Mabon making but Yule drinking...

Apple Schnapps

YAY I hear you cry, not another cake or jam recipe phew. No its one for the adults. Recommended to me by a Scandinavian friend this recipe is for a knock your boots off apple schnapps. Make it now at Mabon with your apples harvested and store for the few months to drink in winter or give as gifts.

Use fresh, fully ripe and aromatic apples. Wild or cultivated. Organic if available. You can use almost any variety. So start with your favourite one, then try some other varieties.

Direction:

Wash and slice 1-2 apples. Leave the skin on.
Put them - and also the cores - in a clean glass jar with tight-fitting lid.
Cover with clear, unflavoured vodka - 40% alcohol content (80 proof).

Let steep for two months or more in a dark place at room temperature, 18-20°C (64-68°F).

Shake lightly and taste it from time to time.

Strain and filter your infusion into a clean glass bottle or jar with tight-fitting lid.

You can serve your apple schnapps after it has settled for a couple of days in a dark place at room temperature. But some storage (aging) will improve the flavours. Taste it from time to time to find out.

Mea'n Fo'mhair/Mabon: Crab Apple Jelly

Ok, well you just knew with all the crops from our allotment/Dads garden this year was going to turn into recipe after recipe. And I hope you don't mind. We are also going to be trying out different crafts too so hopefully some variation for you!

For a recipe based on the crab apples we collected you will need:


Preserving sugar (see method)
1kg/2¼lb crab apples
3 cloves
water (see method)

Method

Preheat the oven to 120c/250f/gas½. Put the preserving sugar into the oven for 15 mins. Wash the apples and cut them in half but do not peel or core. Place the apples and cloves in a large saucepan.

Pour the water to cover. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer until soft. Strain the mixture into a bowl. Measure the juice and ass 450g/1lb/2 cups of sugar for each 600ml/1pint/2½ cups of juice. Pour into a pan and heat gently. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then boil rapidly until the setting point is reached. Pour into warm sterilized jars and seal.

Mea'n Fo'mhair

So having been openly on my Path for almost a year I thought I would look a bit into the names for the various celebrations, find out some more as to how they have come about.

Mea'n Fo'mhair seems to be the Druid name for the Autumn Equinox but when I typed this into the search station I got a lot of hits for sites which all carried the same short explanation. Having trawled through many of them I have decided to cheat and give you the same answer!

The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth.

And being me, the type of person who never actually completes what I initially started, having wandered off side tracked by something else which caught my eye, I liked the idea of making an offering. We often leave small plant food cubes on our walks so this was something that littleun was used too. I gave him a choice of which areas he wanted to go to as we have many lovely woods nearby when he pointed out something I had overlooked. On our allotment we have a budding oak. It has decided to grow in a rather inconvenient area but all the same is doing well. This as littleun said would be a good tree to offer our thanks too. To protect it, nurture it, give the area around it the food it needs and to watch it grow hopefully for many years to come. So come the equinox you will know where we will be.