Lavender Honey Ice Cream

I know, I know….. it’s nearly December and the wrong time of year for ice cream but as I perused the garden yesterday there were still a couple of dozen lavender heads resiliently hanging on and I thought that this would be a lovely one to pop in the freezer and have with warm mince pies over Christmas.

Lavender Honey Ice Cream is simply delicious. It is just like eating a sultry summer’s day- fragrant and heady. Try and use English lavender rather than French because the latter has a much higher camphor level and is therefore more astringent and harsher. English lavender is regarded as superior for culinary purposes with a softer sweeter flavour. You can substitute with dried lavender but the flavour is just not the same.

We like all our recipes to be as natural and organic as possible but if you’d like your lavender  honey ice cream to have a lavender hue then just add a very small quantity of a mixture of red and blue natural food colouring. Mix on the edge of a saucer first to get a natural looking shade.

Ingredients for lavender honey ice cream

475 mls of full fat milk

6/8 sprigs of fresh organic culinary lavender (you can buy it from us)

70 ml of runny honey (use a really good quality one – you will taste the difference)

5 large egg yolks

60 grms of caster sugar

240 mls of double cream

1/8 pod of vanilla with the seeds scraped out.

1 teaspoon of honey and 1 sprig of lavender to garnish.

In a heavy bottom saucepan, combine the milk, vanilla and the honey. Drop in six sprigs of the lavender and bring to a very gentle boil.

Then remove from the stove and allow to cool down for about 10 minutes. Taste it to see how strong the lavender flavour is. Remember that when the ice cream is frozen the flavour will be reduced quite considerably so it need to be reasonably strong at this point.

If the flavour is very subtle then you might need to add the extra couple of sprigs of lavender and bring the whole lot back to the boil – gently – again. Once you are happy with the flavour then fish out the fresh lavender.

In a bowl whisk the sugar and egg yolks until the mixture is pale and creamy in colour. Gradually stir the mixture into the milk/honey combination in the pan and cook over a gentle heat, continuously stirring, until the custard mixture is thick enough to coat the back of your wooden spoon.

Take off the heat and stir in the double cream. Allow to cool and strain the mixture through a sieve before adding to an ice cream machine. If you don’t have an ice cream maker then pour into a tupperwear container and pop into the freezer. Every couple of hours remove from the freezer and thoroughly stir to prevent ice crystals forming. As with most homemade ice creams you might need to take it out of the fridge to allow it to soften a little before serving.

Serve with a drizzle of honey and lavender flowers.

This makes just under a litre of ice cream.

Lavender Honey Ice Cream

Edible Christmas Wreath

Making Edible Wreathes. How to make Christmas Wreathes from Sprouts, Fruit, Nuts and Garlic.

SPROUT WREATH

I made this edible Christmas wreath for lovely Mandy who works for me. Mandy has a bit of a sprout fetish and starts eating them obsessively from the moment they hit the shops in November so this was her idea of heaven.

Fortunately we work in quite a large field!

If you’d like to make one you will need the following:

1 x 12 inch wire wreath ring

1 roll of florist binding wire

approx 50 florist stub wires

(all the above available online)

a few good handfuls of straw or hay
(but damp scrunched up newspaper would do!)

a large bag of chillies

approximately 4 kilos of sprouts

a bow

Start by peeling the outer layers from the sprouts and then loop them onto the stub wires approximately 4 at a time so they look like mini kebabs.

Wrap a good layer of straw or hay around your wire wreath base and secure by wrapping  around and around with the florist’s wire. Secure the florist wire to the metal base at the start and finish to stop it coming undone.

Then start to wrap your stub wires around the wreath base so that the sprouts form a solid mass at the front of the wreath and twist the two ends of the wire at the back to secure in place.

Continue all the way around the wreath until it is completely covered. You might need to include the odd wire with just two on here and there to ensure an even coverage as the outside of the ring is obviously wider than the inside but they are quite malleable. Using the smaller sprouts on the inside of the wreath and the larger ones on the outside also helps with this.

At this point pick up the wreath with the sprouts facing you and turn it slowly around clockwise to see which way is up. There will definitely be a point at which it looks right. Feel free to gently squish and squeeze it to get the shape correct. This is very important. When you are happy with which way is the top then turn it over and attach a hanging wire by looping a triple strand of wire across from one side of the metal wreath frame to the other about 1/3rd down. Keep it slightly slack just like with a picture wire so that when it is hung the wire doesn’t show across the central hole.

Next pair up chillies and hook them  either individually or in pairs through the end of a stub wire. Poke the other end of the wire down between the gaps between the sprouts so that it goes all the way through the wreath to the reverse side and then just fold over.

Attach a ready made bow either at the top or bottom of the wreath (as takes your fancy), or make a nice bow from some wired florist ribbon. Attach the bow to a hooked stub wire, just like with the chillies and poke through the base before folding around the back to secure.

Hang on a hook and enjoy!

Varitations on a theme. 

ROSEMARY, ORANGE AND APPLE WREATH

You can also make this wreath with rosemary, oranges and apples using exactly the same method except that you just wire on the rosemary to the base and then use individual stub wires to attach the oranges and apples. String the apples and oranges individually about 1/3 of the way through on a stub wire and fold the wire over tight to secure (remember they are heavy when they hang so they need to be secure). Push the other end of the wire through the wreath and fold back on itself to secure.

When all the fruit is secure hold up to see which way up looks best and then add your bow.

NUTS WREATH

Making a wreath from nuts is time consuming but worthwhile as it will last for years if it is kept dry – i.e. in a protected porch.

Follow the method above up to the stage of having your wire base covered in straw. Wrap around with cling film to secure the straw in place and then cover with black industrial tape so the the background is black.

Choose whatever nuts you prefer and secure them to the base with a glue gun. The overall finish is neater if you complete the outside edge and the inside edge with a ring of identical nuts (we used walnuts as a friend brings them back from their house in France for me) and infill with a selection of others. Alternatively you could use all the same variety of nuts.

GARLIC CHRISTMAS WREATH

Either of the above methods can be used to make a garlic wreath but the latter, using the glue gun, is better as piecing the bulbs with the stubbing wires (the first method) makes for a very smelly wreath – perhaps better suited for halloween than Christmas. Using a glue gun to secure them means that after Christmas you can carefully remove the inner cloves and make some lovely pickled garlic or even just hang the wreath in the kitchen for use.

Which is your favourite?

 

Edible Christmas Wreath

Waitrose Weekend Article on Edible Flowers and Maddocks Farm Organics.

It was lovely to meet Rick Lyons from Waitrose Weekend magazine when I talked about the importance of organic flowers, edible flowers, British flowers and bees (!) at the Soil Association Annual Conference a few weeks back. I was delighted when he contacted me to write this article. Waitrose is at the forefront of supermarkets for it’s support of organic, GM free and bee friendly products and also sells seasonal British flowers.

Thank you also to Neil White for the stunning photograph which I adore.

Waitrose Weekend Article on Edible Flowers and Maddocks Farm Organics.

Maddocks Farm Organics" edible flowers featured in BRIDES magazine. Budding Trends!

Maddocks Farm Organics’ edible flowers are featured in the Nov/Dec issue of BRIDES magazine under ‘Budding Trends’.

We were delighted  when BRIDES magazine got in touch with us during the summer to discuss a feature page which looked at all the ways in which edible flowers can be used during a wedding other than just on the wedding cake.

The article features images from our joint project with The Ice Box for floral ice cubes. (The Icebox will set our edible flowers into cubes and send them anywhere around the country for your wedding  – if you don’t want to make your own).

The article also looked at flowers for cocktails and flowers for decorating cheeses and cheesecakes. It showed some flower salads – ours have won more than one Soil Association award!

It also looked at wedding favours and it was nice to see Jill from Meadowsweet’s floral chocolates featured as well as some floral marshmallows. We use MMYC to make our marshmallows and lovely Lindsay kindly shared here recipe on our blog but her’s are so good and such good value that it saves a lot of faff and stickiness to buy them from her.

Lovely article. Thank you BRIDES!

 

Maddocks Farm Organics" edible flowers featured in BRIDES magazine. Budding Trends!

Rose Petal Marshmallows

Floral Marshmallows made by My Mummys Yummy Cupcakes using Maddocks Farm Organic Rose Petals.

The recipe for floral marshmallows here uses our organic red rose petals but any edible flowers could be substituted as you wish. Having said that, the more fragrant the petals then the more intense the flavour. Other suggestions might  be lavender or geranium. Lovely Lindsay from My Mummys Yummy Cupcakes kindly shared the recipe.

 

 

 

 

Floral Marshmallows

(Adapted from a Martha Stewart’s Vanilla Marshmallow recipe) so apologies for the american weights

Rose Petals

1 1/2 cups of sugar

Layer the sugar and petals together (flavouring the sugar whilst keeping the roses petals whole) and leaving aside some petals for sprinkling over the mallow mix before it sets.

Leave to one side overnight for the flavours to infuse.

2 1/2 tbps unflavoured Gelatin Powder (Dr Otker is fine)

1 cup of golden syrup or honey

Pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla paste

Corn flour for sprinkling

Method

First take the petals out of the sugar mix (don’t worry if a few get missed).

Combine the infused sugar, golden syrup, salt & 1/2 cup water in a small heavy saucepan. Place the pan over a low heat and stir well until the sugar has dissolved. Wash down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to dissolve the sugar crystals.

Once dissolved, clip a sugar thermometer and raise the heat to high. Cook the syrup without stirring until it reaches 244 degrees (firm-ball stage). Immediately remove pan from the heat.

With a mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully pour the syrup into the softened gelatine. Increase the speed to high; beat until the mixture is very thick and white and has almost tripled in volume. This will take about 15 minutes. Add the vanilla paste and beat to incorporate.

Generously dust an 8-12 inch baking pan with corn flour. Pour marshmallow mixture into the pan. Wet your hands and pat it smooth. Tear the remaining petals & sprinkle over the top of the marshmallow. Dust with more corn flour. Let it set overnight, uncovered, to dry out. Turn out onto a board which has also been generously sprinkled with corn flour. Cut the marshmallows with a hot dry knife into 1 1/2 inch squares and dust with more corn flour to coat the cut sides of the marshmallows to prevent them becoming sticky.

Pop them in an airtight container to let the flavours penetrate even more. These will last for up to 10 days if kept in a fridge.

Rose Petal Marshmallows

Maddocks Farm Organics featured in West Country Wedding Food Trends.

Maddocks Farm Organics was delighted to be featured as one of the West Country’s Finest Food Producers in this latest trends for weddings guide.

This lovely wedding supplement, which featured Emily Harmston Cakes wonderful cake using our edible flowers, went out with issues of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset Life so will hopefully bring our lovely flowers to the attention of some lovely brides for 2015.

So pleased!

Maddocks Farm Organics featured in West Country Wedding Food Trends.

Dahlia Tarté Tartin

Dahlia & Fig Tarté Tartin

Back in the day, when I was just a wee slip of a girl & between what my dad would describe as ‘proper’ jobs I worked for few months cooking in a small bistro behind Harrods and one of the staples of the menu was a Tarté Tartin and I’ve been rather partial to it ever since.

Usually made with apple I decided to adapt the recipe to use up some figs and given the fact that I rarely pass up an opportunity to shoe horn edible flowers into every dish I added some dahlia petals to this.  

Dahlias have a robust chicory like flavour which works exceptionally well with the sweet caramel figs.

Ingredients

I packed all butter puff pastry (you can make your own but if you have that much spare time then it would be much better spent giving me a hand with some weeding!).

5 large ripe figs

85 grms of flower sugar (or caster if you haven’t got any)

80 grms of unsalted butter

1 large organic dahlia head

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºF/160ºC/Gas 6

Roll out the puff pastry to approximately 3mm thick and prick with a fork all over to ensure it rises evenly.

Put a large skillet on the stove (or a pan which has an oven proof handle and a thick bottom) and melt the butter. Pour off a tablespoon or so of melted butter into a cup and put to one side.

Add the sugar to the pan and over a medium heat cook the sugar and butter until it caramelises to a sticky brown consistency. It should be custard sort of consistency. Too runny and you will have a soggy bottom. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

Cut the figs in half and arrange them with the dahlia petals in an attractive manner face down into the caramel. Remember that the tart will be served upside down so the bottom needs to be attractive rather than the top. Use the remaining tablespoon of melted butter to brush the tops of the figs.

Cut out a pastry circle to the same size as the skillet and tuck the edges of the pastry firmly down the sides of the dish. Use a knife to make a couple of slits to let the steam escape.

Cook in the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes until the puff pastry is risen and a lovely golden colour.

Take it out of the oven and allow to sit for about 25 minutes and then carefully invert onto a plate and serve warm perhaps with a good quality vanilla ice cream.

Dahlia Tarté Tartin

Rose Petal Honey

Rose Petal Honey

The simplest of recipes for the most delicious product. This honey encapsulates the fragrances of summer and preserves them in a jar long into winter.

Well certainly for as long as you can keep your sticky fingers off it!

Ingredients

4 Roses

1 jar of the best honey you can buy*.

 

First take 4 roses.

They must be organic and unsprayed. By all means use those from your garden as long as they’ve not been treated with anything for blackspot or given a generic rose fertiliser. Do not use roses from supermarkets, garden centres or florists as they contain a cocktail of herbicides, insecticides and fertilisers none of which are approved for human consumption and could make you ill. It stands to reason but the more perfumed the roses then the more fragrant the honey will be. You can buy organic roses from us here.

Break the rose down into petals and make sure that any pollen beetles or other wildlife have scurried off to find themselves a new home – although they will struggle to find a more beautiful one.

Tip your jar of honey into a small mixing bowl and add the rose petals. Gentle stir to ensure that all surfaces of the petals are covered.

 

The sticky rose mixture can then be returned to a larger jar and sealed or the bowl can be covered in cling film.  Pop out of harms way. There is no need to refrigerate.

Keep an eye on it for the next couple of weeks and poke any rose petals that look as thought they are emerging back down into the honey.    (This is best done with a clean finger for quality control purposes).  

After two weeks strain the petals out of the honey using a sieve and give a final press with the back of a spoon to ensure the last remnants of honey are removed. (This sticky rosy mess is particular lovely in a hot toddy if you are feeling a little under the weather or even on toast- waste not want not!).

Now the big question is what to do with your rose flavoured honey? The possibilities are endless so I would suggest that whilst you are waiting for your honey to infuse you might like to invest in Hattie Ellis’ new book called Spoonfuls of Honey which has over 80 fabulous honey based recipes in it.

 

 

 

*A lot of commercial cheap honey that you buy in the supermarkets nowadays is actually not honey at all but a synthesised syrup product so it is worth buying a decent honey. Manuka is expensive but in terms of health benefits is the Rolls Royce of honey. Alternatively buy honey from a local producer if you can. If this honey is produced within a very few miles of you then it is believed to be greatly beneficial in helping again hay fever and other respiratory ailments. Local bee keepers can be found via the British Beekeepers Association.

2% of any profits generated at www.maddocksfarmorganics.co.uk are invested into Bee Conservation.

Rose Petal Honey

Rose Petal Syrup.

How to make Rose Petal Syrup

Rose Petal Syrup is incredibly easy to make and tastes simply wonderful.

I generally use white sugar for making my floral syrups but my lovely friend Margie from MadebyMargie gave me the following recipe which is far superior.

Recipe directly from Margie’s blog

I’ve used Agave instead of white sugar because it’s much better for you…and as an extra bonus, it’s even easier than using sugar!

To make the syrup:
equal quantities of Agave and water, 1 cup of each

3 roses, make sure they are organic and free from insecticides…order yours from Maddocks Farm Organics to get the most beautiful ones around.

Give your roses a little rinse and then add all three ingredients to a saucepan.  

Simmer gently for about 15 minutes, by which time it will look like this:

Turn off the heat and allow to cool. The longer you leave the rose petals in, the more intense the flavour of your syrup will be. After a couple of hours (or even overnight), strain the petals out and pop your syrup in a container where it will live happily in the fridge for a month or so.

This syrup is marvellous for drizzling over cakes and even more delicious splashed into a whole range of summer cocktails. How about with champagne?

Rose Petal Syrup.

Nasturtium Pesto.

Nasturtium Pesto.

We make a whole host of different pestos at different times of the year here and use them with everything from pasta, new potatoes, on canapés, swirled on soup or simply smeared on a hunk on bread.

This particular nasturtium pesto is lovely using either just leaves, leaves and flowers or just the flowers. Here we’ve used red pesto flowers with charcoal biscuits and goat cheese as a canapé.

Ingredients

100 grms of pine nuts (or walnuts or almonds or any nuts that take your fancy)

100grms of good quality parmesan cheese – grated (the best you can get but not pre grated)

200 mlx of light olive oil

2 large handfuls of either nasturtium leaves or flowers or a mixture of both depending upon what colour you’d like your pesto. You can also mix in watercress, rocket, basil or any other scrummy greens.

If you are not adding wild garlic then add a couple of cloves of garlic.

Pinch of sea salt and black pepper to season.

Roughly chop the green by hand until they are quite fine. Grate the parmesan and blitz with the remaining ingredients before thinning with the olive oil.

It it tastes a little claggy (technical term there!) the just add a hint of lemon juice or white wine vinegar to thin.

 

Yum!

The nasturtium pesto went down very well with a hunk of nasturtium bread when The One Show came to film.

 

Nasturtium Pesto.

Nasturtium and pumpkin seed bread.

The recipe for this lovely bread comes from Frances Bissell’s new book, The Scented Baker which is available to buy from our website from next week – click here. Advance orders are being taken now. We were honoured that Frances chose Maddocks Farm Organics as her recommended source of edible flowers in her new book and delighted when we were approached to try some of her recipes in advance. What I love about Frances’ approach to edible flowers is that she uses them in recipes rather than just as a garnish on the side. This bread contains both nasturtium flowers and seeds and is fabulous.   Makes a 1kg/2lb loaf 500grms/1lb strong white flour 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons fast action yeast 2 tablespoons olive oil 300ml/1/2pint of warm water 75grms/3 oz pumpkin seeds 10 nasturtium flowers (I added more as I love to see the bright flecks through the bread) 1 tablespoon fresh nasturtium seeds, chopped Mix all the dry ingredients into a bowl, make a well in the middle and pour in the oil and the water. Draw the flour into the centre and mix well until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Once the flour and liquids are combined, quickly work in the petals and seeds. (If you want the petals to look large and more complete the add them towards the end of the kneading process so they don’t break up so much). Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead it for five minutes. Shape the dough and put it into a lightly greased 1kg/2lb loaf tin. Cover loosely with lightly oiled greased cling film and let it rise in a moderately warm place for about an hour, by which time it should have doubled in size. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 200 degree c/400degree F/gas mark 6. Turn the loaf onto a wire rack and cool completely before slicing – if you can bear to wait.  You can order a box of nasturtium flowers from us here. If you make a note on your order, I am happy to throw in a tablespoon of nasturtium seeds for free. (We are nothing if not generous here!!) You can order Frances’ Book here.

Nasturtium and pumpkin seed bread.