Harvest Festival

Harvest Festival

Autumn: kicking up leaves, crackling bonfires and a bounty of fruit; what a delightful season!

If any of you have an apple, pear or plum tree in the garden, this is the season to gather in your harvest. Fresh, juicy and delicious, there’s little more satisfying than picking the fruit from the tree and taking a big bite.

The trouble is that the volume of fruit often exceeds your capacity to consume it all whilst it’s fresh. You might hand out packages to friends and neighbours to spread the joy, but with a little time on your hands, you can also find a variety of means to prepare and preserve the delicious taste, so it can be enjoyed for many months to come.

Modern Preserver

Making jams, chutneys and pickles might seem like a thing of the past, but they provide a brilliant way of transforming your excess crop. In ‘The Modern Preserver’ Kylee Newton includes plenty of tasty and unusual combinations that you could make to spice up your lunchtime sandwich or your Sunday roast.

Another option, which has seen a recent growth in popularity, is fruit drying. By removing the water content, it is possible to create fruits that can be stored for many weeks. We’re used to eating sultanas, raisins and dried apricots, but many other fruits can be dried.

Typically the fruit is cut into thin slices, which are laid out on a tray and slowly heated. Some fruits including apples and tomatoes can be dried in the oven using this method. Alternatively, it is possible to buy a fruit dehydrator for the job or you might even chose to make one.

Solar Food Drier made from Cardboard Boxes

Food drying might be a new concept to you, but back in 1981, Dale Jennings shared his design for a solar food drier that was made using cardboard boxes and a few other basic materials. We’ve not given it a go, but if you have a few spare cardboard boxes and are at a loose end this weekend, this might be the perfect autumn project.

Construction details can be found here.

Finally, even if you become a whizz with the cardboard food drying machine, remember to leave a few apples aside to coat with toffee on bonfire night. That’s one tradition that should never die out!