A Spot Of Grafting And A Thick Asparagus Soup

Once upon a time, many moons ago (at least 2), there was an apricot tree in Pinos. And a big old beautiful tree it was too. Uncared for, it thrived on a piece of land next to an abandoned “casita”. This wonderful tree managed to produce the tastiest apricots I have ever had the pleasure of eating. It was a local variety, one that you can’t buy in the “cooperativas” or garden centres (“viveros”).

I was never fond of apricots (“albaricoques”), I thought they were a bit of a nothing fruit. Even eco ones that people would give me from their trees would usually end up as jam or used in some sort of cake or whatnot. Then one day, when we used to live in Pinos, we were having a stroll past where the aforementioned apricot tree (“albaricoquero”) grew. Pep adores the small peach-like fruit and began to scrump a few.

Now this is most unlike Pep, he doesn’t agree in picking other people’s produce (there’s a tongue twister for you “Pep picks people’s produce”😂). But he assured me that no one picked the fruit and we definitely didn’t want them go to waste.

I carefully pulled one off the tree to sample, thinking that I’d probably end up passing it unfinished to Pep. How wrong I was. These were the most delicious apricots I had ever eaten. They were smaller than others I had tried but the flavour was incredible, they made all my taste buds sing out with joy. I ended up eating about 30 before we walked home, grabbed a bag and went to pick a load more. Now I understood why Pep likes them so much.

Each spring we would impatiently wait till the fruit was ripe before picking a few more bags full. The tree was quite big and it would often be extremely weighted down with apricots. I’m sure I heard it thank us one day as we were filling our bags😁.

Unfortunately last year, the land, along with the “casita” was sold and renovations on the house started. We had to begrudgingly say cheerio to our yearly glut of apricots. There are a few wild or abandoned apricot trees around here but the fruit from the Pinos tree was incomparable. We’ve planted a couple of varieties in our “huerta” and also on Pep’s land but they’re still a bit young to produce fruit. Maybe this year, although I doubt they’ll be as tasty.

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One thing Pep never learnt from his dad and to this day regrets is how to graft (“injertar”). Each year, when we would pick the apricots, he’d say he must learn how to do it. You never know when something might happen to the big old tree. But he never got round to it, I think he’s always been slightly intimidated by the whole procedure.

A few Saturdays ago he went up to his “casita” in Pinos. An elderly man was there waiting for Juan (Pep’s brother). He’d asked the gentleman if he could do a spot of grafting for him. Pep couldn’t believe it. He put all his chores on hold and zoomed down to our favourite apricot tree to grab a few small shoots. Thankfully the people aren’t living at the house, although if they had been there he would have asked them if they’d minded him taking a few cuttings. Most people would oblige.

It was the perfect time to graft certain trees of the prunus variety. Pep watched intently as the man grafted Juan’s trees, followed by the apricot shoots on to some of Pep’s bought apricot trees. Now all he had to do was wait. Supposedly, after 3-4 weeks, you should see signs that the shoots have taken and the buds will gradually open, depending on how the weather has been.

When he arrived home he was most excited, saying that on Monday he would go back and get a few more shoots to graft onto some of our trees at home. He then began searching the internet for lessons on how to graft, finding quite a few extremely detailed videos explaining the process of this particular grafting technique. He wanted to be as informed as possible, it’s a delicate procedure. Aside from the apricot tree he was also going to try his hand with a few different specimens.

Monday arrived and when he came back down from Pinos he looked like someone had died. Upon asking him what was up he informed me that the beautiful big apricot tree had been dug up. The owners thought it more of a nuisance than anything (it was in the middle of their driveway) and a digger had ripped it out the earth. I couldn’t believe how upset I felt. I wanted to go and shout at the new owners. Did they not realise how privileged they were to have such a wonderful apricot tree?!?!

Unfortunately the damage had been done and no matter how extremely annoyed and angry I was, nothing could be done to save the tree. We’d just have to pray that the shoots from the apricot tree would take. But even if they do, the graft is very delicate for the first couple of years. Time will tell.

In the meantime Pep began grafting some of our trees (in accordance with the moon diary of course😊), mainly of the prunus type, but he also did the “caqui” (persimmon) tree and the pomegranate tree (“granado”). The varieties we have at our “casita” are ok but the ones he has in Pinos are sooo much nicer so he thought he’d give them a go too. Here are a few pics with a bit of info on how he began the process.

Roll on three weeks or so and most of the shoots in Pinos have taken (breathe a sigh of relief!). As I said, it’s early days but we’re hoping the old apricot tree didn’t die in vain and that its descendants will live on to produce more of the delicious fruit. I’ll keep you informed 😁.

The pomegranate tree at ours doesn’t look too promising but we’ll give it a bit more time. The prunus varieties (peach and nectarine) that he grafted on to young almond trees in our “huerta” seem to have taken. The only one that we’re not sure about is the apricot shoot onto almond. They do say that this is one of the trickier combinations although Pep knows people who have succeeded. We’ll give them all a couple more weeks though, the weather has been quite chilly with a lot of cloud and this can sometimes influence the amount of time needed for the grafts to take.

Because the weather has been a tad miserable lately it’s most definitely still soup weather. One of the benefits of having a spot of rain once in a while (apart from how beneficial it is for our newly planted vegetables) is the asparagus season is prolonged. Most days I/we go out for a walk and come back with a small bagful of the delicious wild vegetable.

Pep was working on his land in Pinos a few days ago. When he came back down he presented me with just over a kilo of the thin spears. He’d also given a load to his mum. Now as I said in a previous post, I love a few on the “plancha” or in risottos. Sautéed with some Swiss chard as a filling for a “cloud omelette” (more on that another day) is also delicious.

But one kilo, plus another 300 grams or so that I already had in the fridge, is quite an abundant amount. The time had come to make “crema de espárragos trigueros” (thick asparagus soup). As you may know from my “crema de calabaza” (thick pumpkin soup) post here, I don’t do thin soups. In my opinion they’re not satiating. Unless I’m serving soup as a starter only thick will do in this abode.

I basically follow the same method I use for the above thick pumpkin soup, starting by sautéing some chopped onion in a large saucepan. Once this has softened I add approximately 600 grams of chopped wild asparagus and continue to sauté for a few more minutes. In goes about 250 grams of chopped, peeled potatoes, along with a sprig or two of fresh rosemary and a bayleaf. Cook for a couple more minutes before covering with boiling water and add a couple of good pinches of salt.

Bring to a boil, cover and turn the heat down low. Cook until the potatoes are soft. Strain the liquid over a bowl. Remove the herbs. Return the cooked veg to the saucepan. Add a bit of stock and blend with an immersion blender. Keep adding stock until you reach the desired consistency. Add salt to taste. I always add plenty of water when I’m cooking the soup. This way I have a tasty, healthy veg stock to use in a risotto or similar the following day.

I love this soup with a soft boiled egg (from our lovely hens), cut open on top of the soup, a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. What more do you need on a dreary day?!?! The colours alone brighten you up!

One more thing before I say au revoir for now. As you know, I love to potter about in the kitchen when the weather’s a bit grotty. Lately I’ve been making recipes that are less inflammatory. My shoulders have been giving me a bit of grief and I know I’ve been eating slightly too much gluten, even if it is in the form of spelt and rye. As soon as I cut it out, along with cane sugar (not just refined), my aches and pains gradually clear up. So here are a couple of gluten free/cane sugar free recipes I’ve tried out these last few days.

The first is from Rhian’s Recipes, a great blog I follow. I shared her snickers bar recipes on my post here not too long ago. The recipe I chose this time is her vegan chocolate truffles, made with cashews, cocoa butter, cacao powder and a few other basic ingredients. I substituted the maple syrup for coconut sugar because that’s what I had in the cupboard. They were extremely tasty, melt-in-your-mouth creamy and very quick and easy to make. Next time I shall add the grated rind of an orange, chocolate and orange are a heavenly combination. Here’s the link to the recipe.

The other recipe was paleo, dairy free apple muffins. These are scrumptious, although they’re not vegan because they contain eggs and honey. They require coconut flour for the batter. Pep loves them and you can’t tell they’re grain free. I shall be making these regularly, adding raisins or sultanas next time I make them. Here’s the link to the recipe.

There was one more recipe I made that, although it is gluten free and vegan it isn’t cane sugar free. I’d promised to make my mum something sort of healthy and lemony as she’s not too keen on pumpkiny cinammony cakes. So I made her some baked lemon doughnuts with a lemon glaze. The original recipe calls for poppy seeds which I omitted ’cause mum’s not a fan of things with bits in them, just like me when I was a kid 😂. Here’s the recipe for the doughnuts. Of course, we had to try just one to make sure they were ok to give to mum! They’re definitely worth making.

Oh, I love the internet. You can find recipes for absolutely everything, there are some great blogs out there. It doesn’t matter what ingredients you have on hand, just type them into google and you’ll have a huge array of options to choose from, however odd they may seem. It’s also great for finding recipes for specific diets like gluten free, paleo, vegan, Keto, dairy free, Whole30, vegan-paleo, vegan-gluten free, and the list goes on.

Right, I’m off for now. I shall be back on Valley FM this Saturday. If you’d like to subscribe to this blog you can do so in the subscription form on the top of the right column and also at the bottom of this page. If you’re reading this on a phone or tablet the form is at the bottom of the post. When you subscribe you’ll receive an email every time I publish a new post. You can also like our Facebook page to see new posts.

As always, thanks for reading. Any suggestions or questions or whatever you fancy don’t hesitate to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. I’d also like to thank you for your lovely comments and messages. They really make my day. Take care you lot. See you soon. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx