A fruity harvest

Thrilled of Essex here. Very Happy

So far, so good, blight seems to be giving me a wide berth, so today, James and I went to the allotment to see what toms were ready for picking, and just look at what we brought home!

Entire harvest ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

Here is the entire harvest including varieties like Purple Cherokee, Great White, Golden Sunrise, Roma (plum), Black Cherry, Beefsteak, Santa and Gardeners Delight. In all, over 13 different variety of tom.

Tom harvest ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

Striped Stuffer ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

This variety is called Striped Stuffer, but it isn't as large as I would have hoped. However, as most of you know, there is no piped water onto our allotment site, so other than what I can give from the waterbutt, they have to fend for themselves. It does mean smaller fruit, but often sweeter fruits as they aren't full of water.

Great white ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

This is a beefsteak called Great White. A delicious pale yellow, large tom, with very dense flesh and hardly any seeds. It is quite a sharp tom.

Cherries galore ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

Plenty of cherries including Santa, a cherry plum, gardeners delight, and gartenperle, a hanging basket variety.

Cherokee Purple Beefsteak ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

This gorgeous specimen is called Cherokee Purple and it is nearer brown than purple. Tasty as can be, sweet as sugar with dense, almost seedless flesh.

Black cherry ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

These are black cherries, a new one on me, but delicious.

Black cherry toms ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

More black cherries

Beefsteak ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

This is a traditional beefsteak type, but again, rather on the small side. I don't remember exactly it's name, but what a great kinky ribbed shape!

Not bad for an hours picking. Some will be kept for eating fresh, espeically the beefsteaks and some cherries, the rest will be roasted with olive oil and perhaps a little garlic, then whizzed up to a puree and frozen for use over the winter. There are masses, and I mean masses of fruits still to ripen on the plants, so providing the blight keeps clear, we will be picking this amount weekly from now on. YAY!

_________________
Check out my blog
http://allotmentnews.blogspot.com/