catgate Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 We have grown Gardeners Delight for thirty years or more and we have never seen anything like these before.I am sure they have some grape genes in them.They are without doubt a very delectable morsel. Management is, as I write, oven drying some for later use. We store them in olive oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 I, too, am having great success with tomatoes this year despite the supposedly unsuitable weather.Like you, I'm growing Gardener's Delight and also plum tomatoes - I can't remember the variety and Beef Heart, those enormous very solid ones.In the case of the Beef Hearts, they are growing six or seven to a truss which must be a great strain on the structure of the plant as they weigh 300+ grams each.Not having much luck with cucumbers, though. They seem to mostly half develop and then give up.In the wild, it is an amazingly good year for free food. Mushrooms abound including lots of ceps, field mushrooms, horse mushrooms, giant puff balls (got my eye on one for breakfast tomorrow). Fruits are, or will be, very plentiful; bilberries and raspberries are just at their peak and there are huge numbers of blackberries and sloes ripening. Good for nuts as well with the hazel, walnut and chestnut trees looking very full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted August 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 I think that over the years Gardeners Delight have changed.. Have you noticed any difference, pops?When we started growing them, all those years ago, we used to get all our seeds direct from Thomson and Morgan. At that time they were much smaller, exremely sweetand had thirty plus per truss. Then they started getting bigger and fewer per truss. Then they started tasting less sweet.We ditched T & M because I felt they were repacking old seed and the germination was not so clever. Since ditching T & M we have used a variety of "makes" but always Gardeners Delight. As each year has gone by they have moved farther away from the old originals. But this year the flavour is just as good as the old T & M ones and there are as many on a truss, but bigger fruits. I shall save some seed.We have always grown by the same ring culture method. In fact we are still using the same rings. They are very old galvanised Victorian rings that my father got from an old nurseryman when he retired. (we have had to discard a few over the years due to the galvanising losing its enthusiasm). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Gardener delight have definitely changed - and as you say, not for the better. My son says it's down to my age and senses not being as acute as they were but, that doesn't account for the differences in growth habit.Another thing that has very much changed are Little Marvel peas. They ain't little and they ain't very marvellous now, just ordinary peas.I tend to use Sutton's or Unwins for the everyday stuff. T&M for the oddities that you can't get anywhere else. Suttons were particularly good as in my working days I regularly attended meetings at the Food & Drink Federation in Catherine Street, Covent Garden and Suttons have (had?) a shop just opposite where you could buy the following years' new introductions very cheaply for trial - as well as their full range.Never Johnson's or Fothergills as I don't have much success with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Maybe it's the area, but we are very disappointed this year compared with last year. We just have a couple of plants in a mini greenhouse. Last year we had Alicanti, not the very best flavour, but acceptable, and a huge crop. Every single one ripened. this year we have green tiger. They are a small variety of fruit, and supposed to be OK. However, we are wondering if they are ever going to start to ripen.Green tiger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 However, we are wondering if they are ever going to start to ripen.Green tiger.Maybe the clue is in the name ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 However, we are wondering if they are ever going to start to ripen.Green tiger.Maybe the clue is in the name ;) They do turn partially red, see my link. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted August 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 They do turn partially red, see my link. :DProbably with embarassment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted August 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 The Gardener's Delight continue to delight in great abundance. What is more we have discovered how to make them delight even better.We like sun dried tomatoes and so decided to do some drying ourselves. The thing that has always puzzled me about "sun" tomatoes is how they keep the flies off them as they are drying in the sun. So we decided to have microwave dried tomatoes instead. Then we got carried away with thoughts of drying them out too much. Anyway up the following produced something far superior to all the sun dried tomatoes I have ever had. Halve the tomatoes and place them skin side down on a very lightly oiled shallow dish (we use an enamel one that came with the microwave oven). Sprinkle the tomatoes with a little salt and a little sugar (depending how sweet the toms. are to start with) and then the slightest "drizzling" (another cheffy word) of olive oil.Pre heat oven to 130-140 C and shove in the toms. for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours (depends on tom)s. and oven. Keep inspecting and taking out those that are just starting to caramelise. Store packed into jars and cover with olive oil. I have just had a dry cured bacon and egg sandwich with a few included in the sandwich. Wonderful!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 how do you dry cure eggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 how do you dry cure eggs Boil them, then let them cool down. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 how do you dry cure eggs Boil them, then let them cool down. :DThat's cooking I know you could/can get dried eggs, but catgates are the first cured I have herd of, perhaps I haven't lived Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted August 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 how do you dry cure eggs The truth of the matter is that you do not need to unless they have been poorly.Although....during the war there were dried eggs. They were in the form of a yellow powder that you could mix into a paste with water and then make into omlettes and such. I never heard of anyone getting them into an egg cup and dipping "soldiers" into them. May be they could have done that if they had been cured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 how do you dry cure eggs The truth of the matter is that you do not need to unless they have been poorly.So the eggs you had with your bacon and tomatoes had been poorly, so as you ate them why did you cure them first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 how do you dry cure eggs The truth of the matter is that you do not need to unless they have been poorly.Although....during the war there were dried eggs. They were in the form of a yellow powder that you could mix into a paste with water and then make into omlettes and such. I never heard of anyone getting them into an egg cup and dipping "soldiers" into them. May be they could have done that if they had been cured.We used to dunk slices of bread in the dried egg when it had been mixed with water, and fry them. I well remember that at the time we thought they were delicious. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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