Food for free

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Sunday – a bright crisp morning – not a cloud in the sky! Wonderful for picking quinces!

In Cambridge, quince tress abound in unusual locations … on forgotten allotments & doctors’ surgeries and in local gardens.

I had been invited to pick some ripe quinces – so I called my best friend, Steve, who was at work in his own garden, to come away for ten minutes to pick some of these special fruit. Our first attempt to shake this old tree was unsuccessful. I scaled its inner depths only to discover fantastic lichen growing on the branches. I was able to pick and pluck at different fruit and throw them down into secure waiting hands. This week I will make some great quince jelly to accompany the Irish cheeses I bought on Friday afternoon last week.

Personally, I had never been one for ‘Food for Free’ until I tasted stinging nettles, collected  from Grantchester, a village near Cambridge. Blanched in boiling water, refreshed in ice cold water, and gently reheated & served with Parmesan cheese…