The Fruit is in There

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I run a small food processing business from my home in north County Donegal, Ireland. I grow a wide range of fruit and vegetables which I process in a purpose built kitchen. I usually work alone, but this summer have had one employee who has now left to return to college. I will miss her!

I have had a very busy summer, with an excellent crop of soft fruits. Unfortunately, due to ever increasing demand I will be running out of summer fruits again shortly. I will be planting more fruit in the autumn. Meanwhile I am gathering in the wild fruits — the blackberries are terrific and only lack of time is limiting the harvest. I am also planning to invest to increase my production capacity so that I can go some way to meet your demand. As the days shorten, the time comes to research new recipes, which is always enjoyable.

A cisis is looming in the production of Seville Orange marmalade. The demand for this is growing all the time, and as I use only fresh Seville oranges which I store in the freezer, there is a limit to what I can make. These oranges will not be available until Jan/Feb 2000 so in the meanwhile is there any orange grower out there who can help?

• Seasonal suggestion - Sloe gin.

  The sloe is a small round blue-black fruit which grows on the spiny blackthorn and can be found in hedgerows anywhere. The Celts were said to eat them. I do not recommend this — they are very, very bitter but make an excellent flavouring for drinks and jellies.

  Gather the sloes, buy a bottle of gin and a bag of sugar. For every pound of sloes, use one standard bottle of gin (cheap gin will do!) and six ounces of sugar. Prick the sloes with a knitting needle or similar, pour the gin over them, add the sugar and store in a childproof container. This will be ready for Christmas. For a gift idea, buy a fancy glass bottle and decant some of this precious liqour. Make sure to put some sloes in as well to complete the process.

ŠEvleen Harvey 1999