No doubt your preparations for Christmas will include a series of menus for lunches, dinners and snacks to see you through the festive period.
Fruit and vegetables will feature in these menus, I hope.
Some you may have in the garden, others stored in the garage, some processed and stored in bottles and jars and some in bags in the freezer – all safe and ready to be wheeched oot as required.
What about the fresh fruit and vegetables – is the fridge going to be stappit fu’ till the sides are bulging?
Not a good idea. Let me explain.
No doubt you will organise your fridge to get maximum use of its capacity but, before you go any further, let me remind you about ethylene gas.
Most fresh fruits and vegetables generate ethylene gas while they mature/ripen.
That matters because the gas speeds up the ripening process, and in an enclosed space packed with fresh vegetable/fruit material, it builds up and may wreak havoc.
This gas is a very active hormone and if you don’t get organised, it may seriously damage some of your leafy vegetables because they are very sensitive to ethylene, even at low concentrations.
Lettuce, for example, begins to decay rapidly when exposed to ethylene gas, while broccoli will spoil quickly if stored in the same area as avocado and melon which are big ethylene producers. So, if you want to be smart, get segregating. Keep your veggies apart and make your food last longer.
The following fruit and vegetables produce significant amounts of the gas during their ripening period:
Apples, apricots, avocados, ripening bananas, blueberries, cantaloupe, citrus (but not grapefruit), cranberries, figs, grapes, honeydew, ripe kiwi fruits, mangoes, mushrooms, passion fruit, peaches, peppers, pineapple, plums, prunes, tomatoes and watermelons.
Most susceptible to damage are:
Asparagus, aubergine, broccoli, sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cucumbers, endive, green beans, kale, kiwi fruit, leafy greens, lettuce, parsley, peas, peppers, spinach, squash, sweet potato and watercress.
I am perfectly sure that experienced cooks will know that some of these vulnerable items will keep for quite some time stored safely in the garage or shed.
Thinking back to a time when few households would have had a fridge, a container known as a meat safe was much in use (a timber frame with walls and door made from sheets of perforated zinc).
Such a receptacle, accommodated in the garage or shed and designed to keep meats, will also keep vulnerable fruit and vegetables at a low temperature, safe from vermin and the dangers of ethylene.
Apple trees
Some of you might be contemplating the purchase of an apple tree or two in the coming months.
Once successfully established, they’ll last a long time – but there are two elements to consider first.
Firstly, how much space do you have? That will decide the rootstock necessary to curtail the ultimate size of the tree.
Secondly, the preferred choice of eating and/or culinary varieties and the need for each tree to be cross pollinated.
Just like any successful “partnership”, the trees have to be compatible. In other words, it is as well to check that they flower at the same time.
Pollination time for each variety might not be on the label but there is plenty information available on the internet and in specialist books.
The flowering season is divided into seven sections, one being the earliest.
I don’t remember since coming back to Scotland in 1973 ever advising the use of varieties in classes one and two. Starting at three is safe and, fortunately, a huge number of the favourites fall into category three.
Some varieties are said to be self-fertile, implying that they don’t need cross-pollinating.
That is fine if you live in a prime area for tree fruit growing. Where pollination seasons are less predictable, it is better “tae mak siccar”.
Playing safe by going for later flowering is not a good idea either.
Think about it, considering our short growing season, the later they flower and set fruit, the less time the apples have to grow before they begin to ripen.
Result – lots of small fruits.
Seasonal magic
En route to Edinburgh last week, I passed mature elms literally shining bright, covered in their lemon yellow autumn garb, accompanied by oaks showing off their own particular rusty brown autumn tints.
They are spectacular at this time, and being side-lit by the low angle of the sun enhanced the scene. Magic stuff.