with an upright carriage and a long, broad body. It is the tallest breed.
  Not advisable to be in contact with dogs.
  Egg colour – white
  Egg numbers – 10-20 per season
• Grey Back – A European medium sized breed.  The Grey Back is a plump goose with no keel. The back is slightly convex - approximately 60% wider than the depth (long bodied). It has blue eyes, with an orange bill and legs. It is often mistaken for the Pommeranian goose but is dual lobed underneath.
  The Grey Back rarely flies - a good all rounder.
  Egg colour – white
  Egg numbers – 30 per season
• Pilgrim – A light weight breed developed in the 1930's in the midwestern US. It is likely that the Pilgrim was not standardised as a breed until this century.
  Pilgrim geese are unique in that they are the only domestic breed of geese that is sexually linked as a gosling and as an adult. In Pilgrim geese, the sexes have a distinct colouring and pattern that identities them. Adult ganders are mostly white with some grey on the back and wings. Adult females are mostly grey with some white on their head and neck. The gosling males are silvery yellow with light beaks. The young females are olive drab with darker bills.
• Pomeranian - A hardy, good foraging, medium sized goose bred for the colder winters of Germany. They produce strong goslings that need fresh greens from a very early age to thrive.
  The Pomeranian is keen to try almost any green plant. It is excellent at shredding / debarking trees (Willow being their favourite).
  Varieties include saddleback, pure white and solid grey.
  Egg numbers – 30 per season
• Roman – Originating in Italy and imported into the UK in 1903. They are a very small compact breed with no keel. In America this breed is often found with a small feather crest and many have crests.
  They have become more popular in the USA and Europe due to its good meat to bone ratio and being prolific breeders. They produce a carcase more suitable to smaller families.
  The Roman is a white breed, with orange beak and legs, and a short neck.
• Sebastopol - A smaller European breed that were called Sebastopol after being brought from the seaport of Sebastopol (now Sevastopol, Ukraine).
  They are average layers as a breed and due to their east European heritage can be short tempered having the Russian fighting Geese / German Kampfganse in their makeup.
  They are unable to fly well having no true wings, but need care and plenty of water in order to groom and care for their plumage.
  Sebastopol geese are light weight, white and come in two types - one with smooth feathers the other with 'frizzled' feathers. The frizzled geese are highly decorative and are unique within goose breeds. The frizzled feathers curl due to the lack of a rigid feather spine/quill.
• Steinbacher - Originally a cross from a local German goose and a Chinese. It is a medium sized goose with a very straight neck, strong with a sloping back line.
  Known as a Kampfganse (fighting goose) which is shown by the short strong bill used for defence. Not an aggressive breed though, having a similar temperament to the Chinese - will protect if provoked but mostly amenable.
  They are distinctive in that they have a black bean on an orange bill with black serration marks around the edge of the mouth. Feet and legs are orange with uniform grey blue feathering.
• Toulouse – A French bird and one of the larger breeds. They have grey feathers laced with white, brown eyes with a long deep body with a prominent breast bone.
  Considered a superior meat bird in Europe. Popular among breeder because of its hardiness and ability to withstand the cold
  Bred for both exhibition and utility.  The exhibition (dewlap) version can weigh 25 pounds and have its body skimming the ground. The utility version is smaller and lacks the dewlap – bred only for the table.
  As the Toulouse is a heavy breed, it does well in confinement since their size restricts foraging - although their goslings tend to grow slower than other geese. As a breed it is susceptible to fly strike (maggots) on open cuts or scratches which are disguised by the open feathering.
  Egg colour – white
  Egg numbers – 35-50 per season
• West of England – A medium weight breed with a mixed parentage/history. The West of England can be sex linked with white males and grey and white females.
  
  
  Source: http://www.smallholderseries.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=128:geese-breeds&catid=31&Itemid=141

THE SCIENCE OF CIDERMAKING

Part 3 - Juicing and Fermenting

In the last two articles we have considered the general principles of cidermaking and the cultivation of the fruit itself. In this part we look at how we can convert the fruit into a straightforward dry cider. Along the way we shall encounter a number of scientific concepts and some options to the process. Further variants will be described more fully in a later article.

Materials of construction

Before we go any further it is worth considering the equipment which will be used for milling, pressing and fermenting. I shan't repeat the description of the mills and presses themselves which was given in the first article, but it's worth stressing that only certain types of materials should be allowed to come into contact with juice and cider. Most metals should be avoided, with the noteable exception of food-grade stainless steel which is excellent but costly. Aluminium is permissible for short periods only. Iron and copper should never be in contact with cider or juice because they dissolve in the fruit acid to give strange colours and flavours. Lead is particularly dangerous, because it dissolves to give a sweet compound which is potentially fatal. Indeed in the 18th century the so-called 'Devonshire colic' claimed a number of lives and this was eventually discovered to be caused by cider which became contaminated when standing in lead pipes overnight in pubs and inns. Similarly the old practice of lining juice tubs or press trays with lead sheeting is highly dangerous.Wood is quite permissible and of course for many years was the only practicable material for fermentation and storage vats. It may be difficult to keep clean and free from bacteria but at least it will not poison anybody! Wood coated with modern polyurethane varnish (e.g. for press racks) is much easier to keep clean than is unsealed wood. For fermentation and storage tanks, food grade stainless steel, plastics, fibreglass and epoxy resins are generally preferable to wood, because they contain no pores where undesirable bacteria and moulds can lurk. Glass is also very satisfactory on a small-scale. If you particularly want to use wooden barrels, make sure that they are well scoured, bleached and rinsed or steamed beforehand. They should also be 'sweetened' with 5% sulphur dioxide solution (see Table) before a final rinse with clean water. It should go without saying that all equipment and containers in contact with juice or cider should be well cleaned (and well rinsed) beforehand. Modern non-foaming sterilising detergents such as 'Chempro' are most effective in this role, and should be used according to the instructions given on the packet.

Fruit and juice blending

Once the apples have been chosen, washed and milled to a pulp, they must be transported to the press in a suitable container - probably the ubiqitous plastic bucket! In the present article we shall assume that this is done almost immediately without 'cuvage' or 'maceration'. Even so, the juice and pulp will become quite brown in a matter of minutes and it is here that the natural colour of the product is determined. The press juice then needs to be collected in another container and at this point it is convenient to measure its sugar level, acidity and pH so that blending may be corrected with other batches of juice pressed on the same day. A fair amount of sugar still remains in the dry press-cake (or 'pomace') so by adding a litre or two of water to each 5 kg of broken-up pomace before re-pressing, a useful yield of slightly weaker juice may be obtained, which is usually added to the first pressing.Previously we described the composition of the ideal cider fruit in terms of materials such as sugar, acid and tannin. Sugar levels are set largely by the weather - in a good summer we might expect them to be as high as 17%, but in a cool wet summer less than 10% might be achieved. The sugar levels can be measured directly on a drop of juice squeezed out from the fruit, using a hand held refractometer. This equipment is expensive (ca £70), but is often used by grape-growers, who need to measure sugar content daily as harvest approaches. For cider-making, the changes in sugar levels are not so critical and the fruit will usually have been stored for a while to convert all the starch into fermentable sugar anyway. So it is usual to measure the juice 'specific gravity' (S.G.) after pressing, using a hydrometer, which is much cheaper (ca £5).  Roughly speaking, 15% sugar corresponds to an SG of 1.070 and a total potential alcohol of 8.5 %; 10% sugar is SG 1.045 and a potential alcohol of 6%. If the juice S.G. is less than 1.045 and you have no sweeter juice for blending, it should be brought up to this level by the addition of sugar or apple juice concentrate. Otherwise the resultant alcohol level may not be sufficient to protect the final cider during storage. To raise the S.G. in 5° steps, dissolve 12 - 15 grams of sugar in each litre of juice and re-test with the hydrometer until the desired level is reached.

Acidity and pH

The acidity is controlled more by the variety of fruit than the climate. Acidity has two aspects - total acid and pH - and both are useful to know. The total acid relates well to our perception of acid flavour, while the pH relates better to various aspects of fermentation biochemistry. These two are connected but not in a simple way, although the acidity always goes up as the pH goes down and vice-versa. In terms of total titratable acid (as malic), we should be looking for 0.3 - 0.5% in a cider juice. If the total acid is too low, the pH will be too high and the fermentation will be susceptible to bacterial infections. If the total acid is too high, the pH will be low enough to safeguard against infection but the final cider will be unacceptably sharp to the palate and may never be pleasant to drink. Acidity can be measured by titration - details will be found in any good wine-making book. Kits for measuring titratable acidity are available.Measurement of pH has to be done by a dedicated 'pH meter'. These used to be very expensive, costing several hundred pounds, but modern 'chip technology' has now brought them down to the range of £30 or so. However, beware the very cheap pH meters which are sold in garden centres for soil testing - these are not accurate enough for cidermaking because we need to measure to at least the nearest 0.1 pH unit or it is not worth making the measurement at all! Narrow range 'pH papers' (e.g. pH 2.8 to 4.2) are now available cheaply from some home brewing suppliers and are a good substitute. A desirable juice pH range for cider-making is say 3.2 - 3.8. At higher pH the fermentation will be subject to microbial infection and at pH 4.0 or above this can lead to serious flavour problems. Many traditional bittersweet cider apples tend to be high in pH which is why they need blending with more acid fruit, preferably before fermentation. That is one reason why bittersharp apples, such as 'Kingston Black', have been regarded as near perfection in terms of their composition for single-variety cider making.
If you cannot measure the acidity or the pH, taste the juice instead. Trying to ignore the sweetness and the tannin, judge whether the juice is insipid, balanced or sharp. If insipid, and you have no other juice for blending, malic acid may have to be added in steps of 1 gram per litre (0.1%) until the balance is improved. If the juice is too acid, and you cannot blend it out, you may have to encourage a malo-lactic fermentation to reduce it (see later), or you can add a little calcium carbonate to neutralise it, in 1 gram per litre steps.
Other juice parameters, such as tannin, are difficult to measure, but only people using a high proportion of bittersweet fruit are likely to suffer from excessive tannin and this can usually be detected by taste although the juice sugar does tend to mask it. Deficiencies here can be corrected after fermentation, however. The purpose of blending before fermentation is to give a juice as close in composition to the 'ideal' which was described in the previous article. Although this may not always be possible, it is always worth the attempt at least in terms of sugar and acid levels. Blending after fermentation is a worthy and useful art but it cannot correct a gross biochemical imbalance beforehand!

Juice preparation

Apart from the blending corrections described above, you can of course always add sugar, glucose syrup, synthetic malic acid and apple juice concentrate to any desired extent along with water. On a commercial scale there are considerable cost advantages to be be gained by doing so, since sugar and water are much cheaper than apple juice (and many commercial ciders are now made from around 35% juice and 65% glucose syrup) but these have to be weighed up against the ultimate quality of the cider you wish to make. Excessive dilution will make the cider 'thinner' in its overall complexity of flavour and cannot be recommended for a high quality product.The blended juice should now be strained through a coarse plastic mesh into a suitable clean vessel for fermentation. Whatever scale you are working on, you must also have some sort of  'airlock', whch can be fitted before fermentation begins or shortly afterwards, to allow carbon dioxide gas to escape but to prevent air getting in. At this point a number of other additions may be made. If it is important that the final cider should be sparklingly clear, a pectolytic enzyme may be added, which will help to ensure that all the pectin is broken down. Pectin is a sort of natural glue which sticks the apple cells together. Although it is water-soluble it is precipitated by alcohol, so it tends to lead to persistent hazes by the end of fermentation. Dessert fruit, or long-stored fruit, tends to suffer more from pectin release than does bittersweet fruit and will often give a very cloudy cider unless depectinised. Although there are natural enzymes in both apple and yeast which will break down the pectin during fermentation, these enzymes are often rather weak and require some assistance. The dosage rates for the commercial enzymes are given by the suppliers.
The next addition is that of vitamins and yeast nutrient. These may be bought as such or may be added as thiamine and ammonium sulphate (or phosphate) respectively. The dosage rate is up to 0.2 milligrams per litre of thiamine and up to 300 milligrams per litre of ammonium salt. This is what was meant by 'amino nitrogen' in Table 1 of the previous article, and it is needed by the yeast to make protein and amino acids for its own growth. (This is not unlike human and animal nutrition - the yeast's carbohydrate or energy source is of course the apple sugar which is not in short supply!) Apple juices are generally very low in yeast nutrients (unlike beer worts or grape musts) and so your fermentation rate will probably be much improved if you add these. The fermentation is also much less likely to 'stick' or to grind to a halt before completion. The cider can therefore be racked and bottled sooner, reducing the chances of spoilage in store. On the other hand, it is undeniable that some of the finest ciders are fermented very slowly without the addition of nutrients, but the risks of failure are correspondingly greater. You pays your money and you takes your choice! Traditional cider-makers used to hang a leg of mutton or a side of beef in the fermenting vat to boost the nutrient levels. The meat broke down slowly in the acid juice, releasing soluble amino nitrogen which the yeast could use for growth. The supposed requirement of a few dead rats in every vat is a more colourful manifestation of the same idea!

Sulphur Dioxide

The next addition is that of metabisulphite, sulphur dioxide or SO₂, which are all synonyms for the same thing. This topic always inflames great passions amongst the purist cidermaking lobby, who regard it as dancing with the devil - perhaps it is the connection with brimstone which worries them! However, it has a long and honourable history and the use of burning sulphur candles as a sterilant in wine-making is supposed to date back as far as Homer. Certainly it was in use for cider-making from Elizabethan times, and the controlled addition of metabisulphite is far more accurate than the haphazard application of sulphur candles could ever be.In simple terms what happens is that the sulphur dioxide inhibits the growth of most spoilage yeasts and bacteria, while permitting the desirable fermenting yeasts (such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae or uvarum) to multiply and to dominate the conversion to alcohol. Only small amounts of sulphur dioxide are used, and its effectiveness depends on the pH of the juice. The Table shows the appropriate levels to use when a cultured yeast is being added for the fermentation. Lower levels are needed if a 'wild' Saccharomyces fermentation is required (see below), or there is a danger that all the wild yeast will be killed. In the absence of sulphur dioxide, the fermentation is much less likely to be 'clean' although with care it is possible to do without it. A great deal of the concern about sulphite derives from its excessive use at bottling not during fermentation, and from the fact that a very few people are hypersensitive to it in the free state. However, it must be stressed that no sulphur dioxide remains free by the end of fermentation, since it becomes bound to various intermediate chemicals (principally acetaldehyde) which the yeast produces on its route from sugar to alcohol. I would always advise the beginner to use sulphur dioxide to minimise the risk of taints and infection. Later on, the experienced cidermaker can omit it at his discretion and see what difference it makes.

Addition of Sulphur Dioxide 

Juice pH	SO2 needed in parts per million (ppm)	Campden Tablets per gallon or ml. of 5% SO2 stock solution per litre
Above 3.8(insipid)	.....Lower pH to 3.8 with addition of malic acid.....
3.8 - 3.5	150	3
3.5 - 3.3(balanced)	100	2
3.3 - 3.0	50	1
Below 3.0(sharp)	None	None

Notes
1. If a pH meter is not available, use the taste of the juice as a guide
2. To make a 5% stock solution of sulphur dioxide, dissolve around 10 grams of sodium or potassium metabisulphite in 100 ml of water. (The metabisulphite salts contain around 50 - 60% of available SO₂ depending on how they've been stored).  Then 1 ml of this per litre of juice (5 ml per gallon) corresponds to 50 ppm (parts per million) of SO₂. 
3. Campden tablets are formulated with metabisulphite to give the equivalent of 50 ppm sulphur dioxide when each is dissolved in 1 gallon of liquid.

The Yeast

This brings us to the final addition, that of yeast. There are so many good dried wine-making yeasts on the market today that it is well worth considering their use. All of them will get a fermentation off to a good start within hours, by providing a massive inoculum of healthy yeast cells which will multiply quickly and swamp out anything undesirable. Some of these are more cold-tolerant than others and are capable of fermenting even down to 5° C, which can be a great boon to a British cidermaker whose raw material may not be ready until early November. Some yeasts claim to confer specific flavours e.g 'Burgundy', 'Champagne' but these claims should be taken with a pinch of salt and in any case are probably not relevant to cidermaking. Stick to a good general purpose wine yeast - not a brewer's yeast and never a baker's yeast, since these have been selected to have other properties which we do not require. There is no need to select a yeast with a high alcohol tolerance since the natural sugar of apples will rarely produce more than 8% alcohol. If you fortify significantly with sugar and you want alcohol levels up to 12%, then you are making apple wine - not cider! Large commercial cidermakers do just that (known as 'chaptalisation') and then dilute the cider with water for retail sale, but this series is not concerned with that sort of business.Small quantities of branded wine yeasts can be purchased from home winemaking suppliers. On a larger scale, you can buy specific strains of S. cerevisiae, bayanus or uvarumwhich are mostly produced overseas for the wine and fruit wine industries there. Modern dried yeasts are usually 'pitched' direct, but sometimes the yeast is grown up overnight as a 'starter' in sterile juice or sugar solution, and then pitched into the main bulk the next day. Sometimes the yeast only needs hydrating for 20 minutes or so. Whatever the case, it is important to follow the yeast supplier's directions. If sulphur dioxide is used, it is also  important to wait overnight before adding the yeast culture. This is because the sulphur dioxide needs time to act against the wild organisms, and it will also inhibit the added yeast too strongly if they are all added together. By standing overnight, the free sulphur dioxide largely disappears once its work is done, giving the added yeast a chance to get away without significant inhibition.
Fermentation should commence within 48 hours if an active yeast culture is used. As an alternative, it is possible to rely on the few wild  Saccharomycesyeasts which will be present in the juice after sulphiting, and allow them to multiply to sufficient levels to start the fermentation, but this may take up to a fortnight. In this case you might prefer to use around half the addition of sulphite given in the Table. This is equivalent to the traditional practice of burning a 'sulphur candle' in the barrel before adding fresh juice. If neither sulphite nor yeast are added, the juice will probably start to ferment within a day, but the wild yeasts which multiply under these conditions cannot be guaranteed to produce desirable flavours. In any case, they will begin to die after a few days as the alcohol level rises, leaving the fermentation at the mercy of any other dominant organism which has been able to establish itself. If you are lucky, this may be a useful Saccharomyces species - if you are unlucky, you have only yourself to blame!
In summary, therefore, I recommend the beginner to use a pectolytic enzyme, to use sulphur dioxide and to add a cultured wine yeast after standing overnight. Later on you can try out a 'wild yeast' fermentation. You can perhaps skip the nutrients unless the fermentation begins to 'stick' or unless you know that your fruit comes from big old trees with very low nutrient levels and you are not prepared to wait a few months.  The progress of the fermentation should be monitored every few days with a hydrometer and the fall in S.G. plotted on a graph against time (a fall of one degree S.G. per day is pretty reasonable). This makes it much easier to see whether sticking is occurring, and the nutrient and vitamin can be added then if necessary.

Conduct of the fermentation

In the initial stages of fermentation, there is considerable frothing and evolution of carbon dioxide as the yeast multiplies and begins to break down the sugar into alcohol. There may be as many as 10 million yeast cells per single ml. of juice at this stage, so it is easy to understand that there is a lot of microbiological activity going on! A loose plug and the outpouring of gas will probably ensure that nothing undesirable can creep back into the fermentation vessel, be it a demijohn, a barrel or a 5,000 gallon stainless steel tank. When the initial frothing subsides, however, it will be worth topping up the vessel with a 10% sugar solution and fitting a fermentation lock to ensure that the flow of gas remains one-way. As you follow the drop in S.G. with time, it will begin to level off and you should consider the first racking of the cider from its yeast at an S.G. of 1.005. If it stops fermenting at an S.G. much higher than this, then it may be 'stuck', and nutrient addition together with twenty minutes vigorous aeration may help the yeast to grow again (the yeast does need some oxygen for growth). It may also stop if the temperature falls too low, but this should need no attention from the cidermaker. When the weather warms up again, the fermentation should re-commence. In fact, a cool fermentation (ca 15° C) is generally preferred for cider and there is no need to keep the fermentation especially warm.If the cider is particularly acid at this stage, the first racking may be delayed for a month or so to encourage the 'malo-lactic fermentation' which is described below. In general, however, it is regarded as bad practice to leave a fully fermented cider on its yeast lees for more than a few weeks.
The first racking should be into another clean vessel, trying to leave behind as much yeast as possible and with the minimum of aeration to the cider. This is generally done with a clean plastic syphon tube fixed to a plastic rod so it rests just above the yeast deposit or, on a larger scale, with a suitable pump. The transferred cider should be run gently into the bottom of the new vessel without splashing. Now that there is much less carbon dioxide to protect the cider, it is important to minimise the headspace and to prevent air contact as much as possible. This is partly to keep out any undesirable film yeasts or bacteria, and partly to prevent 'oxidation' which leads to flat dull flavours and a loss of freshness. This is why some people add 50 ppm of sulphur dioxide at every racking, although at the first racking this is probably unnecessary because of the remaining carbon dioxide. Sulphite added at this stage will almost certainly inhibit the malo-lactic fermentation, which may or may not be required (see below).

Maturation and Bottling

After the first racking the air-lock is re-fitted until it is clear that gas evolution has ceased, when the vessel should be topped up with water or cider and tightly closed. A second crop of yeast will be thrown as the cider settles down. The cider may remain in this state for several weeks or months, before a final racking to a closed container for bulk storage or directly into bottle. It is important that it should not sit for long on a heavy crop of yeast, because the dead yeast will 'autolyse' which tends to give unpleasant flavours. However, a small amount of autolysis from the second crop may be helpful, because this releases nutrients which stimulate maturation through the so-called 'malo-lactic' fermentation. This phenomenon is due to a specialised group of bacteria (Lactobacillus or Leuconostoc species) which convert the malic acid of the apple to lactic acid, giving off more carbon dioxide in the process. Often, this happens in the spring when the trees are flowering, giving rise to the notion that somehow the trees and the cider are working in sympathy! Generally the malo-lactic fermentation is to be welcomed, since it lowers the acidity and gives additional rounder smoother flavours, although in very low acid ciders it can reduce the acidity too far. In bittersweet ciders it produces characteristic 'spicy' notes (often detectable in ciders from Normandy). It may be recognised by the evolution of gas without renewed turbidity (if a yeast re-ferments a sweet cider it becomes cloudy because the yeast cells are so large (typically 10 microns). Malo-lactic fermentations, unless very heavy, tend to remain clear because the bacteria are so small (typically 0.5 microns).The malo-lactic fermentation is difficult to produce at will although some strains of lactic bacterial cultures are now available commercially for use in the wine industry and can be used in cider. It may definitely be prevented by the additional use of sulphur dioxide at racking. Sometimes it reduces the acidity too far and sometimes the 'wrong' organisms take hold, producing other defects such as 'ropiness' (which will be covered in a later article). But if the original juice pH was no higher than 3.8, the chances are that this fermentation will be beneficial if it happens at all. Even if it does not, the cider will mature for several months as its flavour balance stabilises and the harsher notes are smoothed out by slow chemical and biochemical reactions.
However, ciders do not generally profit by extended ageing and by late spring or early summer the cider will be ready for bottling and drinking, or for a second racking into bulk store. The golden rule at this stage is to minimise air contact whenever the cider is handled - it is a matter of preference whether you wish to add sulphur dioxide (ca 50 ppm) to help with this, but in any case you should not exceed a total addition of 200 ppm SO₂ to any cider when all additions at fermentation and bottling are summed up. A dry cider with no added sugar and sufficient alcohol should be quite stable in clean, closed and well-filled bottles, and should stand a minimal risk of any unwanted conversion to vinegar!
We have now looked at the steps in producing a still, dry cider which is the easiest sort to make. In the next article we shall look at variations of this process to produce other types of cider.
© Andrew Lea 1997. Lightly updated 2009
Source: http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm

British Lop Weaners For Sale Essex

Good selection of British Lop weaners available for sale at the moment . 

Braintree Area

Please Contact Nick 07850665302

TheElcombes@aol.com

Lifting ban on waste feed for pigs 'risks causing next FMD epidemic'

Environmental activists who want to see a lifting of the European Union ban on feeding catering waste to pigs may be sending confusing signals to hobby pig-keepers, warns the National Pig Association.

NPA’s newly-launched Don’t Kill Me With Kindness campaign explains that feeding kitchen and catering waste carries a penalty of up to two years in jail because it risks introducing costly and damaging disease epidemics to Britain.

The 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic was caused by feeding inadequately treated catering waste to pigs. It took nine months to bring under control, during which time ten million pigs, sheep and cattle were slaughtered, and it cost the country £8 billion.

In Britain and throughout the European Union it is illegal to feed raw or cooked catering waste to pigs, including waste from household kitchens.

It is permissible to feed pigs fruit and vegetables direct from the garden or allotment, but feeding waste from the kitchen is illegal — even raw or cooked left-over vegetables, as these may have come into contact with raw or cooked meats.

“Whilst NPA understands why people may think feeding food waste makes perfect sense, we want everyone who keeps pigs to follow the law to the letter because we feel that the stakes are too high,” said NPA general manager Dr. Zoe Davies.

“Pig-keepers are responsible members of society and we think there is more chance they will obey the law scrupulously if we explain the reasons for not feeding any kitchen waste — and that’s what our campaign seeks to do.”

To any pig-keepers who are convinced that their particular kitchen waste is safe, NPA warns, “You cannot be completely confident no cross contamination has taken place, so please just willingly obey the law.”

“But any outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever or African swine fever will mean the slaughter of farm animals, a ban on moving animals in at-risk areas, and the loss of export markets,” said Dr Davies.

“Aside from the emotional distress caused, these diseases have a massive economic impact, not only on the affected farms, but on the local community, local businesses and every pig farm in the country for many years”.

“Rather than take unacceptable risks by feeding catering waste to pigs, we think it is more sensible to tackle waste further up the chain, so that far less of it is wasted at manufacturing, retail and household level. If we could achieve that as a society, then well-meaning environmentalists would not have to worry so much about the amount of waste food that is currently going into landfill.”

Foot-and-mouth, classical swine fever and African swine fever are opportunistic and persistent diseases. They can live for months, sometimes years, in raw and processed meat.

And at any time they may be present in countries that export fresh, frozen and processed meats to Britain.

They can also arrive in this country in fresh and cooked foods carried by holidaymakers, visitors and people working here. They can even survive on clothing for up to a fortnight.

Source: http://www.farminguk.com/News/Lifting-ban-on-waste-feed-for-pigs-risks-causing-next-FMD-epidemic-_26354.html

Well done Toni and Georgina a great afternoon in Totham selling our EESG produce. Don't we look good!

Hebridean Sheep For Sale

For Sale 

Four Hebridean Breeding Ewes 

£30 each

Contact Raj and Sally Raj perumatantri@gmail.com

THRIFTY FORAGING – ALYS FOWLER FREE EVENT BUT BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL

THRIFTY FORAGING – ALYS FOWLER
Wednesday, 23rd October 2013
19.30 – Chelmsford, Essex
FREE EVENT BUT BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL – see below

Alys started gardening in her early teens and after leaving school she trained with the Royal Horticultural Society, The New Botanical Gardens and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. She won a Smithsonian scholarship to study at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. Here she furthered her work in alpine gardening. Whilst living in New York she also began volunteering in a community garden on the Lower East side in Manhattan. With only a fire escape to grow plants on, she quickly found a community that were making beautiful gardens literally from the street. This was an influential period in her training and much of the ethic, thrift and spirit that thrives in such settings is found in her work today.

After finishing her apprenticeship, she went to University College London to study a Masters in Society, Science and the Environment.  Drawing on her passion for grass-roots environmental work, she studied allotments and the benefits they bring to both nature and those who work on them.

Alys has worked as a journalist for the trade magazine, Horticulture Week and became editor of Landscape Review, the first magazine dedicated to landscape architecture in the UK.  Broadening her media work, she started working on BBC’s Gardener’s World as a horticultural researcher on both the main programme and the one-hour specials, including the groundbreaking ‘Parks’. Alys soon progressed to the role of Head Gardener and she regularly features at the Gardener’s World Live Shows.

Alys has published work in The Guardian, The Royal Horticultural Society’s magazine The Garden, Gardener’s World Magazine, Gardens Illustrated,Horticulture Week and Landscape Review.  She also writes a monthly blog for Gardener’s World. Her first book, The Thrifty Gardener was published by Kyle Cathie in 2008.

Alys’s second book called The Edible Garden was published in March 2010 by BBC Books, which tied in to her TV series called Edible Gardens which was shown on BBC2 in April 2010. Her book The Thrifty Forager, was published in 2011. Alys recently featured in the acclaimed BBC2 primetime series entitledOur Food and she is currently writing her new book out later this year.

Book a place

http://edibleessex.org.uk/training-and-events/edible-essex-talk-by-alys-fowler/

Waterfowl and Chickens For Sale

Waterfowl (all 2012/13 hatched)

 

Female Muscovys. various colours £15 each.

Male Muscovys Chocolate   or   Blue and White  £15

 

Rouen Ducks £15 each  Drakes £15.  4 ducks and 2 drakes available.

Khaki Campbell  Females   16 wks old   £15 each   4 available

Fawn and white Indain Runners Females   16 wks old    £25 each   4 available

 

Chickens

 

2013 hatched (between 10 and 15 weeks old)

 

Various Old English Game Bantam Pullets  and Cockerels £10 each

2 Cream Legbar Pullets £15 each

2  Light Sussex pullets £20 each  cockerel also available

1 Speckled Susses Pullet £15 

Araucana Pullets (Green Eggs) in cuckoo and partridge £15 each

Trio Silver Grey Dorking £30

Gold Top Pullets £20 each

Indian game (Cornish and Jubilee) Various

Cream Legabr Cockerel  £10

Barred Plymouth Rock Cockerel £10

 

2012 hatched

 

3 La Bresse Hens £20 each   (unrelates cockerel also available)

Light Sussex Hen £20 each

Contact Nigel:

n.brunt777@btinternet.com

 

Large Black Weaners For Sale - Abbess Roding

4 Large Black weaners available if anyone is interested. 

Just 8 weeks old.

From quality stock.

Please contact Jane and Andy: jane@therodingsplantery.co.uk

Getting ready for the EESG Apple Day and make your own cider! Part 2

This is a cracking website, i will be sharing pages of it to help 

inspire you all to giving making cider a go.

THE SCIENCE OF CIDERMAKING

Part 2 - Fruit and Cultivation

This section is aimed at the cidermaker who plans to grow his own fruit. I have assumed that he is planting up from scratch but already knows something about apple cultivation, or is able to read up the subject from one of the excellent books on dessert apple growing (such as Harry Baker's 'The Fruit Garden Displayed' published by Cassell for the Royal Horticultural Society - now out of print).To decide what cider fruit to grow we need to know a little about fruit composition. About 80% of the apple is water soluble in the form of juice, and the approximate composition of that juice in different varieties is shown in the table below.

The Composition of Apple Juice 

[Figures in percent by weight] 

Component	Bramley	Cox	Typical bittersweet	Ideal cider apple
Sugar	10	12	15	15
Malic acid	> 1	0.5	< 0.2	0.4
Tannin	< 0.05	0.1	> 0.2	0.2
Amino nitrogen	0 - 300 parts per million depending on cultivation
Starch	0 - 2%, depending on fruit maturity
Pectin	0 - 1%, depending on fruit storage period

 For reasons which will become apparent in a later section, the composition of the 'ideal' cider juice should be similar to the figures in the last column. Unfortunately, very few 'true' cider apples match this ideal, and therefore a blend of cider apples is nearly always necessary. A renowned cultivar that does approximate to the ideal is the bittersharp 'Kingston Black', but this is scarcely grown commercially nowadays on account of its susceptibility to canker. It has become more usual to plant a range of bittersweet varieties, using 'sharps' to balance the acidity or, more commonly these days, using 'Bramley' which always seems to be readily available. There is some merit, in any case, in not putting all one's eggs in the same basket as far as cider varieties are concerned.

Vintage Quality

In addition to the figures quoted in the Table, there is another elusive characteristic which can only be described as 'vintage quality'. There is no clear understanding of what this means in chemical terms - it is probably due to minute amounts of certain flavour precursors or possibly the presence of micronutrients which cause the fermentation yeast and bacteria to act in particular ways. Nevertheless, there is general agreement that certain cultivars produce a superior quality of cider to others, even though they may not give the highest yields nor be the easiest to grow. The same is true of wine-making - in France for instance the 'Cabernet Sauvignon' is rated a far superior red-wine grape than is 'Carignan', although of course soil type and climate also play a major role. An apple successful in one area may perform indifferently in another.Not all 'true' cider apples necessarily produce 'vintage quality'. The cultivar 'Michelin', which is widely planted for cidermaking in Hereford and Somerset, is a good example of this. As a sort of 'Golden Delicious' of the cider world, it is easy to grow and to process but provides mere bulk without any distinction. A list of high quality cider cultivars is given in the Table below.

Vintage Quality Cider Apple Cultivars 

Name	Growing Habit	Flowers	Harvest	Comments
Sharps
FREDERICK	Growth moderate, light crop, drooping and awkwardly placed growth	Early/mid	mid Oct	Very fruity and characteristic high quality, but may not store long
BROWNS APPLE	Vigorous, tends to biennialism	Mid/late	end Oct	Fruity aroma
CRIMSON KING	Large triploid	Mid	mid Oct	Large fruits but better for cider than Bramley
Mild bittersharp
KINGSTON BLACK	Growth and cropping moderate. Slow to start bearing	Mid	mid Oct	Excellent distinctive flavour, allegedly the 'perfect' cider apple!
Medium bittersharp
BROXWOOD FOXWHELP	Growth moderate, biennial	Early	Sept/Oct	Full body, good blender
DYMOCK RED	Moderate, spreading, biennial	Early	Sept/Oct	Good allround bittersharp
STOKE RED	Slow and very twiggy	Mid/late	end Oct	Fruity aroma, high quality, for single variety cider or blending
Medium bittersweet
DABINETT	Small tree, precocious but grows neatly. Needs high potash	Mid/late	end Oct/Nov	Soft but full-bodied tannin. A "must have" for behaviour and blending!
MAJOR	Growth spreading. Annual cropper	Mid	end Sept	Excellent soft tannin
YARLINGTON MILL	Tends to droop. Good biennial cropper	Mid	Nov	Good light aromatic cider
Full bittersweet
ASHTON BROWN JERSEY	Moderate growth, spurs well. Good yields but biennial	Mid/late	Nov	Pronounced hard tannin
HARRY MASTERS JERSEY	Compact, good annual cropper	Mid/late	end Oct/Nov	High sugar, high tannin but fruit may not store
MEDAILLE D'OR	Smallish tree, wood tends to split. Strongly biennial	Late	end Oct/Nov	Very high but 'soft' tannin
Sweet
SWEET ALFORD	Strong annual cropper, tip-bearer and prone to scab	Mid	end Oct	High sugar, good bulk for fermentation
SWEET COPPIN	Strong large tree. Mildew susceptible and biennial	Mid	end Oct	Good allround sweet

Generally it is considered wise to grow a selection of cultivars to hedge your bets. If you live in a traditional cider-growing area, you may already know which cultivars do best in your locality and so you may decide on these. Otherwise, you can plant a few of each and assess them as time goes on. At worst, you can always 'topwork' over the poor varieties to the better ones in later years. But do bear in mind the ultimate blend of fruit you need - a cider made entirely from heavy bittersweets may have insufficient acid and too much tannin to produce good cider, unless you blend it with the ubiquitous 'Bramley' or with synthetic malic acid from a bag!
Remember also considerations like the fruit harvesting period. Few small cidermakers can have a need for the early cultivar 'Nehou', whose fruit is ready in late August but which bruises easily and does not store. As with dessert apples, mid- to late-season varieties generally store better and produce superior quality ciders.

Location and Shelter

For orchard location, the same considerations apply as with dessert apples. Cider apples tend to flower late, so frost is not usually a problem, although overt frost pockets are best avoided. Ensure that all your trees will find a pollen partner locally by matching flowering times, or plant a few Malus crabs as pollinators to ensure this. Depending on exposure, a windbreak might be useful. For a small site, fast growing willows such as Salix 'Bowles hybrid' will reach 12 ft in 3 yrs when planted from cuttings through black polythene, and can be trimmed annually thereafter. Evergreen cypress 'Leylandii' is also another possibility, perhaps interplanted with alder Alnus cordata to provide a semi-permeable screen which is more efficient than a solid wall of vegetation. Early-leafing hybrid poplars (e.g. TxT 32) should only be used on the largest sites, since they are greedy feeders. Hawthorn hedges are best avoided since they are alternative hosts to the 'fireblight' bacterium Erwinia amylovora which sometimes affects cider plantations.

Spacing and Yield

Tree size is an important consideration. Most people nowadays go for a semi-intensive bush orchard e.g. on MM106 rootstock at 12 - 15 ft spacing or on M26 at 8 - 12 ft spacing. If the soil is poor, go for the MM106 or even MM111. These trees should start to bear after 3 - 4 years and will bear fully from year 10 - 25. If you take a longer term view, and you have space for a truly traditional orchard as a landscape feature, go for standard trees on M25, spaced 30 - 40 ft apart. They may take a decade to come into bearing, but will go on for a century thereafter! (Author's note: Consider a quincunx' planting plan in a dwarf orchard, which will allow you the possibility of strategic tree removal in future years if they get too big. I didn't do this and I regret it!!)A reasonable yield for all trees is an average of 5 tons per acre, but this can vary hugely due to biennial bearing ('on' one year and 'off' the next) and to the extent of fertiliser application. In commercial cider orchards, 120 lbs/acre of N and 80 lbs/acre of K is typically applied annually, perhaps with the addition of phosphate and magnesium. The actual levels required are often determined by leaf and soil analysis. In an organic system, FYM might be used instead. For high quality cider, it is undesirable to feed the trees more than is absolutely necessary, and it is particularly important not to apply excess nitrogen. Yield may go up but quality certainly comes down, and there is ample evidence that the best ciders are produced from orchards low in nutrients. Aim to keep your trees just healthy, but not in the 'lap of luxury'!

Buying and Planting the Trees

Obtaining the stock and planting it follows normal orcharding practice. However, there are only a few specialist nurseries selling cider trees and you may have to wait for them to be grafted (budded) to order onto the rootstock you want. It is always best to start with maiden trees so you can train them properly from the start. Make sure you get virus-tested EMLA rootstocks and scions. Although traditional orchards were usually virus-ridden, there seems little point in repeating this tradition now that healthy stock is available. If possible, pit-plant trees individually with plenty of organic matter and bonemeal - good preparation is never wasted. They will need good stakes and rabbit/hare guards, certainly for the first few years of life.The best orchard floor is grass, although the immediate base of the trees should be kept clear of vegetation. If sowing a new sward, a slow growing mixture of chewings fescue (60%) and browntop bent (40%) has recently been recommended, or a slow-growing perennial ryegrass (sports turf mix) may be used. Some growers like to add white clover for its nitrogen fixing abilities. The grass should be cut as frequently as required, with the mowings allowed to rot in situ or used as a mulch at the base of the trees. Grass should never be removed from the orchard because this can lead to severe potassium deficiency and subsequent defoliation. A final cut can be made just prior to harvest, so that the fruit has a short clean sward on which to fall. You can run livestock e.g. sheep in traditional orchards although the tree trunks must be well protected by fencing. This is more difficult in bush orchards since both trunks and lower branches are vulnerable to browsing. As the trees mature, however, the lower tier of branches can be removed to allow for grazing if required. Chickens are an excellent alternative to sheep in dwarf orchards (and they greatly enjoy the blossoms on the lower branches!). Livestock should always be removed a couple of months before harvest to reduce the risk of bacterial contamination of fruit by animal droppings (author's note: I don't actually remove my chickens, but I DO wash my fruit throroughly!).

Pruning and Management

Pruning of bush cider trees is rather different from that of dessert apples. There is no need to go for the 'open goblet' shape, pruning of laterals etc. - in fact, pruning should be fairly minimal. Fruit size and finish is not tremendously important, and hard pruning of most cider varieties tends to stimulate excessive growth and can encourage biennial bearing. Current commercial practice favours a 'hedgerow wall' which is really designed for convenience during spraying and mechanical harvesting of the fruit. For the smaller grower, the objective should still be to maintain a good central leader with fruitful side branches as near horizontal as possible, although not all cultivars will respond equally readily to this ideal.At planting, prune the maiden tree to a good bud about 3 ft above ground level, rubbing out the two buds below as they break in spring. Existing side branches ('feathers') below 2 ft should be cut off flush with the stem, but those above 2 ft may be retained as part of the first tier of permanent branches. In subsequent springs, the leader may be tipped slightly back to a good growth bud and the two buds below should be rubbed out. This will help more horizontal laterals to break further down, and reduce competition with the leader. Branches that do begin to compete vigorously with the leader should be cut out during the summer. Do not allow more than 2 side-branches per 4 ins vertical run of stem. In autumn, it will be worth tying down any upward pointing side-branches to a more horizontal position. Not only will this increase their fruitfullness by reducing their vigour, but by developing wide branch angles it will prevent them splitting under heavy loads when carrying fruit later.
Pests and diseases of cider trees are similar to those of dessert fruit, although the severity of attacks may be less. Scab and codling moth damage are scarcely important to the cider maker unless extremely severe, and even large cider growers may only spray routinely against mildew. Frequently, no spraying at all is required and cider apples are therefore well suited to organic cultivation. Fireblight, though, is a potential problem and is spread from blossom to blossom by pollinating insects which carry the bacterium. There is no easy solution and affected limbs should be cut out and burnt as soon as the disease is noted. MAFF should also be informed.
Biennial bearing is perhaps the biggest single headache for the cider grower. It is caused by a large crop in one year (the 'on' year) supressing flower-bud formation for the next year (the 'off' year). This pattern is often set by external climatic factors, such as a warm summer, so that all the trees in a locality tend to go 'in phase' with each other. For the UK as a whole, there is a strong biennial trend. For instance, crops in the years 1980, 82, 84 were about twice those in 1981, 83, 85. This is one of the factors which has led many manufacturers to rely so much more on concentrated juice to even out supplies from year to year. There are various potential remedies for biennial bearing, mostly using hormone sprays to control flower bud initiation, or even using hand removal of part of the blossom in an 'on' year to ensure some crop in the subsequent 'off' year. However, most growers are understandably reluctant to substitute less 'jam today' for an uncertain 'jam tomorrow'!

Harvesting

Cider fruit should never be harvested until it is fully ripe and it is usual for much of the crop to fall on the floor before harvesting commences - the tree can be shaken to bring down the rest. Large growers use tractor mounted tree shakers, air blowers and mechanical brushes to sweep up the fruit from the orchard alleyways. This can cause some fruit damage but a small amount of bruising is usually acceptable. Smaller growers will usually be hand harvesting using buckets and barrows. Spiked-roller harvesters ('hedgehogs') should never be used because the tines penetrate the fruit which leads to inoculation with undesirable soil micro-organisms. The fruit should ideally be harvested into slatted wooden or plastic boxes for storage, although in large operations tipper trucks and concrete silos are used.Once harvested, mid- to late-season fruit need not be processed at once. In fact it has traditionally been considered necessary to store the fruit up to a month or so after harvesting. The major reason for this is that starch in the fruit is still being converted into sugar even once the fruit is off the tree, and it is desirable that this process should be complete before fermentation. Changes in flavour precursors also probably occur. However, soluble pectin is also produced as the fruit is stored, which may eventually cause problems of sliminess when the fruit is being pressed. So it is unwise to store the fruit for too long - two to four weeks is probably a reasonable period. Traditionally, the apples are ready for milling when they retain the impression of a thumbprint after squeezing in the hand!
Before milling, fruit should be washed to remove soil, dead insects, leaves, stones, and rotten apples. It is fortunate that healthy apples float in water (pears don't!), thus providing an easy way to wash and clean the fruit. Clean water should be used to wash each batch of fruit - if the water is recycled, the dirt is recycled too! Don't be afraid of washing away the yeast - you won't! It is a popular fallacy that desirable fermenting yeasts are present on the fruit skin. There are indeed some types of yeast on the skin and in fact there can be up to 45,000 yeast cells per gram of fruit actually inside the apple itself, which get there through the open eye (where the flower petals once were). However, scientific study has shown that these yeasts (species such as Kloeckera andCandida) have only weak fermenting power and they soon die in more than a couple of percent of alcohol. They are not theSaccharomyces yeasts which are required for the successful completion of fermentation.
In a traditional cider-making operation where no yeast is apparently used, the inoculum resides on the press racks, the cloths, the vats, or even on the walls and ceiling. It persists from season to season but virtually none of it comes from the apples. WildSaccharomyces yeasts are not very common, so this inoculum can take several years to build up but, once established, it can determine the 'house flavour' of a particular product. It is largely a matter of luck whether this flavour is desirable or not. We return to the subject of yeasts in a later section.
© Andrew Lea 1997. Lightly updated 2009
http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm

EESG Preserves

Several members have been working very hard to make preserves to sell to raise money for the group. We are nearly there!