welsh hills again

We always have more apples than we know what to do with. We have eight apple trees.  They were all here when we came so I have no idea what most of them are.  In the kitchen garden there are two dwarf trees which are always laden with small eaters which ripen late towards the end of October.  Then there are four older trees.  Two of them have very little fruit but they provide shelter for the chickens and I can't bring myself to get rid of them.  Two of them didn't fruit much when we first came here five years ago but have responded to pruning by becoming quite prolific.  The fruit is pale yellow and of a good size but too sharp to be a dessert apple.  Some of the fruit is misshapen or blotched with scab but the blossom in spring is so glorious I would forgive the trees anything. In the field there are two more: a battered and bent tree which I was going to get rid of but which I have instead brought into the corner of...

Apple jellies sound complicated but they aren't.  They are a bit time consuming but it is that sort of time where you just have to be around for a bit, not necessarily paying it very much attention.  So if you can just give it a little time, during most of which you don’t need to pay your jelly any attention at all, here is how to make an apple jelly. The only thing you need which you may have to buy is muslin, either in a ready made bag (Lakeland do one) or as a length of material to make your own. You will also need four or five empty jam jars with screw lids.  I use a preserving pan but a large pan of any kind will do fine. Jellies are easy, no peeling or lengthy preparation, and they produce jewel coloured jars which shine on your shelves and which can be used to accompany meats (apple and mint jelly with lamb, apple and sage with pork), to add depth of flavour to stews (quince jelly in beef casseroles or in gravy) or to have on bread or toast like jam. Start...