In Praise Of …

Figs

This month it is figs. This striking fruit, with its fresh green or deep purple skin and vibrant deep pink flesh, is a wonderful addition to the autumnal table. Figs have a naturally high sugar content, making them an ideal match for equally intense ingredients, such as salty prosciutto - a classic Italian combination.

Blue Cheese and Fig Tarts

Preparation time less than 30 mins, cooking time 10 to 30 mins. Makes 24 tarts.

Ingredients

2 sheets filo pastry (measuring 25x25cm/10x10in square)

A little melted butter

3 ripe figs

100g Roquefort cheese

1 tsp lemon juice

3 sage leaves, chopped

A sprinkling of ground paprika

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Brush two sheets of filo pastry with butter and place on top of each other. Cut into 24 equal squares. Put the squares together in pairs on top of each other at a 45 degree angle to make a star shape. Press into the holes of a 12 mini-muffin tin. Repeat with the remaining pastry to make 24 mini tartlets.

Bake in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp. Transfer to a baking tray.

Chop the figs into small pieces, and divide between the filo cases. Put the cheese, lemon juice and sage into a bowl. Mash down with a fork, season with pepper, then spoon blobs of cheese mixture on top of the fig. Sprinkle lightly with paprika.

Bake in the oven for five minutes, or until the cheese has just melted.

Fig Chutney

Ingredients

100g light brown soft sugar

120ml apple cider vinegar

300g chopped fresh figs

1 apple, peeled, cored and diced

1 onion, finely chopped

50g sultanas

1 tsp salt

Method

Put all the ingredients in a pan and bring to a gentle simmer for 1 hour, uncovered, stirring occasionally until it gets sticky and jammy. Spoon into a clean Kilner jar. That’s it. You’re done. Enjoy this sticky, sweet fig chutney alongside pâté or your favourite cheese.

Jane O’Hagan

The Letting Centre is a dedicated letting agency established for 29 years, operating from High Street premises in Melbourn. We offer an expert, tailored service to suit each clients’ individual needs. Covering Cambridge, Royston, Melbourn and surrounding villages.

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Little

Hands Nursery School

The Moor, Melbourn

A Private Nursery School specialising in quality care & preschool education for the under fives High staff to child ratio, individual child centred planning & learning, Flexible booking system for the 08.00am –5.30pm nursery day. Optional holiday clubs available, dedicated baby room for children under two

We accept nursery funding giving 15 & 30 hours/week of free funded nursery for all 3 and 4 year olds & eligible 2 year olds

For further information contact Sharon Tutty,nursery manager on 01763 260964 lh-melbourn@btconnect.com

Little Hands is also at Bourn, Linton and Newton visit the website at www.littlehands.co.uk

Preparing Melwood for Winter

www.melwood.org.uk

At the last working party in August, we made a start in returning the Meadow to a shorter turf. Some areas that were still showing significand bloom were left uncut at that time and these now need to be reduced to the same level as the rest of the field. The whole area will need at least one more cut before winter. The shortened grass will be seeded with Yellow Rattle, a semi-parasitic plant that can reduce the vigour of coarse grasses and help establish a more varied flora. It is recommended that invasive species such as nettle should be sprayed out before the Yellow Rattle is sown and that, for its part, must be seeded in time to allow it to experience a period of cold/freezing temperatures in order to germinate.

It was disappointing to see a large bivouac had been constructed in a back corner of the wood. The bivvy is not a great problem in its own right, but the damage caused in its construction was another matter. Much of the wood used was stripped from a dead hedge, constructed to mark the edge of the reserve. Small shrubs were trampled down in the process and green foliage used in construction was cut or pulled from nearby trees, including one planted as a commemorative tree. Noise and litter has also occurred at that site and the stripping of bark from two trees looks like simple vandalism. More recently it seems that some of the late night revellers have taken to using a bit of the wood near the bivvy as a toilet and used tissues are building up, creating an unsightly health hazard. Perhaps the arrival of winter will sort the problem but I’m not sure we can wait that long in light of the hazard now posed.

The generally warm late summer weather has had some positive effects, as a beautiful moth once restricted to a limited area of the south coast, now seems to be established in the area. I first encountered the Jersey Tiger Moth in Meldreth about four years ago and had only ever seen two specimens since then, until this year. It flies by day and night and has been in my garden moth trap most nights during August. During the day, it has been seen in many places in Melbourn and Meldreth, including Melwood. Its caterpillars feed on nettle, Hemp Agrimony and sometimes other small plants. Nettle is common in Melwood and Hemp Agrimony can be found along the River Mel and especially in land adjacent to Melwood. We need to remove nettle in Melwood only from areas where it is a real problem. This adds to a growing list of species spreading north with the benefit of global warming. But the news is not all good. Many species that were once common in my garden have been absent for ten years or more. Have they moved further north to cooler climates or is their loss down to the loss of countryside caused by ever-expanding development? It is not easy to tell which but the nationwide recording and mapping being conducted by conservation charities like Butterfly Conservation make such interpretations much more likely to be reliable. Some pests are also doing well and those villagers concerned with the possible damage to their Box hedging may need to be especially vigilant, as numbers of Box-tree Moth have really exploded this summer.

There will be plenty of work to keep the Melwood volunteers busy within coming months, as the floor of the wood will need cutting, nest boxes will need cleaning and possibly repairing and seedling sycamore and ivy brought under control. The Yew hedge along the river edge of the meadow needs reducing in height and width but this will have to wait until the future of the meadow is finally decided.

Anyone interested in joining the Conservation Group can easily do so via the “contact” page of our website, www.melwood.org.uk.

Jim Reid