Gifts From The Pantry

Inspired by a gentler time when aromatherapy was bread baking in the oven.
In the pantry you will find a range of handmade preserves, local honey, biscuits, plus other goodies displayed on and with items found down on their luck looking for a new home.

If anyone had told me when I made my very first batch of strawberry jam that, all these years later I would still be making this most popular preserve, along with many other jams, marmalades and chutneys I would never have believed it, However the more recipes I tried the more I loved making them, the colours, berry reds through to the apple greens and gorgeous oranges. The aromas, from summer fruits to the spices which help determine the flavour of the chutney, all add to the amazing alchemy, the blending of fruits and vegetables to produce a sweet or savory delight. I love the seasons, waiting with anticipation for the strawberry fields in nearby Titchfield to announce the "pick your own is now open". The strawberries lead on to raspberries, to the damsons growing wild in the neighbouring hedgerows, then the bright orange pumpkins, laying in the fields waiting for their special time of year. So much local produce by local producers. During the winter I have to look further afield, Seville oranges and lemons from the sunny groves of Spain or Cyprus bring their cheerful fruitiness to our cold and usually wet winter months. Then back to Titchfield and the young pink rhubarb. So it is with comforting continuity that the berries will once again soon be ready. As I believe that food colourings and artificial flavourings are mostly unneccesary, I look for other producers that feel the same, to supply me with sweets or other edible goodies. And so it is that my days are spent stirring bubbling hot pans, or packing tasty treats, and loving every minute. I am very fortunate.