4th
January 2014
HAPPY NEW
YEAR TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS
Twenty two days of torrential rain kept the dust down over Christmas and New Year in the
orchard and on the terraces of this little spot called “Shangri la”.
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| The Orchard on Christmas Day! |
Can’t dig,
can’t plant, can’t strim; have put in order for seeds. Could this be the moment
winter boredom sets in? NEVER. With umbrella up, ‘Wellie’s on feet, bucket in
hand, ready for an expedition to the Kiwi vines (which have cropped excessively
again this year). Now back in the dry and warmth, fortified by hot coffee and
the ‘bouquet’ of cheap brandy, preparation of the ‘Kiwi’s’ begins. After
consuming the first few, and deciding that is enough really, now is the time
to start the preparation of the ‘sour mash’. Yes it’s ‘moonshine time’ again (perfectly
legal in Portugal if less than 100litres made for personal use). Kiwi’s make
and excellent basis fruit for fermentation as they produce such large
quantities of fruit - even the New Zealanders' recipes dry up after ‘Jam’, 'Marmalade’, 'Chutney’ and cake.
 |
| just a few of our kiwi fruits |
.
Five Kilos
of macerated KIWI flesh and five litres of water, a handful of sugar, in a big
bowl, covered and left at around 18degrees C. for five to seven days will
produce a fermentation ready for a little distillation At around 90% Alcohol best not sample, but rest
assured no trace of Kiwi remains, just refined base spirit ready for mixing
with minimum 50% water and the fruit flavour of your choice. With the masses of
Lemons this year why not try ‘Limoncello’? Cut up two kilos of Lemons, squeeze the juice
from half and cover with One kilo of Sugar, put the un-squeezed lemon halves on
top, add three litres of your diluted distillation, leave for a week prior to
straining and filtration through a coffee paper. Bottle when clear then ask a neighbour
in to try! My wife swears that it works wonders on her sore throat!
Well that
kept you busy for a bit! Good gracious it’s stopped raining, is that a bit of
blue sky? No it’s the sun breaking through for the start of another wonderful
year in my ‘Portuguese’ garden. Must
dash- loads to do, see you soon.
Stuart.
Stop press - just picked the first of our oranges and squeezed to make a wonderful juice. Plenty more where they came from. We love the orange season.
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| Orange season begins and will last through to March, we hope |
Stop press - just picked the first of our oranges and squeezed to make a wonderful juice. Plenty more where they came from. We love the orange season.
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