Jewels!

Introducing the Bulgarian pepper (чушка) - one of many anyway - and what a wonderful vegetable it is too. This sort is called капия, that is, pointy. Seeing piles and piles and rows and rows of these at the market is a delight, especially in the sunshine; they're so bright and shiny like jewels - and smell superb too - that they induce a feeling of happiness, but maybe that's just me! Having recently purchased 25 kg of these peppers, we had a day full of roasting, skinning and preserving yesterday. Ideal winter food, let me tell you :O) Stew, pasta, filled pastry, salad, soup... versatile and yummy.

Moving on to some more jewels, now is the time to be harvesting cornelian cherries (дренки), from the cornelian cherry tree (дрян), or Cornus mas. I first came across this tree (or shrub) in Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden by Lee Reich, Timber Press. The line drawings in this are very accurate, so much so that I immediately recognised the mystery tree that was behind the house (back then in a thicket of plum trees). It turned out that there are two bushes just by the front gate too, as well as about a dozen baby to juvenile trees all across the garden! Not only is it beautiful in Spring, with it's profusion of yellow flowers when there's not much other colour about, it's interestingly veined leaves throughout Summer add to its charm, along with these ruby red fruits of course, and finally, in winter, it's an unusual plant for already having its buds formed (and, for this reason, they're used in Christmas baking as a charm - the number of buds foretells your fortune for the coming year).

Back to the present, I'll be harvesting our cornelian cherries throughout this week, for proper 'dealing with' next weekend. But a word to the wise! They may look red and ripe and lovely, but it's very easy to get a shockingly sour one, and astringent to boot!!! In fact, most of the people I know don't eat them raw, and if they do then it's only after they've been picked and laid out in a single layer in a cardboard box for several days, to allow the sugars to develop a bit more (so I'm told). They also turn much deeper in colour, very dark and rich. Last year I made some sweet cornelian cherry 'marmalade' (a runny jam really but great on waffles), savoury Georgian shindis satsebeli sauce and I also dried, a bit too thoroughly, what was left over - lovely in pilafs and stuffed marrow or pumpkin.

Having mentioned Uncommon Fruits, I should also report that it features several other plants of interest that are present in Bulgaria. I was reading through it one day, put it down, then a little later went for a wonder on the track just outside the house. I'd been admiring a flowering bush in the garden of the abandoned house opposite and went to take a closer look. I though "That looks familiar" and, lo and behold, there was a mature clove currant (Ribes odoratum). Top features include it's vanilla and clove scent, apparently edible berries (like black currants) and great trumpet-shaped flowers (far bottom). Several of these have since turned up in the garden, yay. Not so good is that the goats have managed to eat most of them, but I have a few left!! As far as I know, none have ever flowered yet, though they do have to reach a certain size/age to do so. Next Spring? Last but not least, a plant that I know grows in Bulgaria, and whose fruits definitely get collected, is the medlar (мушмула). Apart from buying a bag full of these fruits from the local market last autumn I've not come across them outdoors, but frankly I've not looked very hard. I do want a medlar or two in the garden eventually so an outing to the local woods, which are just a few minutes from the house, should be mounted in the not too distant future I hope!