More Preserves from Nashtown Castle

Continuing the family tradition of preserving our own home grown heritage vegetables and preserving locally foraged fruit when there is a surplus, allows us to enjoy them all year round. Nashtown Castle Preserves and Pickles are now available in Glasrai & Goodies in Gowran, County Kilkenny and Phelans' Vegetable Shop in Ormond Street, Kilkenny.

Nashtown Castle pickles, jellies and chutneys ready for sale

Nashtown Castle Wild Crab Apple Jelly is created with foraged wild crab apples growing in the local wild hedgerows. 2012 was a bad year for apples, we found one special wild tree that yielded all the crab apples that were required.

Nashtown Castle Sloe & Crab Apple Jelly Not only was 2012 a bad year for apples, it was also a poor year for sloes. However, some careful sleuthing in the nearby woods located enough to make this special jelly. We had to watch and wait until the first frosts came along before we picked them, to allow the sloes to develop a little sweetness. 

Nashtown Castle Pickled Red Cabbage We grow our own red cabbage, it only travels a few yards from where it grows, to the pickling bowl in the kitchen. A stunningly beautiful vegetable, when cut in half, it always seems a shame to slice it up. We love to eat it raw, freshly grated in a coleslaw. We preserve it by pickling it, so we can continue to eat it out of season.

Nashtown Castle Apple & Lavender Jelly One of the greatest pleasures of gardening is picking your own home grown lavender, while the perfume swirls around. The lavender bags are emptied every year, refilled and replaced around the house to deter moths. The remaining lavender is infused to make a herbal tea and it is that juice that is added to this beautiful clear jelly. Having very few apples this year, we raided our neighbour's neglected old orchard, full of old, flavorsome varieties of apples to produce this jelly.

Email: kilkennyseakale@gmail.com

Nashtown Castle Pickles & Preserves

SLOW FOOD, REAL FOOD
The garden and orchard surrounding the site of Nashtown Castle, are located on some of the best quality limestone land in Kilkenny, ideal for growing vegetables and fruit. In 1778, references to the adjoining farm indicate that good quality cider apples and potatoes were being successfully grown here. By 1801, a peach house and a green house were in existance - great status symbols, in their day.

Nashtown Castle Pickles and Preserves

We have a surplus of fruit and vegetables, grown on this exceptionally fertile soil. So, in accordance with our waste, not want not philosophy, we pickle and preserve that surplus. Having respect for the plants so carefully nurtured, we only use the best quality real ingredients to mix with them when creating our pickles and preserves. If we can find local and Irish ones of sufficient quality, then we use them in preference.

Nashtown Pickles and Hedgerow Jelly

Nashtown Castle Green Tomato Pickle is made with heritage varieties of tomatoes and is based on a Canadian Chow Chow recipe, using cider vinegar from Tipperary and Malvern sea salt, with tumeric which is reputed to have many healthy properties.
Nashtown Castle Green Tomato Chutney is created with the same home grown tomatoes, along with our neighbours' apples (our trees were bare this year) and our own white onions and garlic. This chutney is based on an old fashioned classic recipe. The more mature this chutney becomes, the better it tastes.
Nashtown Castle Cucumber Pickle consists of the 3 different types of cucumbers grown here combined with our white onions and our mild garlic.
Nashtown Castle Hedgerow Jelly is always a joy to make. It depends entirely on the autumnal wild fruits that are available to us, as we forage around the local hedgerows. Each year is different. This year elderberries were few in number, the blackberries were late, some normally dependable crab apple trees had no fruit on them, however the rose hips and haws were plentiful.

Nashtown Castle pickles and preserves are made in small batches using seasonal produce, so when they run out, we have to wait until the following year before we make more. Recipes maybe altered to reflect availability of local products.

Nashtown Castle pickles and preserves are available from Glasrai & Goodies, in Gowran, County Kilkenny, Ireland and in Phelans' vegetable shop on Ormond Street, in Kilkenny City, Ireland.

Email: kilkennyseakale@gmail.com

Recession Proof Christmas Presents

This Kilkenny Christmas is going to be a thrifty one, no expensive presents, just homemade ones. What better than to make ones own preserves, they are always well received. Instead of bringing a bottle of wine or flowers, try bringing one of your homemade jams, chutneys or pickles when you next go visiting.

Eventually the tomatoes ripened

A glut of cucumbers ensured a plentiful supply of cucumbers for Cucumber Pickles.
The tomatoes were slow to ripen, so lots of green tomato preserves were made. The Green Tomato Jam and Green Tomato Marmalade were successful experiments to be repeated again next year.
A friend, in Toronto, sent a great recipe for green tomato Chow Chow, basically a green tomato pickle, with celery seeds that complimented the tomatoes.

Pickles and Chutneys waiting for Christmas

Still more green tomatoes kept on coming, with no sign of any ripening, so it called for further creativity. This was a Damson and Green Tomato Chutney, making use of a basket of damsons grown by a neighbour and left on the kitchen table.

From L-R: Damson & Green Tomato Chutney, Green Tomato Jam,
Green Tomato Marmalade & Green Tomato Chow Chow.

Eventually, the tomatoes started turning red - much later than usual. Now, was the occasion to make a Red Tomato Relish and a Spicy Red Tomato Relish (spicy, not hot) which will reduce the need to buy a well known brand of tomato ketchup.

From L-R: Wild Plum Jam, Hedgerow Jelly and Sloe Gin & Wild Apple Jelly

Foraging in the deep freeze, revealed some white currants which required attention. These were turned into White Currant and Rosemary Jelly, to be eaten with lamb. It is a beautiful jelly to make, as the white currant juice turns to a surprising, delicate pink colour.
These preserves are all easy to make and the main expense is the sugar and vinegar. Sadly, there is no longer any Irish sugar produced, the factories were closed down. Sugar beet is now grown by my neighbours, only for animal fodder. Instead, we have to buy the more expensive imported cane sugar.
Perhaps, next year, some homemade vinegar will be produced to further reduce the cost.
Don't be too enthusiastic about bringing your glass jars to the recycling centre, instead hold onto them and reuse them, year after year.

These presents are recession proof as they will taste just as good in boom times.