Things built and photographs taken.
Smooth Hot-erator does exactly what it says — smooth as it goes down, then a slow-building fire underneath. It's my second fermented hot sauce, made with plums from Taze's garden and chillies we grew ourselves. It's got that Chinese plum sauce flavour, sweet and rich, but with way more heat than my last one. Blended silky smooth and strained through a chinois, so there's nothing chunky about it — just heat that creeps up on you.
These pears came from our allotment. They look a bit like Red Williams, and we only had a small amount, so we turned the lot into a tiny batch of perry vinegar.
This year’s vinegar began as our Shrewsbury Sagadoa cider, then went through the Noma-style aerated vinegar method using an aquarium pump. Even with the cold weather slowing things down, it wrapped up in about two and a half weeks.
We split the 6-litre batch between two vessels, and they fermented into two very different vinegars: one sharp and intense, the other soft and floral.
A Basque‑inspired, bottle‑conditioned cider made from apples picked in Mum’s garden in Shrewsbury. It’s lively, lightly hazy, and proudly rustic — an English harvest with a sagardoa heart.
Hottokikku means hot kick, which is exactly what this sauce gives. It’s my first fermented hot sauce — made with my own jalapeños and garlic, sweet pineapple, and finished with homemade mead vinegar. It’s smooth, tangy, and just the right kind of fiery. I use it on everything, but it’s especially good as the base for buffalo wings.
I (Aiden) made karaage chicken with Ad. It’s Japanese fried chicken: juicy, crisp, and really good when you double fry it. I like mine with a buffalo butter dip.
Sometimes you want to press apples from your own tree. Other times… you grab a few bags from the supermarket. This sparkling session cyser is the latter — fresh apples, honey, a bit of fizz, and a clean, easy finish.
I wanted to make something like sake, but without getting too serious about it. This is cloudy, a bit wild, and definitely homemade — more doburoku than refined nigori, but close enough. It’s made with jasmine rice, white koji, and wine yeast, and has ended up soft, tangy, and boozy.
A dark, fizzy mead with the fire of ginger and the earthy depth of buckwheat honey.
A sparkling mead gently flavoured with floral honey and a subtle note of elderflower and rhubarb. Lightly sweetened with homemade elderflower cordial and naturally carbonated in the bottle, this session-strength mead is crisp, mellow, and perfect for summer sipping.
