'Homewood's Harvest'

It's that time of year again... the Mackerel have arrived on the Sussex shores and it's time to refresh my memory from my battered copy of Homewood's Harvest and prepare some accompaniments.

Top right are the big leaves of the wild Horse radish but it’s the roots that are used to make the sauce that was traditionally used to accompany Mackerel along with wild Gooseberry sauce as a contrast of flavours. They both grow on Railway Land but please don’t take them from here as it is a nature reserve. If you find them elsewhere, take a branch cutting from the gooseberry and a root cutting from the horseradish in autumn and grow them at home.

The Horseradish roots are difficult to prepare, particularly here in Sussex as they grown in very little top soil, riddled with stones of chalk and flint that divert the potentially carrot shaped root into a cork screw tangled mess. The trick is to grow your own in fine soil in tubes. I use different lengths sections of drain pipes arranged like those of a church organ in the garden. It looks rather attractive and if you crop them after one or two seasons before they grown to thick, they are easy to remove and replace with new cuttings.

The full story can be found in my little book, available from the publishers at; www.blurb.com/bookstore or direct from me (signed) More books too on my 'BOOKS' page.

The Gooseberries are easy by the way. Crush, add a tiny pinch of salt, a teaspoon of Cider vinegar and gentle reduce until thick like jam and on the verge of a boil. Steve