Ember Baked Fruit & Veg

Ingredients:

• apples

• turnips

• onions

Method:

Carefully place unpeeled onions, apples and turnips onto hot embers. Turn them occasionally.

To see if they are ready to eat, gently poke with a sharp knife. They are done when the knife easily inserts to the middle.

Timings will vary depending on the fruit or veg, apples and small onions should take around 10-15 minutes. Turnips around 30 - 40 minutes.

Carefully cut the fruit and veg in half and add some salted butter to the turnips before eating. The onions and apples will be deliciously sweet and smokey.

Crab Apple Jelly

I love stocking the cupboard with crab apple jelly, it’s great spread on toast or served with pork. It's a fantastic pinky orange colour. High in pectin, there is no need to use jam sugar with these apples.

Try adding other wild fruits, such as blackberries, to the mix.

Ingredients:

• 1kg crab apples

• Up to 1kg granulated sugar

• Water

Method:

Put the fruit into a large pan and add just enough water to cover the apples. Bring to a boil and simmer until the fruit starts to fall apart.

Strain through a muslin or cheese cloth. Leave to drip for several hours or overnight, but whatever you do avoid squeezing or you’ll end up with cloudy jelly.

Measure the resulting liquid and for every 600ml of juice, you’ll need 450 kg of sugar. Put the juice into a pan and bring to the boil.

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Slowly bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly, without stirring, until setting point is reached. I find this varies

Pour into warm, sterilised jars.

Hot Saxon Cider

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of dry cider or apple juice

• 2 sprigs rosemary

• 2 sprigs thyme

• 12 juniper berries

• 2 tablespoons honey

Method:

Put all the ingredients into a pan and bring to a simmer. Heat for around 15 minutes, allowing the herbs to infuse into the cider..

Strain the liquid through a muslin or cheesecloth and serve immediately.

In a none authentic setting I recommend adding a shot of brandy before serving.

Apple & Mead cake

Ingredients:

• 150g Butter

• 150g honey

• 2 eggs

• 225g plain flour (sifted)

• 1 level tsp baking powder (sifted)

• ½ tsp salt

• 70 ml mead

• ½ a dessert apple, sliced into thin wedges

• 1 ½ tsp of demerara sugar

• ½ tsp of cinnamon

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Beat the butter, honey & eggs together in a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt & mead. Mix well.

Spoon into a 7½ inch round cake tin and arrange the apple slices in a circle on top of the cake. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the cake mix.

Cook for 40 - 45 minutes in the centre of the oven. Cover with greaseproof paper if it starts to brown too quickly.

Drizzle with a little honey and leave to cool for 15 minutes before slicing. The cake will continue to cook during this time.