Abundance Wimbledon Newsletter
29 July 2019
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Welcome to Abundance Wimbledon! For new members - we warmly welcome you to this group and for our continuing members, here's hoping for a great season of picking, jam and chutney making and of course a successful Fruit Day on September 14! This fortnight's update is below so happy reading.
Topics this fortnight include:
- How you can support Abundance Wimbledon
- Fruit picking so far
- Jam and Chutney making
- Call out for local home grown fruit and vegetables - do you have any spare?
- Blackberries are ripening fast
- June Masterclass update
- Plants for Fruit Day (Sept 14 2019)
- Jam Jars and Jam Makers
- A recipe for Spiced Apple Jelly
- Social Media Update
- Our Next Newsletter
How you can support Abundance Wimbledon
- Plants for Fruit Day;
- Jam jars (Thanks Bridget for your recent donation);
- Fruit pickers;
- Jam, chutney, liqueur and cordial makers;
- Delivery people (to deliver fruit to local charities);
- Helpers for Fruit Day on Sat Sept 14 at St Marks Church, Wimbledon
Fruit Picking so far
Well done and thanks to to Gilli & Brian, Susanna, Ron, June and Joyce for picking 107 kilos fruit last week! Thanks to Gilli and her friend for the amazing crop of 72 kilos of apples - Gilli had popped round to a friend as she was having a plant sale for charity. Apparently her tree was so laden and one branch snapped off and these on the ground were the result (top left photo below). The top right photo shows how many apples are still left on the tree, A bumper crop this year I think!
The bottom two photos are some of the plum pickings – damsons and golden plums. These have already been made into jams.
Jam and Chutney making
Sue, Mandy and Di had a busy day on Sunday, making 50 jars of rhubarb and plum jams in various ways in Sue’s home kitchen. Of the 35 kilos of plums picked, there are 8 kilos of ripe Victoria Plums and 8 kilos of green Victoria Plums available to be made into jams and chutneys.
Jil has made 7 jars of cherry plum jam and 6 jars of green plum jam, and Robin has made 6 jars of cherry plum jam, 6 jars of golden plum jam and 3 spicy plum chutneys. All will be available at the Fruit Day on 14 September.
Call out for home grown local fruit and vegetables - do you have any spare?
Tomatoes, courgettes and any vegetables ripe for chutneys are on our current list of vegetables to source. Do you have any spare from your home or allotment? If you do, please contact us at [email protected] and we can either arrange someone to come and pick with you or collect any excess from you.
Blackberries are ripening fast
... so if you have any spare time and are interested in wandering out to any of the well known sites for blackberries and picking some for making into jams, please let us know. If you see any sites are well stocked, please let us know so we can send some fruit pickers out to ensure none go to waste. We’re ready to cook!
*just email us at [email protected] when you have your picked blackberries ready
June Masterclasses Update
In mid-June Sue and Rebecca hosted three masterclasses for:
- Jams and Jellies
- Chutneys
- Cordials and Liqueurs
..and one of the attendees, Nicola, did a great blog post on her day for the Haydons Road North Community Site.
Thanks to Sue and Rebecca for these fantastic masterclasses!
Plants for Fruit Day
Last year, the plant stall at Fruit Day sold a range of plants, mostly food related. We’d really appreciate donations of plants, especially fruit, herbs and other edible plants. So keep us in mind if you have too many of something, are planting up runners or sowing winter crops ... and please put in a few extra to donate to our stall!
Jam Jars and Jam Makers
All sorts of jams, jellies and chutneys are appreciated - and unusual recipes are particularly popular at Fruit Day. We are happy to pay for sugar and other ingredients if you are making a batch of jam especially for Abundance.
Our jam-makers are running out of jars! Please do get in touch if you have jars suitable for jams, jellies and potted fruit - ideally clean jars, with lids, but with labels removed (either a few runs in the dishwasher or some eucalyptus oil will get rid of the labels).
Also if you can help with jam or chutney making, that would be very welcome. We can usually supply the fruit - all we ask is that you donate a few jars of jam for selling at
A recipe for Spiced Apple Jelly
Perfect timing that Susanna sent us this recipe, delicious on toast and probably good with savoury food too. With the high numbers of apples available, this would be a perfect one for you to cook up!
- 1.5kg apples - cookers or eaters, (unripe fallers can be used) chopped but not peeled or cored. Add 1-2 cinnamon sticks and 2-3 star anise, just cover with water, bring to boil, and simmer until apples are soft.
- Strain through a jelly bag 2-3 hours or over night
- Measure liquid and allow 450g of jam/preserving sugar for each 600ml of liquid. Boil liquid and sugar until setting point reached.
- Add 1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla essence (optional) and about 150ml calvados before potting
Social Media Update
As you can see from the top of the newsletter, we have ramped up our social media presence. To keep up to date with all the latest news (which we will summarise in the newsletter). Just another way for us all to stay in touch!
Like us on Facebook ¦ Follow us on Twitter
Our next newsletter
Keep an eye out for our next newsletter, where we will have some great photos and information from Alison about her bees and honey production (always a best seller on Fruit day), an update on what has been picked, cooked and bottled and of course more information about Abundance Wimbledon as we work towards our fabulous annual Fruit Day – this year on Saturday September 14, 11am – 2.30pm at St Mark’s Church, Wimbledon.
** To get in touch about any of the above, please just reply to this email **
Best wishes from us all
Juliet and the team at ABUNDANCE WIMBLEDON
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