Cordon Blues

In common with many people at this time of year, we've been looking for signs that Spring might be on its way. It's not been a particularly long Winter, and no-doubt there's more Wintry weather to come, but it does seem to have been a properly cold one this time around. After the fun and games of heavy snowfall late last year, we seem to have settled into a dull, damp, February chill. To be honest, I'm getting a bit fed-up with it now. Spring can't come soon enough for me.

Of course, below-freezing conditions can be a good thing in the garden/orchard, and it can also help give us the slow fermentation we prefer for our ciders and perrys. Recent mild Winters may well have contributed to the Aphid problems we've been suffering from this last couple of years. A prolonged cold spell can be just the job for killing off a good percentage of these damaging garden pests. A serious cold spell can also help to promote good fruiting in apples and pears, forcing the trees into a proper Winter dormancy ahead of the new

season. So it's not all bad, but now Winter's done its job, I just wish it would push-off back to Narnia for a few months and let Spring do its thing.

There are a one or two Spring-like signs in the garden. Karens carefully planted Crocuses are popping up all over the garden, some are even coming up where she planted them. That'll be the Hens and their 'Powerful-Dig-Action'. These lovely Snowdrops are sheltering under a nest of brambles in the village orchard, safe from the scratch and peck of the Rockingham Forest Cider Flock. In the orchard, buds are beginning to swell on some of the more sheltered apple trees. Bullfinches have been seen licking their beaks in anticipation...

Best news of all, the Rhubarb is up and about, which is great news for us custard lovers. Now that we've perfected our custard tart recipe, I'm really looking forward to trying a Rhubarb version with this years slender stalks, perhaps with a bit of ginger on top instead of the nutmeg.

So with the first hints of Spring in the air, a young mans thoughts turn to planting apple trees...

I've had a full year to decide what to do with the trees I successfully grafted last year, space being at a premium in our modest garden. When space is tight, Cordon trained trees are generally considered the best option for apple trees.

Cordon fruit trees are grown as a single stem, with lateral branches pruned out, and fruiting buds encouraged along the length of the tree. Fruiting is quite limited in this heavily restricted form, but the big advantage is that trees can be planted very close together, ideal for us, as we have several trees to plant in a very limited space. Cordons can be grown vertically, but it's more usual to train them at a 45 degree angle. I think this may help encourage fruit bud formation.

A Cordon trained tree can be a difficult form to maintain, particularly with more vigorous rootstock/scion combinations which will want to grow as big and bushy as possible. These trees are on MM106 rootstock, which is perhaps a little too vigorous for Cordon training, but needs-must, and it's certainly worth an experiment. At the very least we'll be able to maintain the varieties in the garden, giving us easy access to scion wood for grafting up trees at a later date.

The unsightly post and brick arrangement is a temporary guard against our Spring Chickens digging up the roots. I'll put in a more permanent solution when I can think of a more elegant solution...

2011 Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival

'Holy Mackerel', it's only Nineteen Sleeps until the 2011 Leicester Beer Festival opens its doors. Put another way, that's only twelve working days, or a measly three weekends, only one of which features Six Nations Rugby. It's come around so quickly again! I've not even thought about how I'll be getting there, or more importantly, how on earth I'll get home again! I've got absolutely nothing to wear!

Thankfully for those of you thinking of going to this great festival, the organising committee are well on top of all the little things that need organising, as well as the larger things, such as Beer, Curry, and of course the Cider and Perry.

Thanks to our 'Mole' on the cider bar, a few juicy bits of information are starting to trickle out with regards to the ciders and perrys which will be available. Here at Rockingham Forest Cider, we are nothing if not indiscreet, so here's the current Scrattings from inside the cider bar:

• New local Leicestershire cidermakers, Charnwood Cider, will be sending a box of their Medium Cider, possibly the first showing for this producer at a CAMRA beer festival.

• Our friends in the north, Ray & Gail of Torkard Cider have boxed-up a fresh young Floppy Tabs for the festival, which will be Medium, and somewhere around 6% abv. The term Floppy Tabs is apparently 'Northern-Speak' for when a Border Collie has had too much strong cider and its ears go all wonky! or something...

• There will be more local Leicestershire cider from Farmer Fear of Mountsorrel. Their Thirsty Farmer Cider is usually only available as Medium, but hard bargaining from cider bar manageress Susan has resulted in the procurement of a tub of naturally Dry cider too. Nice work Sue.

• Exotic foreign cider enthusiasts can look forward to a consignment of Cambridgeshire's finest from Pickled Pig Cider, including Sweet Little Pig, a cider containing a high proportion of Cox apples. Don't worry, I'm assured that no pigs are used in the production of these ciders!... except for the final bit where the dry pomace is fed to pigs... obviously!

• We'll be sending the last of our 2009 vintage, a Vilberie Medium Cider (6%), and a Malvern Hills Perry (8%), but we won't be drinking any of it! That would be silly, we've got loads of it at home...

• You've got even less time to plan for the Loughborough CAMRA Beer Festival, which starts on the 3rd of March. The cider and perry list is now up, looks a little too sweet for my taste, but has local interest with East Midlands Cider from Three Cats of Derbyshire.

Local Ciders for Local People

Is this the largest range of East Midlands Ciders and Perries ever assembled in one place? Probably, but even seven producers is less than half  the total now producing locally. These are the bottles I'll be taking to a talk and tasting session for Rutland CAMRA at the Plough, Greetham this week. More details of these and other East Mids producers can be found in a new leaflet, available to download here from the Nottingham CAMRA website. It is hoped that an even wider range of local ciders and perries will be available at the Nottingham CAMRA Beer Festival in October.

L-R: Skidbrooke Cyder, Spalding Scrumpy, Roundhead Cider, Rockingham Forest Cider & Perry, Torkard Floppy Tabs Cider, Beeches Cider, Marron Pear Cider

Ciderhouse News - February

'Ahoy There!' It's very nearly the time when the good ship Rockingham Forest Cider weighs anchor, and sets sail on the choppy waters of the 2011 Beer Festival season. It's been a long, cold winter in dry dock, but we've not been idle. The barnacles have been scraped off the barrels, we're fully provisioned, and ready to cruise the highways and bye ways of the East Midlands and beyond. There'll be a cider in every port, and hopefully a girl in every cider. Yo-Ho-Ho! Shiver me Timbers! and that's quite enough nautical nonsense I think.

First up is bijou northern event, the Hucknall Beer Festival, opening its doors this weekend, and featuring all that's local and best in ale, ciders, and well-filled Cobs (that's Crusty Rolls to our more southern readers). There'll be local Torkard Cider, and we've sent along the very last box of our 2009 Rockingham Forest Cider (7%), and another of Malvern Hills Perry (8%). There's a Farmers Market on the Friday, live music on Saturday evening, and I've been assured there's absolutely no restrictions on the wearing of Flat Caps at this event, so go along and fill yer (Hobnail) boots.

Further on down the line is the annual Leicester CAMRA Beer, Cider & Curry Jamboree. Same venue, similar huge range of quality real ales, ciders and perrys. We're aiming to send barrels of Malvern Hills Perry and a sweetish Vilberie Cider, and we've been assured by bar manageress 'Zoider Zusan' that there'll be other local ciders available, including a smooth Torkard number, a Thirsty Farmer, and something rare and fruity from new boys on the block, Charnwood Cider. The full cider and perry list will be 'broken' here, just as soon as we've persuaded Sue to give it to us before anyone else....

I figured it might be a good idea to get some practice in ahead of

all this festival activity, with a short trip to the Slug & Lettuce Beer Festival in downtown Leicester. Not a huge selection of ciders to be honest, but it was nice to see the range included something a little different to the usual from Orchard Pig of Somerset, and full-bodied organic Devon cider from Heron Valley. The ciders provided a bit of welcome interest in the flat ocean of Irish/Italian rugby mediocrity. We appear to be back at sea!

My Perfect Tart!

Our carefully stored mountain of Bramley Apples shows little sign of diminishing. They've stored very well in the cool of the porch, free from frost damage and cheeky nibbling mice. Almost every day we're forced to convene a short brainstorming session, wracking our brains to think of what else we can use them for before they finally succumb to rot and the compost bin.

I've written before about the 'Holy Trinity' of apples, pastry and custard. A simple, perfect combination, and one we're loath to mess with too much. On this occasion, I broke my own golden rule, and risked contamination with a little pinch of spice. I'm usually a strict fundamentalist on this point. Cinnamon, No! Cloves, Absolutely Not! Nutmeg..... well, maybe just this once.

So, Bramley Apple Custard Tart it is then, with just a hint of Nutmeg because I'm equally hardcore about custard tarts. This recipe has come along at just the right time for us, what with the glut of rapidly deteriorating Bramleys, and a similar mountain of eggs from the ever reliable Rockingham Forest Cider Hens.

Line a deepish Flan Dish with Shortcrust Pastry (it doesn't have to be sweet), and blind bake at 180C until just cooked. Meanwhile, peel, core and chop a couple of medium sized Bramley Apples, and cook to a puree with a drop of water and sugar to taste. When the flan and apple puree have cooled a little, spread the puree onto the base of the flan.

Heat 400ml of Double Cream along with 50g of Golden Caster Sugar and a Vanilla flavouring of your choice. Vanilla Essence would be fine, but I used 25g of Vanilla Sugar, made up to the 50g with Golden Caster Sugar. Bring just to the boil and remove from the heat for a few minutes. Lightly beat 3 Large Egg Yolks with 1 Whole Egg, before whisking into the Cream. Pour the custard mix into the flan, dust with a little Nutmeg, and bake for an hour at 170C until the custard is cooked but still wobbly.

Quite one of the most delicious things I've ever put in my mouth, and that's saying something!