January 2005 . . .
Intro
Wombat news
Timetable for 2005
Awards
New books
January garden
Best of all summer desserts
Plus one (almost) healthy lolly
Intro
Just occasionally, looking out the window as I write, it's total paradise: the Leeuwin honeyeater who has built a nest 10 cm from my desk feeding a long and still wriggling worm to the small head peering out from the passionfruit leaves; fruit trees almost breaking under the fruit, flowers dripping everywhere, friends about to arrive for lunch that is almost all home grown(salad, chook, potato cakes, fruit jellies in case you are curious)Š.
Sometimes, looking out my window, I wonder if I'm going to blink and everything will vanish. I'm really still a twelve year old dreaming of being a writer, with a garden of apple trees and the wilderness beyond. It is so exactly as I dreamed it all back thenŠ Though actually it isn'tŠ I dreamed of an island or a headland, not a valley. And there were dogs, not wombats – at least 112 of them. And no daydream included Mothball chewing the backdoor or a large son who somehow just absorbs any leftovers as he wanders through the kitchen.
Somehow I never took any other kind of future seriously when I was a kid. Never thought I'd really ever have a house in a suburb or spend days in an office or have a husband who came home at 6.15. It was the only kind of future I saw around me as a child – even the Famous Five books assumed you'd have a pretty typical adulthood when you finally outgrew catching spies and gangsters.
Someone asked me what my ambitions were last month. It took me back a bit. Ambitions? I just want more! More books, getting slowly better as my craft improves, more apple trees, more wombats, more grandkids, more years pretty much like this one.
I felt a bit guilty I couldn't say 'To cross the Andes by alpaca' or 'Start a PhD.' Something interesting. But really I'd just like moreŠ another 100 years, pleaseŠ
A very Happy New Year
New Years Eve: wild parties, dancing till dawnŠ luckily we didn't have any of that. Went to bed at 9.00, read till 10.00, then slept for ten hoursŠ well, I'd been cooking for small hordes for the past week and a half, so it was time for a rest.
The menus early in the week had crème brulee with orange, rhubarb and choc soufflés but as the week went on it all became rapidly simpler and simpler and mostly from the veg garden or the orchard, till tonight we are going to have leftovers. And tomorrow night. And possibly the one after that.
They are pretty good leftovers though: double choc muffins and caponata – veg slowly baked in the oven then combined with red wine vinegar and olive oil to seethe a bit then served with thick white bread.
It was a wonderful Christmas. The first in four years when there wasn't looming tragedy in the background, no smoke on the horizon, water in the creek and the world green, the family happy healthy and celebrating, and the horror of the tsunami yet to come. Possibly the happiest Christmas of my life, in fact, though the one eighteen years ago was pretty good, when a strange man wandered up the steps on Boxing Day (we were married a year and one month later). That was a pretty good Christmas, but then I didn't know at the time quite how good it was going to become.
This year's Christmas wasn't spectacular. Just friends and family and lots of laughter and scorch marks on the cutting board where the flaming whisky overflowed on the pudding. Have now learnt that water does not put out flaming whisky – the flames float on top. Nor do wet tea towels put out whisky flames. But at least we know the fire alarms work. And the whole thing only took about 30 seconds though it seemed longer – the alcohol burnt away pretty quickly.
But the pudding tasted great.
Wombat news
Nothing, nada, nix. In fact I haven't seen a wombat for weeks. Not even a wombat dropping. If I didn't know better I'd say an alien had carried them all off to munch carrots around Alpha Centauri.
Actually they are just too well-fed to be bothered doing much. They come out about midnight when it's cooler, munch for a few hours then go back to sleep. But the lack of droppings is interesting, as though they just can't be bothered leaving messages for each other. Wombats too are on holidays.
Awards
'Flesh and Blood' has been shortlisted for an Aurealis Award – and many, many thanks to all who voted for it!!!!!
It's the third and last in the Outlands series, ('In the Blood', 'Blood Moon' and then 'Flesh and Blood'). The first looked at genetically-engineered vampires. Does vampirism have to be bad? Many cultures drink animals' blood rather than eat the flesh - after all, a cow has to die for you to have a steak to eat but if you drink its blood it can go on munching.
The second featured genetically-engineered werewolves - which is really the more savage contributor, the human or the wolf? And the third has a plague where the dead rise again.
New books
. 'Rocket Your Child into Reading'
. 'Phredde and the Vampire Footie Team'
. 'Pete the Sheep' (with Bruce Whatley... and the rest of the team who brought you 'Diary of a Wombat')!!!!!
Plus... 'To the Moon and Back' with Bryan Sullivan (otherwise known as He Who Mutters at the Wombat), 'Tom Appleby, Convict Boy' and 'My Dad the Dragon and My Uncle Gus the Garden Gnome'.
Coming early next year:
'They Came in Viking Ships'
'The Secret World of Wombats'
And thenŠ.
'My Uncle Wal the Werewolf'
'How to Grow your own Spaceship'
'Phredde and the Runaway Ghost Train'
Schedule this year and next:
Jan 9th Hobart Comedy Festival, 3.00 - 4.30 Fuller's Book Store, Hobart - contact Fuller's Books, Hobart, for more details.
Jan 20th, 11.30 – 12.30 Tuggeranong Library, Canberra: free talk on The Secret World of Wombats for Club Cool kids and anyone else who'd like to come along!
Jan 20th, Canberra Botanic Gardens... 2.00 pm (The Secret World of Wombats plus how to grow just about everything in your backyard. Suitable for kids and adults. The talk is on the same week as the Snakes Alive Reptile Display at the Gardens, which sounds fascinating.
Jan 26th, Gladstone, Queensland. Australia Day celebrations and lots of talks at the Botanic Gardens!
Feb 5th, Gardening talk to Moruya Apex.
Feb 12th, The Braidwood Cup and family reunion (just in case any of the family are reading this and haven't yet decided to come!).
March 10th, 11th and 12th Melville Festival, Perth.
March 17th, Librarians' Conference, Bright, Victoria.
March 18th, 19th and 20th, Two Fires Festival, Braidwood.
March 27th (Easter Sunday), Two Open Garden Workshops here. Bookings essential – there are only forty places in each workshop. Each workshop will go for three hours and will include morning or afternoon tea. There will be a general talk for about an hour with questions, then a tour around the garden explaining how we can grow 266 types of fruit here, including tropicals like avocadoes, bananas, sapotes, coffee, cinnamon and how we use groves to protect our trees from frost, heat, drought, possums, birds and winds like the breath of hell. Kids over eight welcomeŠ but be aware that there are water hazards and machinery so it isn't suitable for kids under eight. Contact the Open Garden Scheme for details at act@opengarden.org.au
April 8th, 9th and 10th, ASLA Conference, Canberra, including a 'Meet the Wombats and Have Lunch' tour down here. (Wombats not guaranteed, but you'll certainly see lots of wombat holes!)
April 23rd and 24th, Conflux Sci-Fi Conference, Canberra.
May 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, Talks and workshops at Bowen, Qld. Contact Susan Conolly at Queen's Beach State School, 07 4785 1255.
June 22nd and 23rd, Gardening School at Toowoomba, Qld.
August 15th, 16th and 17th, Sydney Book Week talks.
August 22nd, 23rd and 24th, Melbourne Book Week talks.
Sept 30th - October 1st, Bega, NSW Rural Women's gathering.
If you'd like to book talks or workshops contact Lateral Learning (Lateral Learning, bookings@laterallearning.com) – often I can fit in other events when I'm in the area. But please don't contact them just to get a message to me!
As Lateral Learning is a booking agency they only take bookings for paid talks and charge a fee for all bookings. If your event is non-profit it's best to write to me directly at PO Box 63, Braidwood, 2622 to see if I can fit it in , or email Harper Collins.
But I'm not sure how much more voluntary work I can handle in 2005.
The January Garden
What's on now: Hass and Rincon avocados, lemons, raspberries, red currants, peaches, plums, plumcotts, lillipillies, peachcotts, kumquats, calamondins, rhubarb, Irish Peach apples plus a few early Gravensteins - one or two always mature weeks before the others, cherries, acerola cherry, boysenberry, Brazilian cherry, cape gooseberryŠ and probably others I've forgotten!
Keeping Your Cool
Somewhere beyond our garden it's 38ºC in the shade, if there IS any shade that's not already full of hot kids and hotter dogs. But here under the crabapple tree, as I write this (I LOVE laptop computers) it's... well, I don't know how hot it is as I'm not going to slog in and find the thermometer to find out. But it's a heck of a lot cooler than 38ºC.
Our garden is cool partly because it's shaded by tall trees, carefully planted so they don't block the breeze (which smells of hot musk roses and curry bush at the moment). The breeze is also flowing over a small fountain which is cooling the air too.
A green garden around your house can literally cool the place down by 10ºC, as well as give you a refuge of soft smells and cool air while the world outside is all traffic and pollution and glaring concrete.
How? Take note...
Keeping Life Breezy
Trees shade you, add a touch of moisture to dry air, and keep soil moister below them too. BUTŠ trees can also block breezes.
If you live in a humid area (ie near the coast) do have TALL trees – ones that are above your window height, not parallel to it. (Yes, I know trees take a while to grow but it is worth aiming for an ideal garden, even if takes a year or three.)
Tall trees shade your house and garden, but unlike tall shrubs they allow breezes to cool the house too – or at least help some of the clammy moisture on your skin to evaporate.
Look at the type of shade the tree gives too. Thick greenery above you can make a house dismal even in mid-summer, whereas more open canopies - the sort that a jacaranda gives you, for example, all green dapples (not to mention stunning flowers) will give you shade plus light. Looked for umbrella shaped trees as well, like palms, bauhinia or Albizia (silk tree).
Just Add water
If I could just remember my high school physics I'd be able to tell you why evaporating water really DOES cool the air down, which is why Coolgardie safes work. (Hands up those who remember what a Coolgardie safe is!)
But a breeze flowing over through and over a fountain is also a delicious thing in its own right, softening the air with water smells and coolness. (Mostly you only sense the smell of water on hot, still days.)
In fact even watering the paving around the house will cool things down! We have a polypipe and microjet watering system above our hanging baskets, and on hot afternoons these both water the plants and cool the air.
PS. Please no one write and tell me how a Coolgardie safe works! If I've forgotten for this long I don't need to know!
Keeping Things Green
Okay, don't panic about that parched patch of grass. Grass recovers. Our grass turns brown here each summer (we don't have enough water to keep it green) but even a few hours after rain green shoots appear.
Concentrate on watering the things that WON'T survive, like young shrubs and trees. But also consider planting a few 'stay green' climbers so you still have cool green colours around you.
Our passionfruit, hops, Chinese summer jasmine, kiwi fruit and grape vines make the whole garden look green, and there's a comfortable feeling of abundance about it too (anyone like a passionfruit? a basket of grapes? twenty passionfruit and a box of peaches?).
Watch out for paving
Large areas of paving may be elegant, fashionable and low maintenance – but they do reflect a lot of light and heat onto the house. (Old-fashioned lawns were popular for a reason!)
If you do have large areas of paving, consider a pergola above them, with grapes or hops or kiwi fruit that will cover the area with greenery in summer and lose their leaves in winter. Of these, hops are the least messy, as the leaves wither up and mostly blow away, and kiwi fruit the most - their thick tough leaves drop through autumn and most of winter and the fruit can get a bit splodgy too.
Light up the darkness!
Install garden lighting! Why? Because the best way to enjoy your garden and stay cool is to do it at night. (A mozzie-proof 'cabana' in the garden or mozzie-proof blinds on the verandah may also be a good idea!)
Keep Things Smelling Good
When the world smells of hot bitumen cool garden scents are immeasurably refreshing.
Hot days are also great for actually SMELLING your plants - perfume rises on hot days. One good fragrant plant can fill a garden with scent; half a dozen can turn your place into paradise. My midsummer scented favourites are hybrid musk roses like Prosperity, Penelope or Buff Beauty, curry bush (our front steps smell like a good vindaloo at the moment), clary sage, mandevilla, boronia, lavender, rosemary plus thyme between the hot paving stones.
Plant out your shade
A shady garden doesn't have to be a dull one - especially if most of your trees are deciduous ones that lose their leaves in winter to let the sunlight in.
As I look around our garden I can see reddish purple impatiens flowers, purple pansies, blue and purple agapanthus, pink and purple fuchsias (well, I do like purple), blue and white hydrangeas, plus Green Goddess lilies that keep blooming all year if they're kept cool and damp.
If you want a flash of orange, try clumps of bright clivias. Or the coloured foliage of cordylines in warmer areas or a carpet of hostas under fruit trees (watch for snails – install a blue-tongue lizard at the same time), or shade-loving natives like Boronia heterophylla, Correa spp or native fuchsias, or the river dog rose (Bauera rubioides). I could go on for pages with colour in the shade. Seek and ye shall find!
January jobs:
. Prune geraniums (pelargoniums) and pot up the cuttings;
. buy a new garden hat, mozzie repellent and a tube of Stingose for biting beasties; and
. if you have a few precious fruit you need to save from fruit fly, possums, fruit bats or birds, try covering them with sections of old panty hose, tied at both ends. I have yet to find a fruit bat who can bite through panty hose! One pair of 'one size fits all' (except they never do) will do about eight fruit.
Inspiring...
Any garden that is LOVED, rather than designed...
Am I the only person who's sick of backyards that are so 'designed' with matching plants and neat spaces that they look like they'll bite you if you plant a punnet of marigolds in the wrong place?
My living room is full of chairs I fell in love with and lumps of pottery that Edward made in preschool and a silver and purple dinosaur that Rory gave me last Mother's Day (it's the most beautiful dinosaur in the world I said, and he bounced and said 'Yes!').
My garden is like that too - roses I fell in love with and cuttings given by friends and fruit trees that feed us but look lovely anyway, all blossom or falling fruit.
If someone ever decides to give me a designer garden as a surprise, I'll compost them!
How to Keep your Garden Green!
Mulch!!! Why do some people's trees look lusher than anyone else's? Mulch!!!! (between 6 and 8 cms is best – deep mulches can prevent light rain showers reaching the plant roots!). I use whatever straw I have managed to buy locally, as well as garden junk - old branches, corn stalks, weeds - even large branches eventually turn back into soil.
Install drip irrigation or microjets around your garden – about 40% of water can be lost in overhead watering and with a drip irrigation system all you need do is turn on the tap! Soaker hoses are a labour-saving way to water long rows of plants or lawns too.
. Water only as deep as the roots. One deep watering a week may be a waste of water! Not all areas of the garden will need the same amount of water. Shallow-rooted plants like strawberries and lettuce will need more frequent but shorter watering than carrots or shrubs and grass will need less than trees.
. Water in the evening, or in the early morning if you are worried about powdery mildew on damp foliage.
. Keep plants healthy. Strongly growing plants are better able to take up moisture – and to cope with dryness too! In other words, feed the poor things... and mulch!!!!!
. If you have to leave a vegie or flower garden for a week, drape shade cloth on poles over it (tie it down well). The young plants will be more likely to survive in light shade.
Beat the heat with summer bulbs!
Summer bulbs survive long hot or dry periods by 'living on their hump' like camels... acanthus, agapanthus, dahlias (miniature or single ones that don't need staking), cannas, clivias, dietes, red hot pokers (I prefer the miniature yellow ones) and day lilies can provide a wonderfully hardy backdrop of colour all through the heat.
Question of the Month
What tree can I plant near our swimming pool to shade the kids in the afternoons?
Answer: It's called shade sail! (You can paint leaves on it if you like!)
ALL trees over swimming pools drop leaves or flowers (that can be slippery and dangerous as well as messy) and the roots of some, like liquidambers or native figs, can actually damage pools. Trees attract bees and birds and insects... all these are good things, except above your pool!
You could try a deciduous tree, like a Chinese tallow (Sapium sebiferum) that will mostly drop leaves in autumn and winter after the swimming season is over, or the 'self cleaning' palms – ask your local nursery for suggestions. But instead of a tree, I'd go for tall shrubs on the western side, that will block the lower afternoon sunlight just as well as an overhanging tree – hibiscus (but make sure slippery flowers don't drop on the concrete), sasanqua camellias, colourful cordylines, or put up a tall lattice on the western side with Chinese star jasmine, or bougainvillea for something fast and rampant (be prepared to trim it back!).
Best of all summer desserts
1. Grown-Up Iceblocks
(pretty fantastic for kids too... and really excellent as a dessert at a barbecue!!)
1 cup pineapple, chopped
1 cup rockmelon, chopped
1 banana. chopped
half a cup of cream
half a cup of sugar
half a cup of water OR champagne or good white wine
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp mint, chopped, optional OR 1tsp ginger root, peeled and chopped, optional
half a cup of grapes, optional
half a cup of paw paw, chopped, optional
half a cup of strawberries, chopped, optional
half a cup of lychees, chopped, optional
You will also need: iceblock moulds or plastic or disposable cups
iceblock sticks or teaspoons
Boil sugar and water or wine with the mint or ginger (or no ginger and mint as you prefer) for five minutes. Cool.
Add the fruit. You must have pineapple and banana and preferably rockmelon too, but other fruit can be added from the list.
Take long iceblock moulds, or plastic cups or even disposable cups. Pour about a tablespoom of cream into each, then carefully add the fruit mixture, so that the cream stays mostly at the bottom, and doesn't mix through it too much. Poke an iceblock stick or teaspoon into each one; freeze and eat.
2. Raspberry and Blueberry Jelly (looks stunning)
Serves 4 - 6 unless you're greedy
1 packet frozen raspberries
1 packet frozen blueberries
extra strawberries, peaches or other fruit
1 cup white wine
1 cup caster sugar
juice of two lemons
half a cup of water
2 sachets gelatine
Use a non-stick cake tin or line a cake tin with plastic wrap. Place sliced strawberries or peaches in the bottom; empty in the blueberries and raspberries.
Heat all other ingredients except the gelatine till nearly boiling, take off the heat and add gelatine. (Mix a little with some of the liquid first so you don't get lumps.) Pour liquid into the cake tin. Leave till set... it will take several hours.
Turn it out onto a plate. If it won't/doesn't come out easily dip the base of the tin in hot water in the sink for about 30 seconds – make sure no liquid gets into the tin though! This will loosen the jelly enough for it to slide out.
Serve slices with cream or icecream.
Note: if that amount of gelatine doesn't form a well-set jelly, the whole thing can be slightly warmed and more gelatine (mixed with a little of the warmed liquid first) can be added. For some reason sometimes more is needed - possibly this depends on the ripeness and juiciness of the berries.
3. The Five Minute Wonder - Fried Bananas
Ingredients
4 bananas, thinly sliced
4 tsps butter or margarine
4 tbsps golden syrup
4 tbsps rum
Optional: 4 rings of fresh pineapple, cored and chopped
Melt the butter in a frying pan on a very low heat, add the fruit and fry on both sides for three minutes. Add the golden syrup and the rum and keep cooking till thick – another two minutes or so.
Serve with thick cream, icecream or yoghurt.
4. Grapefruit and Lychees in Champagne (a cheat's dessert!!!!)
1 can grapefruit segments
1 can lychees
1 cup green grapes (can be peeled and seeded if you feel energetic; I don't bother)
1 bottle champagne
1 tsp chopped mint OR two dashes bitters
Drain the fruit, place in glasses with the mint, cover with clingwrap and chill. Add champagne just before serving.
Note: If using fresh fruit, mix with a syrup of half a cup of water boiled with half a cup of sugar and the juice of half a lemon for two hours or overnight before draining and adding the champagne.
5. Chilled Oranges
4 oranges, peeled and sliced and membrane removed
4 tbsps orange zest
4 tbsps Cointreau
4 tbsps caster sugar
1 tbsp water
Place sugar, zest and caster sugar in a pan and bubble till it JUST turns golden. Take off the heat. Add to oranges and Cointreau. Chill with clingwrap over it. Serve cold. You can serve with cream or icecream - and very good it is too - but it is also a wonderfully light but sweet dessert after a rich meal.
6. Chocolate Peppermint Pots
2 cups cream
3 eggs
8 squares Lindt or other very good chocolate
4 drops peppermint essence
4 tbsps caster sugar
Melt chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave and stir into the cream with the peppermint essence. Mix in the eggs. Bake at 200ºC for about 30 minutes or till just set. Serve in very small portions with a peppermint leaf on top to pretend it's herbal and healthy (ha!).
7. Lemon Sorbet (my favourite dessert)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup lemon juice
4 egg whites
Boil sugar and water for five minutes. Cool. Add lemon juice and whipped egg whites. Freeze. Stir two or three times while it's freezing as the liquid and egg white will separate. Serve in chilled glasses and eat fast.
8. Lemon and Mint Granita
2 cups water
1 cup caster sugar
2 tsps mint, finely chopped
zest and juice of 1 lemon
Boil sugar and water for five minutes. Cool. Add mint, juice and zest, freeze till slushy or freeze till firm and let it melt a bit while you eat the main course. Serve in chilled dishes and eat with a teaspoon.
9. Chocolate and Ginger Steamed Pudding with 'adults only' sauce.
125 gms butter or margarine
125 gms caster sugar
2 eggs
125 gms self raising flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp cocoa
4 tbsps milk
Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one by one and fold in flour, milk and cocoa. Place in a large pudding dish or divide into four small ones. Place greaseproof paper over the top of the dish then put the lid on. Place in a large pan of boiling water and simmer for one hour. Serve with Adults Only Choc Fudge Sauce, or custard if you're feeling wimpish.
Adults Only Choc Fudge Sauce
half a cup of cream
quarter of a cup of caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp water
125 gms dark cooking chocolate, chopped
optional: 2 tbsps rum, Cointreau, rich dark coffee, Kahlua or other flavourings
Stir sugar and cream in pan over a very low heat till sugar is dissolved. Do not boil or simmer. Add cornflour mixed till smooth with the water. Stir over the low heat till it thickens. Again, do not simmer. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and your flavouring of choice. Stir till smooth. This can be used either hot (ie straight from the pan) or cold – the heat from the pud will warm it up again!
PS This is very good even without the pud, serve hot or cold on icecream, or stirred into milk for a really excellent choc milkshake.
10. Fruit Crush
You need a blender to make this. It is extraordinarily fresh and good and fruity.
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp tartaric acid
3 cups ripe fragrant strawberries (quarter them if they're large) OR
3 cups ripe fragrant pineapple, chopped (def not canned) OR
3 cups squishy ripe mulberries OR
3 cups very ripe raspberries (pick out all beetles)
Freeze the fruit FAST ie don't bung it in a crowded freezer, or all bunched up together. Place fruit in a plastic freezer bag and freeze in a single layer. Use within two days or the fruit will lose a lot of its fragrance. If possible, use as soon as it's frozen.
Boil other ingredients for five minutes. Refrigerate till very cold – semi-frozen is even better.
Throw fruit in blender. Add one cup of syrup, turn on blender and process. Add more syrup only if the mixture is too thick for the blender to process.
Serve at once. It will be semi-frozen and slightly liquid; eat what you can with a spoon and slurp up the rest.
PS A few mint leaves go well with the pineapple; a little orange zest added to the syrup when it's cooking is good with strawberries.
11. Rich Rhubarb and Caramel Baked Custard
(one of Bryan's favourites)
2 cups cream
4 small eggs
2 egg yolks
half a cup of brown sugar
2 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 cup orange juice
ground nutmeg or powdered ginger
Simmer rhubarb in orange juice and 4 tbsps of sugar till soft. Add water only if sticking.
Place in an oven-proof dish.
Beat the cream, eggs and remaining sugar with a fork or eggbeater for three minutes. Pour over the rhubarb. Dust on a little ground nutmeg or powdered ginger. Bake at 200ºC for half an hour or till firm. Serve hot, or eat the cold leftovers for a sinful breakfast.
12. Plums in Port
1 can plums, drained, or 16 fresh plums, halved
OR pears, quinces, a mix of granny smith apples and dried apricotsŠ in fact even old doormats would probably taste pretty good in this stuff
1 cup port
1 cup water
6 whole cloves
1 stick cinnamon
half a cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
Place all ingredients in a stainless steel saucepan. Simmer fruit gently till soft – anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour. Serve either hot or cold. Keeps for several days covered in the fridge.
And an (almost) healthy lollyŠ
Blueberry and Lime Fruit Jellies
You need:
1 cup apple juice
1 packet frozen blueberries
half a cup of lime juice
1 cup of sugar (or less – your choice)
2 tsps tartaric acid
half a cup gelatine, pectin or seaweed-based setting agent – gelatine is cheaper but the others taste better.
Simmer everything except the gelatine, pectin or seaweed-based setting agent for half an hour. Strain.
Now add a little of the juice to the gelatine or other setting mix and mix it into the rest of the juice. Pour it onto a tray covered in baking paper and wait for it to set.
Now cut into little squares or diamonds or long jelly snakes – you can give them a pair of eyes with a bit of peanut if you like, and use a knife to cut a pattern into the 'snakeskin'. Store between baking paper in a cool dry place for a day or two, but not too long – remember they don't have any preservatives in them. Throw them out if they start growing mould or look, smell or taste odd.