A couple of days ago we had a neighbour call in with some medlars for the bletting, wonderful! They are ‘finishing their time’ in a box of straw in the shed. It won’t be long before they are steeped in vodka and sugar to make this year’s supply of medlar liqueur.

Next day our neighbour returned with medlar ‘cheese’. He removes all the pips from the ripe and bletted medlars (no small task), mixes the pulp up, places it in a tray and sets it in the fridge. He then cuts it into bars that he freezes, to serve as part of a cheese platter.

We only had a little actual cheese, but a good one, so matched it straight away to the bar of medlar cheese he’d brought us. Wow. No more to say, it’s amazing! Think I’ll need to keep back some of the medlars for this purpose.

Meanwhile, our ‘feathered ladies’ have been busy laying a huge supply of eggs. Time to make ice cream then.

Believe it or not, the photo is of vanilla ice cream, just churned. No artificial colours here. The bright yellow custard is courtesy of the egg yolks provided by those ladies.

Robert is a big fan of custard of any kind, ice cream as well, so he was the first to sample it. Poppy the Puppy thought it looked quite good also, but didn’t get so much as a lick, poor darling.