Lemon Curd ~ Recipe

 I just love lemon curd and not had it in a long while, I decided to make some and it is surprisingly easy.  Lemons and eggs are normally available at Country Matter Hexton, you only need butter and sugar.

I just followed the simple recipe on the BBC web site, there are recipes with extra egg yolks, but this one worked for me.

Basically the recipe is 1 lemon, 1 egg, 50gms sugar, 25gms butter, and make quantity bigger depending how much you want.  It doesn't keep that long - recommended only 2 weeks - so you don't want to make too much unless you share it.  I gave one of my jars away.

I made 2 small jars, I put my jars in the dishwasher, and then whilst I was making the curd, I put them and the lids in the oven, so that they were sterilised.  For your own purposes/personal a reused jam jar lid is fine.  If you were going into mass production I recommend you buy new lids :)

Here how I made mine:

2 lemons, zested and then squeezed,

put in large bowl (that will fit on the top of a saucepan) add 50gms of butter and 100gms of sugar (it suggested caster but I didn't have any).

Get a saucepan on hob with water in it, and bring it to a simmer.

I started heating mine in the microwave, stopping and stirring every now and again, until butter and sugar has melted....but you can do all of this over the saucepan.

Place your bowl on the saucepan, the water should not touch the bowl it should be steam that is heating it.

Now beat the eggs together, and add to your mix, keep whisking it for about 5 - 10 minutes, you will notice it starting to thicken. Put into your jars, and seal whilst hot, I left the zest in mine - sieving seemed like a bit of a faff......once cool put in the fridge.

Christmas is on its way, and we have some lovely different ideas for presents, along with gift bags and Christmas cards.

Swede or is it a Turnip

 

We normally have swedes when they are in season, and are a veg that are super tasty and can see you through the winter. 

Lemon Loaf ~ Recipe

Lemons are always available in Country Matters Hexton, add a slice to your gin & tonic, did you know you can freeze lemon slices, and they keep for ages in the fridge?  Or you can make this delicious lemon loaf

Carrots

 

At Country Matters Hexton, we collect our fresh fruit and veg on a Thursday and this will normally include carrots and wherever possible these will be as local as possible.  You can buy as many as you want and you can bring your own bag, or we will pop them in a brown paper bag.

Did you know that: 

• Carrots were first grown as medicine.
• They were originally purple, red, white, black or yellow.
• They were imported to Europe in the 14th century, and into UK in the 15th century.
• Orange carrots were bred by the Dutch to match the House of Orange.
• In WW2 carrots were used to make marmalade and fizzy drinks.
• Apparently weight-loss-friendly food, linked to lower cholesterol levels and improved eye health.
• Their carotene antioxidants have been linked to a reduced risk of cancer.
• There is an entire website dedicated to the carrot
• 
  

And let's be frank they are excellent value, you can boil them, roast them, mash them, make soup bake them - would love to hear what you do with yours

Lovely carrot cake recipe here:

There is an entire museum devoted to the carrot (well virtual anyway)

www.carrotmuseum.co.uk

and it tells you that:
"There are good reasons to include carrots in human diet, since they are enriched with carotenoids, phenolic compounds, polyacetylenes, and vitamins and by this reason they may help reduce the risk of some diseases. Experimental evidence has reported that these carrot compounds exert antioxidative, anticarcinogenic, and immunoenhancer effects. Anti-diabetic, cholesterol and cardiovascular disease lowering, anti-hypertensive, hepatoprotective, renoprotective, and wound healing benefits of carrot have also been reported. The mechanism by which these carrot compounds decrease the risk of some diseases is complex and sometimes largely unknown. The cardio- and hepatoprotective, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects of carrot seed extracts are also noteworthy.

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Flapjacks ~ Recipe

You can be rest assured that we will have a supply of Scott's Porage oats - Helen's favourite.

Apart from hot porage and overnight porage, you can make flapjacks.

On the back of the pack there has been a recipe

This is my favourite recipe:

6oz (150gms) Butter or Margerine

4oz (100gms) brown sugar (or mix of different depending on the filling)

2oz (50gms) syrup - I find it less messy to weigh it

12oz (300gms) oats

cinnamon or mixed spice

then optionally add up to 8oz (100gms) your favourite dried fruit, chopped apricots, dates, walnuts, cherries.

I have even added a mashed banana if there has been an over ripe one in the fruit bowl.

I found it best to line my tin with baking paper/parchment (do not use greaseproof it sticks to it), and cut into pieces when still slightly warm.

You can pretty much put in any shaped tin, and could even dip into chocolate and put in fancy bags for Christmas presents - who doesn't love a handmade gift.

Supplier Spotlight ~ Piper Crisps

We have just started stocking Pipers Crisps, they are produced by 3 farmers based in Lincolnshire and have some interesting flavours including Chilli from Biggleswade.

Pickled Onions ~ Recipe

 

Autumn is upon us and the pickle season has started.  This week in Country Matters Hexton we have onions for pickling form not far away in Soham, Cambridgeshire.