What are you doing with your gluts?

[EmmaStone]

I've got some marrows to use up (will be making courgette brownies this afternoon, might grate and freeze some, and considering trying courgette fritters...).

But just back from holiday and have 3 trees worth of crabapples plus an apple tree full - I've still got my crabapple jelly from last years (much depleted!) harvest, and some apple slices in the freezer from last year. Will start on the apple chutney soon.

What are you doing with your gluts?

I don't have a glut of anything except cucumber! Had about 3 tomatoes so far and I'm usually overrun with them. I just give stuff away usually and make some chutney with the tomatoes

Haha, nobody wants crabapples! 😂

Gave 10 cucumbers to the produce sale yesterday

Have made 10 jars pickled Jalapenos

Chilli jam with the last 4 or 5 kilos of tomatoes.

Made Jamie Oliver's filo salmon and prawn pie (which calls for 800g of mixed tomatoes) Waste of ingredients. Tasted very very sweet, and if you don't eat the entire pie immediately, the filo goes bendy and chewy and un-cuttable.

I have some beautiful pears which I'm keeping for eating. The wonky ones still on the tree will join the remaining plums in a Dumpsideary Jam (aka Mixty Maxty) recipe can be found in Jocasta Innes 'The paupers cookbook' highly recommended. Published in 1971, but never so much needed as now.

Apples will be harvested and boxed. Most of the onions and potatoes have been harvested and stored. I leave some potatoes in pots in a sheltered area and dig them out on Christmas eve for Christmas lunch.

Will make Christmas chutney with some of the sadder looking apples and onions that won't store well. Still got a few jars from last year. Bloody lovely recipe I've perfected over years which includes lots of soy sauce and spices. Makes for a wonderful chutney full of depth of flavour.

Won't be making any mincemeat this year as too much left from last year, otherwise some of the apples would have also gone towards that too.

I've made bread and butter pickles out of some of the smaller cucumbers.

A few weeks ago I made some home made tomato soup, pasta sauce and the ubiquitous ratatouille and froze a few portions of each (with a fee in my parents freezer too)

A few dried apple slices done in the aga if I've got any energy left to use the really small ones up.

Last of the blackberries steeping in a big kilner of whisky with a dollop of honey already for Blackberry whisky which is traditionally broken open on Boxing day.

@RainbowZebraWarrior that's impressive!

I've got through the harvest of one crabapple tree, currently simmering the crabapple jelly ready for their jars.

Made a couple of jars of apple sauce just to have on hand, peeled, cored and diced 1kg for the freezer, picked out the eaters for the fridge, got a few more with blemishes for cooking, may make some compote with the rhubarb...

With the roast tonight will make the courgette brownies.

All potatoes have been harvested and eaten already (didn't do many this year). Loads of kale, might harvest and freeze...

Butternut squashes just starting to ripen, 2 ready today, they'll be perfect for autumnal soups.

Marrows should keep if the skin has ripened and toughened.

I found a recipe for grape cake which is basically a Victoria sponge, pour half into a tin, add thick layer of grapes, add rest of cake dough. It works just as well with apples.

otherwise, any stew, casserole can absorb an apple or two.

otherwise, all my gluts go straight into the deepfreeze.

We eat a lot of fruit on our morning oats - in succession strawberries, raspberries, tayberries and loganberries, mulberries, apples, grapes, then frozen berries through the winter. And yogurt and fruit for every day desserts, apples for snacking, figs and quince cheese with cheese.

Kale will stand through the winter, or do you need the space?

I have a glut of very overgrown courgettes (does that make them marrow?). So far we’ve had courgette soups and I’m going to try courgette cake recipes - although no one but me likes the sound of them 🤣
Looking into freezing at least some of them

We've had about 16kg of tomatoes so far so it's been tomatoes with everything. 😝I've frozen a million bags of passata and various other sauces.

Sweetcorn just got eaten because we love it and had it with every meal. The same with cucumbers. Luckily DC loves cucumber so it was quite easy. I always find courgettes hard to use up because they're not THAT tasty, so I just grate it in sauces etc for extra veggies. Also courgette fritters are nice.

I didn’t get to grow much this year due to various family stuff going on but my plum tree gave me 4 kgs of fruit.

made some jam and froze the rest for crumbles and cakes.

I’m glad I got to do this because it’s been strange not having tomatoes, beans etc growing,

I have a glut of very overgrown courgettes (does that make them marrow?) Yes. Courgette and Zucchini are the French and Italian resp. diminutives for their words for marrow/gourd. Varieties with a tendency to produces masses of flowers are grown as courgettes.