Seeing the two together, I could not resist trying this classic combination for peaches and raspberries. It reminds me of the popular Peach Melba, where traditionally, poached peaches are served with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce. This popular dessert was created by Escoffier in 1892 for the opera singer Nellie Melba. What a combination and what a triumph that after all these years we still use the flavour profile and refer to it, so it’s never gone out of fashion!

I have used the flavour combination to create a cordial that will be used in various drinks here at the British Larder. We will offer two versions, the first is a non-alcoholic posh pop served in a wine glass with plenty of ice and topped up with soda water to make a divine Peach Melba Spritzer (I think Nellie Melba would definitely approve!), and the other is our seasonal twist on a classic Tom Collins, called the Peach Melba Collins.

As the season is producing an abundance of superb seasonal fresh fruits I tend to get a bit carried away, buying more than I can actually use, and for that reason I freeze the raspberries and peaches (stoned and sliced) to prevent them from turning mouldy before I get to use them.

For this recipe, frozen raspberries will work just as well as fresh ones. The secret to the success of this recipe is that you must ensure the fruits are very ripe for maximum flavour impact.

This recipe does make quite a bit, so my top tip is to freeze it in smaller quantities so you can enjoy this delicious cordial for even longer.

I have been out in force armed with bags and scissors when walking the dogs. I choose the flowers that are higher up in the trees and further into the woods away from any road pollution. It’s very important that you do wash the flowers well, and if you like, you can put a bit of salt and a few drops of Milton sterilising fluid in the cold water when washing them to remove any unwanted wildlife.

I make large quantities of this cordial, then freeze it in smaller quantities in freezer bags and defrost as needed. This way I extend the life and can enjoy this refreshing drink for most of the summer.

Enjoy!

Frankly any tired looking fruits would have done the job. However Mr.P detests bananas and he gets seriously upset when he buys a smoothie on the high street but they all contain bananas even though there is no clue in the name but is hidden in the smallest writing on the back. Hence the challenge is to use something other than bananas to give body to my smoothie.

So I need to make a smoothie with the leftover fruits lying  in the fruit basket. The main ingredients, that make a delicious slow burning and filling smoothie, are the oats, natural yoghurt and fresh ginger. I added a bit of natural sweetener to make it appetising, a pinch of spice for flavour and juice to bring it all together.

Ginger is good for the digestion, oats is slow burning which provides energy for longer and along with the fibre it’s perhaps the most useful ingredient in this recipe. The honey or maple syrup are both natural sweeteners which provide instant energy and flavour. I have chosen to spice my smoothie up with a pinch of ground cinnamon, you can choose your own:- nutmeg, ground cloves or even ground ginger would be equally delicious.

The natural yoghurt adds the dairy element to my smoothie, it gives this drink a bit of body and the illusion of a creamy texture without the nasty consequences.

I enjoy this smoothie in the morning for breakfast as it gives me a healthy slow burning kick start for a busy day ahead. It would also be perfect for a late afternoon snack just when your mind starts to wonder in the direction of the cookie jar and your energy levels are low.

The best part of making this smoothie is that I used ingredients that I had to hand, I did not have to purchase anything ,  I just  used the old tired looking fruit. I hope you feel inspired to make your own rescue remedy to conquer the Christmas gremlins!

I have a love hate relationship with my career, someday’s I just want to give it up and on others I’m seriously grateful for the opportunity to meet so many wonderful and skilful people. I met Craig Edney from Hydromel at a cocktail party last weekend and is the man in the know when it comes to making cocktails. Craig made me one of his signature cocktails using this spiced rum and I enjoyed it so much that it inspired me to make my own special drink, perfect to celebrate Christmas.

I heated apple juice,  infused with cloves, orange, cinnamon, star anise and added a good helping of Morgan’s Spiced Caribbean Rum. For the apple snow I made a foam, also known as espuma, using a cream whipper. I mixed the ingredients together and once aerated the apple snow looks amazing floating on top of the warm apple rum.

This drink is not only full of festive cheer but also great fun and will be a great way to kick a bit of spirit into Christmas day.

The Britihs Larder wishes everyone a very festive and merry Christmas!

I always wanted to try and recreate the flavour of good old Ribena and thought that this was my chance. After de-stalking, cleaning and boiling the fruit I nearly ended up with a jelly. Blackcurrants are packed with natural pectin and therefore set naturally and for that reason blackcurrants are a good choice of fruit for jam making.

The colour of this home made cordial is magnificent, almost electric mauve but be careful as any splashes will stain.

It is ideal for the annual village fete, fill small bottles and hand them out with tiny straws. It makes a pretty picture and make little people very happy.

I like my blackcurrant drink diluted with carbonated water, however if you prefer use ice cold lemonade.

When mum announced that she will be visiting I asked if she could bring my grandmothers recipe book. It caused a bit of a stir amongst some of the relatives, but  mum brought the book  however she will be taking it back when she returns. We were paging through Grannies book and amongst the tears there was a lot of laughter as we came across some of the most bizarre recipes you could possibly want in one’s collection. From recipes to make soap, home made golden syrup all the way through to ginger beer, adjar, spiced sausage, tripe, brawn and many more interesting delights. I cannot criticise anyone for making spelling or grammatical mistakes but my Granny’s book has some of the strangest references. You have to have a vivid imagination to follow some of the recipes or just simply amend it as you go along.

When I roasted the gooseberries for Gills cheesecake, I tossed the gooseberries with sugar and ground ginger,  the taste was lovely and it reminded me of ginger ale. Mum paged through Grannies book and found three recipes for ginger beer. One was unusable as it calls for crystals, we are still wondering what kind of crystals she’s referring to. We settled for the third one, after a bit of engineering,I ended up with a cordial for this wonderful gooseberry ginger ale.

I will be making this recipe for many years to come, remembering this glorious Sunday afternoon in the kitchen with mum, grannies recipe book and the gooseberries.

It’s a terrific recipe even if I have to say so myself, refreshing when let down with sparkling water and a couple of ice cubes.

As we live in a small village there are a few public foot paths near by. Between the heavy rain showers we  ventured out to forage for healthy fresh elderflowers. The season is short and as we all know  theyonly bloom once a year between end of May to the second week of June. As we were picking the elderflowers we were smelling  and nibbling them. We agreed that it smells and tastes like green almonds. My brain started to work over time and I was day dreaming about all the different dishes that I could make. As it smelt of almonds I thought it would make a pretty cool almond milk and elderflower panacotta or it would be a wonderful flavour addition to a gooseberry and elderflower chutney spiked with slithers of almonds.

After all the day dreaming I was pretty pleased that we have managed to harvest our crop for this year, so it was time to head home to make my precious batch of elderflower cordial for this season.

I make a batch each year and it normally lasts pretty well. It’s a saviour when I need to make a special dessert or serve a luscious drink on a hot summers day.

As we were in elderflower heaven we ended up making a few different dishes that will feature later on this month. We made elderflower tempura to garnish a lovely elderflower and English wine jelly, it’s lovely and slightly different.

Matthew Fort writes about his grandmothers elderflower champagne which sounds absolutely fantastic and I shall have a go at making this next year as I have already made cordial for this year.

Hurry and go elderflower foraging soon before it’s too late.

I know that they are not native to Britain but they are in season in Spain at the moment and you can find them at fruit and vegetable markets around Britain.

I actually grew up with loquats, so the sight of them took me back to my childhood. The neighbours two doors down had a huge loquat tree in their back yard. As a child when my friends came around we would walk past this house on our way to the clay pit behind the grave yard. We fell every time into the trap of temptation by climbing over the fence to shin up this big loquat tree to harvest these wonderful bursts of summer. Well I did get in trouble when I got home, first of all because my clothes would be covered in clay and secondly the lady who owned the loquat tree complained to my father. I have a giggle about this now as I put the experience down to a part of growing up and I’m blessed with these wonderful memories. Why do fruits that are “stolen” always taste sweet? A question that baffles the mind.

Loquats bruise fairly quickly and they are at their best when eaten very ripe, this might mean that they would not look too pretty. Most of us would have thrown them in the compost heap at this stage but I thought I should savour the wonderful sweet scented taste by making this Iced tea smoothie. The loquats have a distinct earthy flavour and for that reason it works well with Assam tea. I freeze the loquats, they act as the ice cubes and then Iwhizz them together with the tea that I make with cold water. Infusing the tea with cold water does take slightly longer but you get a very pure and clean taste of the tea. Boiling hot water normally burns the delicate tea leaves and for that reason I like to soak the tea in cold water when making cold tea drinks.

I enjoy this smoothie on a lazy sunny afternoon but if you would like to enjoy it for breakfast blend in a tablespoon of raw oats as this will give you added slow burning energy.

I dunk the chocolate in cup of hot milk, stir and enjoy a cup of unbelievably naughty but nice hot chocolate.

Vary the flavours and allow your guest to choose their favourite. Flavours such as cinnamon, cloves, orange, star anise and basically anything you fancy will work pretty well. I choose to use bitter dark chocolate but milk chocolate work just as well.

Wrap them in various different coloured parchment papers and give them to friends and family as a gift. They are guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face.

I found Ramon Morato’s book called Chocolate inspirational for two reasons, his technical explanations and flavour combinations are both outstanding!

My mum was kind enough to tell me about her best friends recipe for a drink that she makes to cure the flu.

‘Aunt’ Elises’ advice was to heat ginger beer mixed with two disprins, a shot of brandy and a squeeze of lemon.

I managed to drag myself out of the house to get the ingredients and I felt much better doing so.

It did tinker with the recipe. I made a cordial infused with the tamarind, vanilla, ginger and lime. When I was ready for my potion I heated the ginger beer, stirred in some of the cordial to taste and served it up with freshly sliced ginger, mint and lime. It worked a treat; the fresh ginger helped clear my head and the mint unblocked my nose.

I have also discovered Fentimans Botanically Brewed Traditional Ginger Beer. I’m not a great ginger beer drinker but love the fact that these guy’s are making the ginger beer in England to the traditional methods of fermenting chinese ginger roots. This gives the ginger beer a real burn-in-the-throat ginger kick. So I have chosen this particular ginger beer as I knew it would provide an added element in making this drink and beating the flu.