Sally Vincent’s Diary of Food and Life on a Devon Farm.
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The Valley, War & Rhubarb !
The valley has burst into life once more. The weather is unseasonably hot, little seedlings wilt not yet robust enough to stand the strangely high temperature more associated with high summer. And yet, for all the beauty and tranquillity around me, I am aware of a heavy heart and a reluctance to extol the breathtaking…
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Rhubarb
Rhubarb This vegetable, served as fruit pudding, turning up in a variety of terrible guises for years and years in guest houses and school dinners across the country, has led me on a quite remarkable route. As I tried to trace a little of our culinary connection to it, rhubarb has taken me back through…
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Paint, Pigs, Primroses… and soup!
Wild Primroses It is Easter this weekend. Holy Week, Passover, Spring! Suddenly winter is behind us and we’re racing into Spring. It all seems to happen over night, one minute we’re bracing ourselves against wind and rain, sliding around in the mud as we struggle up to the farmyard and the next minute the clocks…
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Simnel Cake
Simnel Cake with 11 Marzipan Apostles (no Judas) and Primroses. Simnel Cake was originally baked for Mothering Sunday but has now become associated with Easter.
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Violet Ice Cream
Violet Ice Cream: Dorothy Hartley’s recipe is so simple. Add as much fine fresh brown bread crumbs to a bowl of whipped cream “as it will carry“, freeze a little. Stir in coarse sugar or crushed sugar candy. The sugar must be course, she insists. Chill again. Cover “lavishly” with crystallised violets, chill and serve.…
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crystallized flowers
The easiest way to crystallize flowers is to dip them in lightly beaten egg white, shake of the excess, place gently of a wire wrack and sprinkle with icing sugar, allow to dry. The flowers are so fragile it’s a delicate business. Don’t try it if you’re in a hurry!
