The abundance of wild growing produce is thrilling to us, and something I’d quite forgotten about. I had great fun as a child picking wild blackberries and returning home with a black tongue, pips in my teeth and nails, turning my haul over to my mum or grandma and looking forward to blackberry and apple crumble. But this is something else! We now carry bottles and baskets with us as we walk the dogs and to return home with so much ingestible booty seems sinful. But it’s quite the opposite, it’s nature providing for the winter months ahead and actually quite logical but still - it feels so generous!
We have come to the end of the blackberry season and the freezer is full of them waiting to be added to more crumbles and fools, whilst our homemade blackberry jam is served at breakfast every morning. And Alex has made blackberry vodka! This concoction needs to infuse for three or four months before it's ready to make its festive appearance at Christmas. Can’t wait.We have now moved on to figs, almonds, quince, grapes, apples, peaches, pomegranates, mushrooms and apricots; following later will be the olive harvest. We are about to attempt an adventurous fig and almond jam; I am consulting recipes for poaching quince; all the other fruits can be eaten straight off the branch! There are even fresh water springs dotted around the landscape dispensing pure mineral water that is delicious, refreshing, locally famous and perfectly free.
It’s fabulous French fecundity and we love it. It’s also a robust reminder that autumn is around the corner and inevitably the long, long days and blazing sunshine of summer will wane – actually, mother nature has already hit the dimmer switch – but we don’t really care. Our pantry is full, our jam is sweet, we have nuts to crack, vodka to look forward to and the Vendanges (the grape harvest for this year’s wine) is in full flow. La vie en rose indeed.
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