“I came all the way in a lifeboat, and ate marmalade. Bears like marmalade.”*
*Paddington Bear
This year, I may have more in common with Paddington Bear than ever before. We both live in West London, wellies are a favourite footwear and, of course, a jar of marmalade is always close to hand. However, this year, Paddington and I both have a vested interested in the BAFTA Film Awards next weekend. Paddington for his two nominations (Outstanding British Film and Adapted Screenplay) and I for the 50 jars of honey that we supplied BAFTA 195 last month. I don’t think our honey will be on the menu for the big night as Head Chef Anton Manganaro was planning the menu with Nigel Boschetti, Executive Chef of Grosvenor House, back in September last year, but maybe I could pass on a jar of marmalade just in case the bear fancies a munch!
And so timely, as last week hosted our annual Toast and Marmalade Course where a small group of us gathered to bake beautiful bread and make marvelous marmalade. I chose to add apricots and pecan nuts to my loaf which was delicious toasted and served with the whisky marmalade – wonderfully warming and more than welcome on a wintry morning!
Coming up at the Corner
We have courses running right throughout the year with four places left on Saturday 28th February for Families, Feathers and Fun. March then welcomes the builders to create a fantastic new kitchen that will facilitate a wide range of sessions exploring artisan cooking skills and we are back outside with the chickens in April, kindly promoted by Country Living Magazine.
All our confirmed courses are open for bookings and we are planning new sessions such as Summer Scones and Strawberry Jam, Perfect Pasta, Breads: Sweet and Savoury… Which would you fancy for yourself or as a gift? If there is something that you’ve always wanted to try, let us know by commenting below, and if we make a course of it we’ll give you a free place!
Other News:
- Four of our hens are laying again and we’ve planned the new kitchen around the colour scheme of their eggs
- Sara is delighted to have been asked to join the panel at the Country Living Spring Fair next month, giving advice on how to turn your rural dream into a reality
- We are thrilled to be staying in a Luxury Safari Tent in Cornwall with Classic Glamping in the Easter Holidays, we’ll tell you all about it, but for more info see here
Jobs for this week:
- Encourage local teachers to consider Chickens and Bees in our INSET session with Heathland Learning Trust
- Pop up to Porchester Place to meet Rhuaridh from Buchanans Cheesemonger
- Meet with the team from RAW Unlimited to refresh our Hen Corner brand and plan for the new website
Have a good week yourself…
Join us on the Journey!
Hen Corner 
Mmm, marmalade! We seem to specialise in it at Ealing bees, you should give a marmalade talk one Saturday! 🙂
By: Emma Sarah Tennant on February 5, 2015
at 7:27 am
I do love to cook/eat with the seasons… Marmalade in January, Asparagus in April, Honey in September, etc…
By: hencorner on February 5, 2015
at 5:58 pm
Hello all at Hen Corner,
Could you advise? I was wondering if the wild honey bees on my
allotment would like some unwanted boiled sweets I was about to throw
out as an energy boost?
Best wishes,
Hazel
By: Hazel Holmes-Wilde on February 6, 2015
at 4:26 pm
Hi Hazel,
Thank you so much for thinking of the bees, however, I would expect that boiled sweets might be too hard for the bees to process. They are used to liquid nectar, which they evaporate to make honey, and in this cold weather we bee keepers give them fondant (like fondant icing) which is soft enough for them to eat without the high water content that could cause condensation.
Another concern with the boiled sweets would be the colours, chemicals & flavourings that we wouldn’t choose to feed to the bees.
I can offer a suggestion of how to use the boiled sweet though!
Try this recipe for Stained Glass Window Biscuits: http://youtu.be/udgtFkT-21Y
By: hencorner on February 6, 2015
at 5:10 pm