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July brings me a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. This month, fruit trees and bushes begin to ripen.
- Raspberries are the first to appear in my home. They are sweet, fleshy and, surprisingly, no worms. I collect them all month long and in batches I make syrup from them, which is an excellent remedy for colds.
- Meanwhile, strawberries start fruiting. My whole family eats fresh food. I am happy because they are very he althy. They contain a lot of vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus and many other micro and macro elements beneficial for the body.Strawberries improve metabolism, protect against anemia and cleanse the body. Few of them remain for preserves, but in a particularly kind year for strawberries, I manage to freeze a few portions. I put the blended mixture into plastic containers, and use the mousse thawed later as an addition to cakes or desserts.
- After strawberries, I start my annual adventure with currants. I have a dozen or so bushes of this species, but I make most of my preserves from black fruit. For example, delicious jelly is made from them. Thanks to the pectin contained in the fruit, it does not require any other additives, apart from sugar. It goes down by itself, and it can be stored hot in jars for up to several years. I also make frozen food and wine from currants.
- In July, wild strawberries are starting to turn red in my garden. I plant their bushes next to a mint bed to protect them from ants. We eat these small fruits mainly on a regular basis, and prepare he althy and nutritious cocktails, yoghurts and kefirs until autumn.
- We start harvesting our cherries in the middle of the month. It is not an easy task, because we have to be ahead of the competition, i.e. starlings. Last year, we managed to save the harvest from a smaller tree, which we covered with an old curtain. In turn, CDs were hung on a larger cherry. Swaying in the wind and glittering in the sun, they were supposed to scare away birds. It turned out that the trap worked, but for a short time. After a week the starlings were feeding back on the tree. So I didn't have too much of the fruit that I saved with difficulty and it was enough only for my immediate needs. However, I decided that there is nothing to regret, because cherries, although tasty, contain little vitamins, and their preserves are time-consuming.
- There is also a pulpwood collection in mid-July. They bear fruit once every two years, but so abundantly that you can buy preserves from them also for a less rich season. It is best to keep the specimens picked straight from the tree in the jars. Fallen fruit is less durable and can be eaten on a regular basis.I recommend freezing hard, sour apples cut into wedges.
- If we have a warm summer, I am already starting to harvest melons at the end of July. Their harvest depends on the weather - the warmer it is, the greater the yield. Raw melons are the tastiest. In hot weather, they effectively quench thirst, and when cut into cubes, they are a perfect addition to lettuce with roasted sunflower seeds and vinaigrette sauce. In the years of special harvest, I sometimes prepare jam, which is the original filling for shortbread cookies.
- The blueberry ripening in the second half of July is especially recommendable. Its fruits are worth eating because they have a positive effect on eyesight, strengthen the heart and lower cholesterol. I do not have many shrubs of this species, so we eat blueberries on a regular basis. However, I heard that some of them make very he althy juices and tinctures.
- The end of July and the beginning of August are peaches. Their fruits are perishable and therefore require haste in processing. I pour hot syrup over the halves of the picked peaches and this way I get a fantastic dessert. I make juices from the fallen specimens.
I recommend freezing the summer harvest. In this form, the fruit retains the most vitamins, minerals and nutritional values.
Jadwiga Antonowicz-Osiecka
