Sweet Cicely

Sweet Cicely (Myrris odorata) is a traditional hardy cottage garden perennial. It grows wild in the North of England. It is related to anise, fennel and caraway and has a similar flavour to anise. It thrives on well drained soil and tolerates partial shade. I have it growing under a fig tree.

It produces umbels of frothy white flowers in late spring providing an early nectar source for insects.. The flowers develop into long slender seed pods as shown in the photo above.

The leaves can stewed with tart fruit like gooseberries or rhubarb to reduce acidity. It can be used to flavour fish. in some countires it is used to flavour Schnapps.

The seeds can be dried and used as a spice or left on the plant to self seed.

Have you used this in cooking and if so what did you use it with?

Today's Bread

White bread dough sprinkled with red onion and olive oil with thyme, rosemary and garlic from the garden. The dough was rolled and topped with sliced Moroccan olives then baked ready for lunch in the garden. The top photo shows the rosemary bush in flower.

An orange tipped butterfly seen in the garden a few days ago

Wild Food part 2

After a few warm Spring days the nettles are starting to grow. This is the common stinging nettle, Urtica dioica. I usually cut the new growth back and put it in a bucket of water. After about 2 weeks this turns into a very strong smelling liquid plant food that gets fed to the roses. This year I thought I would grasp the nettle and make soup! The new leaves are said to be be rich in minerals and vitamins.

so here goes, a panful of Spring nettle tops

cooked together with these ingredients a bay leaf and some thyme, then blitzed till smooth

add some milk and voila , nettle soup with cheese, onion and herb scone.

Delicious, and no it doesn't sting, the cooking takes care of that.

Wild Food

served with smoked trout and boiled egg

These are not just any old leaves, these are organic leaves with a very low carbon footprint. They have travelled just a few feet rather than food miles and can be eaten fresh within seconds of picking.The taste is peppery, similar to mustard and cress or rocket and it may well be growing in your garden.

This plant is a member of the mustard family (Cruciferae family) and is native to Europe, Asia and North America. This small plant forms a rosette of leaves at ground level, during Autumn and Winter then from March onwards sends up stems with white flowers made up of 4 petals and provides an early source of nectar for bees and butterflies.

It is Cardamine hirsuta or hairy bittercress but it's not bitter and you would need a magnifying glass to see any hairs!

A long distance runner of the plant world it can produce seed about 5 weeks from germinating. The flowers produce thin seed pods that explode when touched, throwing the seed several feet. It pops up in plant pots, flowerbeds, lawns and cracks in paving.

This wild flower is an invasive weed so I don't encourage it in the garden but it pops up anyway and makes a good alternative to those supermarket pillows of air full of 'designer leaves'

It is the wild version of land cress.

It loves sneaking into overwintering plant pots and has often produced seed before I've even noticed it.

Pasteis de Nata

Pasteis de Nata are like little caramelised creme brulees in a puff pastry case. I love the contrast of the crisp and flaky pastry with the smooth and creamy custard filling. I look for the one with the most caramelised top. They are said to have originate from a monastery near Lisbon to make use of spare egg yolks. The whites were used for starching the nuns' habits and in wineries for the clarifying of wines such as Port.

Penha d'Aguia near the cathedral in Funchal serves excellent ones and good coffee too, both at a reasonable price. You can get Bolo de mel there too and queijadas which are baked using a soft white cheese.

Madeiran Sweet Treats

The first time I tasted this it was served in a jug with some little choux buns. I thought it was chocolate sauce so poured it on . The taste was not what I was expecting and had I known what it was would have chosen a different dessert. However I have acquired a taste for it and brought some back with me. Remembering a fellow traveller's tale of an exploding pot of spices that spread through his suitcase whilst in the hold and even ended up in his socks, I packed it very carefully in my suitcase. Just as well because although it was tightly sealed and unopened a bit had seeped out.

This is Mel de Cana Sacarina which translates as 'sugarcane honey' or molasses. The photo below is of sugarcane from Funchal market. This local ingredient is used in biscuits and Bolo de Mel, a tradtional cake. It is lovely served on pancakes with lemon juice and a slice of orange.

Sugarcane

It is also used in poncha (punch). This is a drink made from white rum (aguardente) mixed with mel de cana and lemon juice. Sometimes orange juice is added or even passion fruit juice.

Passion fruits are grown in Madeira and in a supermarket you can get a bagful for about 2 euros! They are however much more expensive in Funchal market.

Whenever I have had this drink it has been made using bee's honey rather than mel de cana.

The best one I had was from a little cafe in the market. It is run by the same people as Botanica 17 who sell plants and flowers on a stall inside on the top floor on the right. The cafe is on the top floor, keep to the left and go to the far end and it's outside. The juice is freshly squeezed for the poncha while you wait. There is also coffee and home made cake.

Madeira Wine

Cheers! Today my blog is one year old.

Last week I visited Old Blandy Wine Lodge in Funchal on Madeira to see how Madeira wine is made. We had saved this for a rainy day and it was very rainy that day.
This building was built in the 17th century and was part of a monastery. It was bought in 1840 and converted to a winery. This is a working lodge where the wine is being aged by natural heat.
For about 5 euros a knowledgable guide will take you on a tour and this includes 2 generous glasses of Maderia to sample.

The vat below would hold up to 10000 litres of wine. This one is for display purposes and has had the archways cut into it so that you can walk through it. The smell inside was wonderful, aromatic wood and wine together. There are deposits of sugar on the inside. Chestnut wood was used for the casks, there are sweet chestnut trees in Madeira, and nowadays American oak.The vats were made of Brazil mahogany and nowadays Brazilian satinwood.

The method for making Madeira was discovered by chance. The island was a stopping off point for ships. Wine taken on board in oak casks had brandy added to it to help preserve it. When a ship returned to Madeira with an unopened cask it was discovered that the taste of the wine had improved on its journey due to the heat of the tropics. So wine was sent on round trips to improve it. Eventually this process was achieved by storing the barrels in the warm loft at the top of the wine lodge building. See below. The smell in the wine loft is fragrant and aromatic. Later the wine is transferred into the large vats and continues to age until it is bottled. These are on a lower floor where it will age at a lower temperature and are filled to about 90% to leave an airspace to slowly oxidise the wine.


In the museum there are accounting books from the last 3 centuries.

There are 4 main types of Maderia named after the grape varieties used. At the end of the tour we were given some samples to taste. On the left is a 3 year old Sercial and on the right a 5 year old Bual. The Sercial is dry and the Bual medium rich. I much prefered the Bual for its rich honey and raisiny flavours. We then had some 15 year old Malmsey the sweetest, deepest in colour and richest for taste like an extract of very good Christmas cake with toffee or butterscotch and my favourite. We were told that it makes a good accompaniment for Christmas cake or chocolate. I was in such a hurry to taste this one that I forgot to photograph it!

There is also a vintage tasting room, it is still possible to buy wines dating back to 1920 and in the museum there are bottles dating back much further.

Cheers!