Summer Pudding

 Yes! Summer is here. We've waited long enough for it and I'm definitely not complaining.  It has been up in the 90s for a couple of weeks or more and the fruit and veggies are loving it.  These lovely Blackcurrants had a good, cold Winter to develop fruiting buds, and now some bright, warm weather to ripen the fruit.

 You can make Summer Pudding with any soft fruit you like in any proportion.  Here I found a few ripe Loganberries as well.

 Line a pudding bowl or a deep dish with sliced white bread.

 Heat the fruit in a microwave with some sugar, but  NO WATER.  There will be plenty of juice.  Just about 3 minutes until the fruit is soft and the sugar has disolved.   Pour the fruit and juice into the breaded bowl and make a lid with another slice of bread.  Weight the top down with a plate and something heavy. Leave in the fridge for 24 hours.  Don't worry if you think it is too wet, the bread will absorb most of the juice, and the starch will thicken the rest of the juice.   More to follow tomorrow.

 You may remember that I left some of my Winter leeks to go to flower, well the bees are all over them at the moment.  This flower head consists of many hundreds of separate little flowers, so the bees don't have to go far to find the next flower.  Bees and butterflies are loving this.

In fact, a couple of the leek flowers are developing PIPS.  Yes PIPS!  These are little leek seedlings that can be potted up and grown on for next years' crop.  Yum!