Au revoir 2013

First and foremost, a belated merry Christmas to you all. I had the full intention of writing this blog and posting before Christmas, but time did not allow it. I hope that everyone had a wonderful day filled with food, friends and family. And sherry.

With Christmas over, I can sit down and breathe and look back on what a fantastic year 2013 was! As my first year of business, I think it went pretty well. Did I mention that I sold out of Christmas stock? That was quite a welcome surprise! Hampers were delivered, gift boxes galore have been sent far and wide across the country, and hundreds of jars were hopefully opened, shared and enjoyed by all over the Christmas period. We certainly tucked in to our fair share of chutneys on Christmas eve with roast pork and Oscar's Kitchen pickled onions. Delicious!

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be giving the Kitchen a well deserved break (and myself) and a thorough sorting out. There are a few things on my to-do list: clean the stock room from head to toe and give it a new lick of paint; re-shuffle the cupboards to I can get a little more space in there; build work surfaces and new storage boxes etc; sort out all my packaging and labelling. In the new year I am hoping to be able to start welcoming customers into the Kitchen in order to buy products straight from the stock room, which will hopefully be somewhat more of a mini-shop.

Talking of shop, I have started looking into opening Oscar's Deli! This is very exciting news, although it will take a lot of work and planning so hopefully I will have my own premises by summer of 2015. It will sell my own preserves, chutneys and pickles etc, but I will be bringing in other local producers' products, such a meat, eggs, honey, milk, cured meats, breads, olives and anything else I can find which is Welsh and Wonderful. WATCH THIS SPACE.

As I mentioned earlier, it's been a very busy Christmas period and a very busy year. I've watched by business really take off, and I feel as if I've made a name for myself now and a permanent place in the food business. Onwards and upwards as they say! However, none of this could have been possible without the continuous support of my parents, who have homed me, fed me, built things for me, peeled and sliced things for me, and have overall helped me the whole way. Thank you parents.
I also owe a huge thank you to my wonderful boyfriend and best friend, Ben, who has the patience of a saint and has always encouraged me throughout the year, when I'm tired and grumpy, to keep on going, and for his encouragement to go on and do bigger and better things. His faith in me and my business is the best pick me up. Thank you.
But, most importantly, I owe the biggest thank you of all to my customers who have truly made this year a success. Thank you.

I'm sure that 2014 will be even more exciting!

Ruth and Oscar

x

Christmas with Oscar

Good evening all,

I think I'm maybe almost halfway through my Christmas events. Here are some pictures of how some of them have been...

It's been an incredibly busy 3 months; preparation, packing, selling, advertising, selling, cooking and delivering everything has certainly made me aware of the true meaning of exhaustion, but I have completely loved every moment of it. My favourite moment, which made me overwhelmingly proud of my business and the product I make, is watching people's elated reactions when they try my products and tell me how great they are. I shan't try and be modest, because I know that what I make is delicious, but its pretty marvellous when people agree with you!

The most popular jars are the Caramelised Red Onion Chutney, Mulled Plum Jam and the Boxing Day Chutney, which is apricots, pears, apples and sultanas slightly spiced with crushed coriander seeds. Its definitely one of my favourites! So much so, I'm adding it to my permanent food menu, so its available to enjoy all year round. Which I'm sure it will be.

Once all my Christmas dates are done I'll have a wonderful week or so off to enjoy Christmas and New Year's, and then the Seville oranges are in season and its time to make some marmalade! It's also Welsh valentine's in January and normal Valentine's in February, so I've been concocting some beautiful treats for "him and her" for the occasion, one of which is Aphrodisiac Jam!

Wishing you are all well,

Ruth and Oscar

Christmas Events Dates

Evening,

These are the dates and the events that Oscar's Kitchen will be attending until Christmas:

NOVEMBER

7th: Gower Producers in Canolfan Y Bont (28 Dulais Road, Pontardulais SA4 8PA) 5-8p.m.

9th: Canolfan Gorseinon Food & Craft Fair (Millers Drive, Gorseinon SA4 4QN) 9.30-1p.m.
9th: Countdown to Christmas Craft Fair (St John's Ambulance Hall, Water Street, Pontardulais) 7pm onwards.

13th: Pontardulais Local Produce Market (The Institute, St Teilo Street, Pontardulais)
13th: Gower Producers in St John's Church Hall (Gowerton SA4 3EA) 5-8p.m.

16th: Pontardulais Comprehensive Christmas Craft Fair, 10-2p.m.

23rd-24th: Dinefwr Edwardian Christmas Fayre (Dinefwr, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire SA19 6RT) 11-5p.m.
23rd: Canolfan Y Bont Christmas Craft Fayre (28 Dulais Road) 10-4p.m.

28th: Pontlliw Primary Christmas Craft Fair. 6-8p.m.

30th: Swansea Oxford Street Outdoor Christmas Market, all day.

DECEMBER

5th: Gower Producers in Canolfan Y Bon (see address above) 5-8p.m.

7th: Christmas Craft Fair in aid of CWTCH charity, Bryn Social Club, Cwmllynfell, SA9 2GH, 11-3p.m.

11th: Pontardulais Local Produce Market (see above for details)
11th: Gower Producers in St. John's Church (see above for details)

12th-14th: Swansea Oxford Street Outdoor Christmas Market, all day.

18th-19th: Swansea Oxford Street Outdoor Christmas Market, all day.

Christmas With Oscar's Kitchen

Evening all,

The past month or so has really been magnificently busy. I've been away on a business trip to Italy with Taste Local (I will talk more about this on another blog) and I've been busy like a bee in the Kitchen getting everything ready for my Christmas products. Not only have I been making Christmas delights, but I've also been harvesting and using autumnal produce.


Autumn is such a beautiful month; the leaves turn to orange and red and the evenings get darker and colder, and beautiful food is all around us. I picked my first pumpkin two weeks ago (I say pick; what I mean is that my Dad and his strimmer tore the poor vegetable from the main plant) and although it isn't a giant, I'm sure it will be delicious. I'm going to use this one to make a Spiced Autumn Chutney, and mix it with some apples from the orchard and perhaps some raisins and crushed coriander seeds. There are several other pumpkins in the garden, so I may try and make some Pumpkin Jam. Hopefully in time for Halloween!
The apple trees in the garden have flourished this year; I've had about 20kg, perhaps more, from them. I've made some beautiful Spiced Apple Chutney which is part of my Cheeseboard selection, and I've also juiced the sweeter apples to use as a base for my Spiced Winter Jelly, and other jellies from Oscar's Menu.
My grandfather has a Hamburg grape vine in his garden, which is situated on a south facing wall and so explodes every year with huge black grapes. With a stroke of luck, he happens to be away on a cruise for the next two weeks and so is unable to use the grapes himself (such a pity!). I collected a bag the other day, probably about 4kg, and made some Grape Jelly. The colour is divine; its a dark, purple colour with a hint of red. It looks like wine, and tastes superb. This would be perfect on its own on fresh bread, or even used to make a decadent sauce or gravy.

Winter produce is beginning to appear too; chestnuts, plums, cranberries, clementine's. These have all been incorporated into my Christmas Product Menu as I feel that they are the essence of Christmas flavours. If only there was a way to make a chutney out of a turkey, then I would have Christmas in a jar!

So, Oscar's Christmas Products Menu looks like this;

Small Hamper - 6 products at £28
Large Hamper - 9 products at £38

Christmas Day Chutney - an orange and cranberry relish
Boxing Day Chutney - apple, pear and dried apricot chutney with crushed coriander seeds
Cranberry, Orange and Port Sauce
Sweet Pickled Onions
Pickled Red Cabbage
Spiced Winter Jelly
Clementine Marmalade
Mulled Plum Jam
Sweet Chestnut Preserve
Peppermint Creams
Candied Clementines


There are also 1lb jars of Traditional Mincemeat available, as are the following gift boxes, which are £10 each and beautifully presented in a craft box with ribbon and straw:

For The Cheeseboard

• Caramelised Red Onion Chutney
• Spiced Apple Chutney
• Roast Garlic, Shallot and Balsamic Jam

Christmas Gift Box

• Christmas Day Chutney
• Boxing Day Chutney
• Cranberry, Port and Orange Sauce

Christmas Sweets

• Mulled Plum Jam
• Sweet Chestnut Jam
• Clementine Marmalade

I love Christmas; the food, the smells, the snow (if we're lucky) and obviously the presents!


Wishing that everyone is well,

Ruth and Oscar

x

Out of August and Into September

Good afternoon,

August was a busy month, and once it ended I slept for 12 hours straight. That was really nice, expect I woke up in September which is an even busier month. 

Before I start telling you what's in store for September and what's already happened, I will fill you in on what happened at the end of August. 

I went to Pontardulais Agricultural and Horticultural Show on Bank Holiday, which was lots fun despite being physically and emotionally exhausted at arranging our stall and filling the car thrice with produce and crafts and the early mornings of setting up and the long day of par-boiling in a marquee in full sunlight. Apart from that, it was great having hundreds of people walking around and seeing the stall and produce and crafts and everything local that our village has to offer. There was also cattle there, chicken and ducks and geese, local food, brand new John Deere tractors (which is definitely going on my wish-list) and the Horticultural tent with the giant marrows and things. Next year, I'm going to put some of my vegetables in that tent, see if they win anything. Which they would, because my marrows/courgettes/pumpkins and squash could double up as murder weapons. There's obviously something about welsh water...

So, that was that. I will definitely be there next year, come rain or shine. 

Then I went to Reading for a few days, and a friend of mine took me to this shop called The Quince Tree in Henley. This is exactly the type of shop I want to own in the future. It had a food shop, everything inside being locally produced or made by The Quince Tree itself, and there was also a cafe, which made tea's and coffee's (all of which were local) along with cakes and pastries. Next door to this was a bar and restaurant, serving local food and also locally produced beers and ciders and wines. It was beautiful and delicious and wonderful and everything I want my shop to eventually be. One day. Must make a lot more jars before then!

September brings a lot of work; tomatoes are in full ripening mode, courgettes are coming out of my ears, aubergines are everywhere, crabapples are collecting themselves, beetroots are resembling tennis balls... Everything is happening in the garden. I have kilo's of things to pick, prepare, cook and jar, and also seeds to sow to replace what has been picked, and seeds to sow for winter/spring. With that, I have end-of-summer events coming weekly, and to top it off, I'm going to Puglia, Italy for a food-tasting, business-watching, "let's see how the Italians do local produce" trip for 3 days. very excited. Even though I get back home at 5am and have the Macmillans Coffee Morning the day after at 9am. 

Oscar's Kitchen is booming at the moment, which is wonderfully exciting.

I love my job.

Ruth

The Shop and the Reservoir

Hello all,

I've had a super duper fun day today, which I will talk about once I have told you a little about our community craft shop. 

Myself and twelve other ladies, and more recently a man, run a community craft shop in our local community centre. The crafts include handmade chocolates, quilts, cushions, cards, jewellery, preserves (mine), woodwork, slate-work, silversmith jewellery and glass fusion. It's an amazing shop full of incredibly unique creations. Truly stunning. 

During this summer we have been loading a selection of our products into the car and taking it to various craft days and events. Two months ago, and pre-blog, we attended the local Carnival and not only did we socialise and have a great day out watching the parades and floats, but we told hundreds of people about the shop and ignited interest in local artists and crafters. We also made a fair bit of money, which goes straight into the shop piggy bank to spend on more events! Hurrah. 

Today, the shop attended Lliw Valley Reservoir. It was a fun day for kids so lots of local organisations came forth and did face-painting, sports, painting etc. One lady from the RSPB, who might possibly have had the coolest job in the world, made "Bug Hotels" from pine cones and recyclable objects. It took all sorts of will power not to abandon the shop and go and play. 

Here are some snaps of the day...

Homegrown and homemade chutneys, pickles, relishes etc by Oscar's Kitchen

Handmade chocolates by SJ Chocolates in Horton, Gower

Silversmith jewellery by Linda Hughes, Purple Panda Designs, and cards and hearts by Fiona Stirling, Shabby Sheep

 Scented heart pillows by Fiona Stirling, Shabby Sheep

Fused glass by Mel Jones, Melta

A slow worm I found on my front doorstep. This has nothing to do with the blog. 

Handcrafted woodwork and homemade paper by Gaynor Fuge, Random Layers

Slate by Nigel. He needs no introduction. 

So, that is a selection of what Crefftau Y Bont (welsh for Pontardulais Crafts) has to offer. It really is an amazing shop with these amazingly talented crafters. 

Oh, and the Fun Day went well.

Ruth and Oscar (he is currently curled up fast asleep on my lap, feigning interest in his blog.)

5am Pickle

Afternoon,

Oscar woke me up at 5am this morning and made me get out of bed and let him outside just so he could go and sleep on my brother and sister-in-law's car (they have come down from Bury St. Edmund to visit for a few days. They have a nice car). I was wide awake at this point, and so decided to do some morning cooking whilst listening to Frank Sinatra and waiting for Tesco to open so I could get some fenugreek seeds.

I made Spiced Courgette Chutney to begin with, using the delightfully humungous courgettes picked from my garden; then I made a batch of Beetroot Relish, and then 4 batches of Caramelised Red Onion Chutney.

I finished this craze of cooking with some Indian Lime Pickle. I took some pictures to show you, although unfortunately, some clever sod hasn't invented smelling cameras, so I will have to tell you that this pickle smells so good, having to wait a month before I can try some seems like torture.

I started off with some limes. 10 limes made one batch according to the recipe book, but I use 20 at a time and double everything else. That makes about 6/7 12oz jars. Ish.

I fried the limes in some oil, on a low heat, until they gave off a strong zesty smell. That took about 2-3 minutes. I removed them from the pan before they started going brown.

Once they had cooled a little, I quartered them, and cut each quarter into three or four cubes. I must stress how dangerous this part is; I almost lost an eye to a potent mixture of hot oil/lime juice. Could've been disastrous...

I put some more oil in the pan, and added (from the red blob and going clockwise) chilli powder, ground fenugreek, asafetida powder and turmeric, and fried. Amazing smell. I fried these for about a minute.

I added the chopped limes, heated it all through until the oil started bubbling, and then I spooned it into hot, sterilised jars. I now have to wait a month before they can be sold/opened, as they need a fair amount of time for the flavours to develop and become irresistible.

I think it looks really pretty, but then I am biased. But even if I wasn't biased, I reckon that could be some of the most beautiful lime pickle.


Hope you're all well,

Ruth

Saving Seeds - Part 1

Afternoon all,

I've had a fantastic day in the garden today. It's been one of those days where I've got loads of things done.
I weeded the garden this morning, so now all my beds look neat and tidy. Then I pulled up some turnips, beetroots and spring onions and had a bumper crop.

The turnips are "Purple Top Milan", the beetroots are "Detroit" and the spring onions are "White Lisbon"

I've become completely turnip obsessed this year. They're such an easy crop, and there are so many different varieties. I've also grown "Snowball" which is really tasty.
The beetroots will become Beetroot Relish, which is cooked with balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, port and orange zest. It's very tasty and very popular. I've also picked some small beetroots, which I'll pickle. When I planted my beetroot, I sowed 4 lines about 3m long. I didn't thin the plants, but let them grow into a beetroot jungle. Every few days I'll pull up the larger ones, and clustered around the larger ones will be 4 or 5 baby ones. So these will come up too, which then leaves space for a few beetroot to grow into giants, while the surrounding beets will stay little and pickle friendly. There is method in my laziness.
The spring onions will be devoured in a salad, or eaten raw with a boiled egg.


That was my morning.


This year I am saving my own seeds to use for next year's crop. I began with my nasturtiums seeds, which had semi-dried on the plants which were situated in my bean/peas bed. I separated them all and let them finish drying in the sun in a draw. The varieties of nasturtiums I had were; Empress of India, Tooty Fruity, Peach Melba and another one whose name escapes me. Empress of India was my favourite, its bright red leaves made my bean/pea garden look beautiful.

In the afternoon, I went down to my grandparents' house. They have an astonishingly beautiful garden full of colour and life and food and flowers and everything I want in my own. We swapped some turnips and spring onions for asparagus peas. I think they got the better deal... However, I spotted their giant sunflower heads which had wilted and dried, so I chopped about 5 or 6 heads off, and my grandparents and I (and a few earwigs) had a great time pulling all the seeds out. I put those out on a tray and left them to dry in the sun.

I've also allotted some vegetables to go to flower so I can collect their seeds too, but I'll tell you all about that when it happens.



Ciao

Blackcurrant Jam at 7am

This morning I woke up early and made some jam. This is how it went.

I picked just under 1.5kg of blackcurrants, and cleaned them. Blackcurrants, as an uncooked fruit, smell horrid. There's nothing pleasant about their smell, it's just awful.

I got this bit over with quickly.

Fortunately, cooked blackcurrants are a different (metaphoric) kettle of fish. Once they've cooked and burst, they turn this beautiful pinkish-red colour, and the smell is incredible. Quite sweet, yet tart. Exactly how you'd expect them to taste.
I cooked them for about 15 minutes, until all the little fruits had disappeared and there was this wonderful liquid, the consistency of a coulis.

Then came the sugar. 1.3kg of granulated sugar went into the pan.
I will be diabetic by the time I reach retirement.

I put the jam on a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved.
When I first started this business, I was testing my jam-making skills in the kitchen, and I made a small batch of strawberry jam and obviously didn't let the sugar dissolve completely and ended up with this crystallised mess. So if you are making jam, let the sugar dissolve completely.
Once that has happened, it's time to turn up the heat.

I heated up the jam until it was boiling, and kept stirring so that it didn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn, because then the whole batch is ultimately ruined.
Once 10-15 minutes has gone by, it was time to start testing for the setting point.
Lots of people say to put plates in the freezer to get them cold to test for the testing point, which is a great idea if you want to run back and forth to the freezer. I, however, do not.
I do it like this, which I think is just pure genius.
To test for setting point, I placed half a teaspoon of jam on the inside shelf of my fridge (the glass shelves) and leave it for a few moments. Once a few moments have passed, I gave it a squidge with my finger, and it felt like jam. If it didn't feel like jam, I would have let the jam boil for a further 5 minutes and then do the test again.

I let it cool for a few minutes, so that it was scaldingly hot, and a cling-film like sheen covered the top. Perfect. I sterilised some jars (I washed them in boiling hot soapy water, and then dried them in the oven which was heated on a low setting - you can sterilise them in a dishwasher but I don't have one) and then ladled the jam into the jars and screwed the lids on.

There we go. Blackcurrant jam.


P.S Don't forget to clean the jam tests in your fridge.

Oscar's Products

Today is the day that I write a comprehensive list of all the amazing things that come out of Oscar's Kitchen.

First and foremost, the sweet things...

Jams
Apple and Ginger Jam
Apricot Jam
Blackberry Jam
Blackberry and Apple Jam
Blackcurrant Jam
Cherry Jam
Fig Jam
Gooseberry Jam
Gooseberry and Lime Jam
Peach Jam
Plum Jam
Raspberry Jam
Rhubarb and Ginger Jam
Rhubarb and Vanilla Jam
Strawberry Jam
Tayberry Jam


Jellies
Crabapple Jelly
Grape Jelly
Mint and Apple Jelly
Redcurrent and Rosemary Jelly
Quince Jelly
Wine Jelly - perfect for a splash of flavour in homemade gravy


Marmalades
Grapefruit Marmalade, either Pink or Golden
Lime Marmalade
Orange Marmalade
Seville Orange Marmalade - this product is only available for a few weeks after January, I make a limited stock and it sells out very quickly
Three Citrus Marmalade - orange, grapefruit and lemon

Upon request, I will happily concoct whichever jam, marmalade or jelly you have a preference to, or if you are feeling adventurous and fancy a mash-up of flavours! 

And now the savouries...

Chutneys
Caramelised Red Onion Chutney
Spiced Apple Chutney
Onion and Thyme Chutney
Green Tomato Chutney
Spiced Courgette Chutney


Pickles
Pickled Onions
Pickled Onions with Chillies
Pickled Shallots in Balsamic Vinegar
Pickled Baby Beetroot
Pickled Red Cabbage
Piccalilli
Indian Lime Pickle


Preserves - all made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil imported from Greece
Spicy Summer Vegetables - crunchy courgettes, peppers, chillies, aubergines and red onions
Grilled Artichokes
Grilled Aubergines
Sun-dried Tomatoes with Chilli and Garlic
Sun-dried Tomatoes with Lemon and Thyme
Smoky Paprika Peppers


Relishes
Beetroot Relish - either red or golden beetroot
Roast Red Pepper Relish
Tomato Relish
Aubergine Relish - caponata, a Southern Italian favourite
Carrot and Coriander Relish

There is also:
Mint Sauce
Apple Sauce
Horseradish Sauce

Summer 2013 will be bringing an array of chilli sauces, all made from homegrown Jalapenos, Scotch Bonnets, Cayenne, Serrano and Apache chillies. Pictures and information on those will be published once I have cooked them, tested them, and most importantly, survived them. 

And there you have it, Oscar's Larder.
If you have any questions or queries, do not hesitate to get in touch, my e-mail is oscarskitchens@gmail.com

Wishing you all well,

Ruth

Oh, and this is Oscar...





















...also known as Lord Ginger.

Introducing Oscar's Kitchen

As this is the first blog entry, in what hopefully will be a long and fruitful venture, I suppose I should start by telling you what I do. 

I own a small business in South Wales that makes jams, jellies, marmalades, chutneys, relishes, condiments, sauces and preserves. Along with making all this wonderful produce, I grow about 90% of what I cook in the garden. I don’t use chemicals, I don’t use pesticides. It’s fresh, it’s organic, it’s full of natural goodness.

It’s home-grown and homemade. 

I started this business last November after graduating from Law School and having a final summer of fun. At first I bought all the fruit and vegetables, but I didn’t like the fact I couldn’t pinpoint on a map where the produce came from, or what they had been sprayed with, or how long they had travelled for before reaching the warehouse. If I didn’t know what was being put on these fruits, then I didn’t know what I was putting in my jars. So, I bought some plants and bought some seeds, dug up the better half of an acre and planted everything I could think of that would survive the inconsistent and unpredictable British/Welsh weather. 

I have: apple trees, pear trees, cherry trees, crabapple trees, fig trees, gooseberries, strawberries, tayberries, raspberries, blackberries, redcurrents, blackcurrents, whitecurrents, rhubarb, grape vines and inca berries. 

I also have: runner beans, broad beans, fennel, spring onions, beetroot (about 5 varieties of) pumpkins, winter/summer squash, courgettes (another 5 varieties) chard, turnips, aubergines, tomatoes (34 plants) chillies (46 plants) peppers, potatoes, lettuces, red cabbage, sprouts and finally, I have pak choi. That’s for me though. 

I have an abundance of herbs, and even saffron growing in the garden, which is guarded under lock and key. 

The only things I don’t grow are onions and the citrus fruits. I would need a field of onions to keep up with my onion intake, however, the onions I do use are locally sourced and organic and the citrus fruits come from this amazing farm in Spain who take more care of their fruits than I do of myself. 

The produce is picked in the morning, taken straight down the steps into my kitchen, washed, chopped/diced/grated and turned into delicious preserves and chutneys by the afternoon.

See? It really is home-grown and homemade.