Orchard's harvest!

We are very fortunate to have a rather old orchard, with an abundance of both apples and wild life, and since we began putting out peanuts we regularly have a woodpecker come and visit. If only I were able to catch him on camera but he seems to be shy!

I have been making Mrs Beeton's apple chutney.
As ever with me nothing goes as straightforwardly as it should! After getting deep into making chutney I discovered we didn't have enough malt vinegar, I added the little cider vinegar we had but drew the line at using the balsamic, as I was still short I used the half a bottle of red wine that had been rattling about the cupboard for some time. It turned out great not so acidic as normal, we decided we preferred it made this way so the recipe has been altered, sorry Mrs B:-)

Also found a recipe for apple and cinnamon jam/jelly, but I got a bit carried away with the cinnamon will not be quite so heavy handed next time, still tastes great though.

Have also made Delia's Christmas mincemeat which smells delicious am almost tempted to use it now, though have been good it is bottled and stored under the stairs out of sight out of mind?!