[growth] adventures in the undergrowth

[kaberett]

I've been picking raspberries for, mmm, a week and a half? two weeks? now, just the first crop from the canes that fruit early, and I'm up to a whisker under 1.25kg in the freezer. Not counting, obviously, all the ones that never made it home.

We typically buy ~800g of frozen raspberries about once every four months.

... if I can make space in the freezer for all of them (plus all the other berries) I think we might... not... end up buying any more raspberries any time soon? (Some of them might end up turned into jam or sorbet, of course, if those end up being more convenient preserving methods.) I'm partly so perplexed by this because I was very disappointed last year by how few I did get, and it's not like the majority of the raspberry thicket is in the fruit cage, even -- I can only assume I was buried in lab work and just... barely making it to the plot at the relevant crucial points.

I'd been vaguely contemplating seriously curtailing said thicket, which I'm now rather more reluctant to do, especially as I discovered a whole new soft fruit lurking in the depths, which I had not expected to happen at this stage in my tenancy. (It's one of the blackberry-raspberry hybrids but I have no idea which; fruits that are long and pointy and will come away from the central wossname pretty cleanly; I can't tell whether they're ripe when they're red or ripe when they're darker; as A put it, "they taste the wrong colour" and it's all very confusing.)

The other thing lurking in the depths is of course more of the feral horseradish, which is a serious problem because to the best of my knowledge I don't even like horseradish. Like, I like Ruby Violet's horseradish ice cream but not enough to make two dozen plants' worth of it when I could make something nicer, and it's not like I eat the other traditional thing that Goes With Horseradish, so, uh, SUGGESTIONS WELCOME I SUPPOSE.

(other major news of the day: turns out I'd made an offering to the gods of embarrassing mistakes with the paper submission, but I've e-mailed in abjectly requesting a correction of the figures and they DID have at least ONE copy of all the relevant figures anyway in addition to the duplication, even if it wasn't in the ideal place. fingers crossed this means that's the only problem with the manuscript, glaring or otherwise.)

Comments

[madgastronomer]

Horseradish pickles? I have a bread and butter pickle recipe I make for my dad that I add horseradish to sometimes. It's a 3-day pickle, too, so it's quick.

[kaberett]

*chinhands* hmm.

[fyreharper]

What is the other traditional thing that goes with horseradish? (I have it filed under “goes on Seder plate” and... nothing else :p )

[steorra]

I had about the same reaction. My first guess was "sushi?" because I know that the "wasabi" at most sushi restaurants is actually (mostly) coloured horseradish. But I thought that was unlikely to be the actual answer.

Wikipedia says that "Horseradish sauce made from grated horseradish root and vinegar is a common condiment in the United Kingdom and in Poland. In the UK, it is usually served with roast beef, often as part of a traditional Sunday roast, but can be used in a number of other dishes, including sandwiches or salads."

[shewhostaples]

Wikipedia is correct! Roast beef.

[kaberett]

ha, yes, roast beef, as people have said :) (I was very frustrated that this year it didn't occur to me to offer to POST EVERYONE HORSERADISH until it was too late)

[fyreharper]

:is also intrigued by mystery berries:

[lokifan]

Hahaha this is a really fun post :) Sorry about the oops but glad it doesn't sound too bad!

[haplocke]

*gasp* MYSTERY BERRIES WHAT COLOUR DO THEY TASTE?

(Also, last year's raspberries might have just been fewer, because is it a Thing that plants fruit different amounts different years? (I know my parents' fig tree pushes out masses but only every other year...) )

[me_and]

…I honestly can't remember at this stage. I think they looked red but tasted black.