What is everyone eating from their orchard today?

oh no the pits, According to miss Julia Child, her recipe calls for the cherries to pitted.

Julia Child Recipe

I make a blueberry version all the time, In the US is often called a 'buckle" especially if made with cornmeal.

I found this video which sounds like what Scotts wife does.

I found this to be interesting. I didn’t know the pits and seeds of fruit are poisonous if broke open or crushed. You have to read to the right of the pictures and hit the read more link.

My Gooseberries
are about ready to be pick. The real dark red ones are sweet.

Tony


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I had my first McIntosh apple today. Usually some fall off early, but very rarely this early. It was still way better than most other apples, but the best ones will fall in September here for me. Amazing tons of thornless blackberries too. My first plum as well-yellow Asian. Don’t know the name.
JohN S
PDX OR

John

The yellow Japanese plum probably Shiro.

Tony

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Here’s what I picked yesterday-

1.) Half a dozen PF1 peaches. The family has eaten them all now, though I don’t think they were great- juicy and sweet-tart. Almost all have split pits, so there is more work and loss when I cut them up. All I tested were in the 10-12 brix range. I’m looking forward to Gold Dust in a week or two.

2.) Black Velvet gooseberries (1 quart)- the bushes are very vigorous and the bushes are pretty productive, so I have far more of them than the other varieties. I let them hang for a while and the darkest are still only sweet-tart, with the rest being sour. I can see myself eating a big bowl of Hinnomaki Reds, Poorman, or Jeanne but I don’t really want that many of these. Maybe I’ll jam them…

3.) Blackdown and Laxton’s Giant black currants. Even after disastrously wasting 10 quarts during a botched jam-making adventure I may still be able to get enough to make a small batch of black currant jam. Both of these bushes seem to be later than the other varieties. They also ripen a bit unevenly, so I’m going to be applying a number of pickings. Between them and the few left on the other bushes, I think I can get 2-4 quarts total which should be enough for a small batch.

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Hey Bob (and anyone) what do you think the best black currant for jam is? I’m thinking of one or two bushes for that purpose.

If you aren’t going to eat them fresh (and I don’t see why you would :anguished: ), then Consort is the way to go, at least among the 5 varieties I have tried. Among the others, Blackdown and Minaj Smyreu are OK and Laxton’s Giant and Goliath are under-performers.

If you are only getting one or two bushes, it is even more important to get a productive one. In year 4, the Consort gave me a bit over 2 quarts and produced over 4 quarts this year (year #5). Nothing else has produced more than half as much.

I have 5 more that I just added this year- Titania, Ben Lomond, Ben Sarek, Black Reward, and Strata.

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Thanks, Bob. I think I can find a nice spot for 2 Consorts.

You may want to get a Consort and something else (maybe Minaj, which is Scott’s favorite and produced pretty well this year at just under 2 quarts) for cross pollination. I’m not sure if Consort is self-pollinating, as some black currants are not (as this article mentions).

Blueberry cobbler.

Actually found a ripe Flavor Supreme pluots on the ground. What happened was that it had a PC inside it which must have sped up its ripening. Excellent tasting, but small and there was bad spot around the pit (PC)… oh well… The rest of the FS are coloring nicely.

Pluot or PC. I know, it was a silly joke. Bill

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Good one!!

All i can say is i need to spray more…i’ve got major infestation.

Nice publication, thanks for the link. I am debating whether the spot I’m struggling to jimmy that plum into wouldn’t be better for currants. In which case I may just get a few plums and containerize…space and sun are just so tight. A Consort and a Minaj would fit perfectly there.

Ben Serak

If that does well by you Mrs. G, that’s one for me to consider too.

Is Ben Sarek (I think that is the more common spelling) particularly good from a productivity standpoint or is it some other quality (large fruit, easy to pick, even ripening, etc)?

Ben Sarek could be a good one for Brethil, as it is supposed to be quite compact (3’ tall).