You left me in a COVID delirium but with the magic of Cordyceps tea, which I brought back from Bhutan last year, some of Brother Graham’s homemade chicken soup and his handmade ginger shots, I am fully COVID free and happy to walk amongst the good people of Godalming. Check out Cordyceps if you haven’t already – it seems to be a miracle cure. I did have a cup of the tea when I got home from my travels and it tasted disgusting and I reckoned I would only ever drink it if I was Really Ill and all other options were off the table. With no tastebuds, when I got COVID, I thought I might as well given it another go. Tasted fine. As in, couldn’t taste it.
This particular tea is made from Ophiocordyceps sinesis, a caterpillar fungus that grows out of the larvae of ghost moths which fly only in the Himalayas above 3,500m. It grows out of the caterpillar’s brain – so caterpillars are a lot cleverer than you think.
Definitely go to Bhutan if you can. It’s an amazing country to visit and I fancy going back to trek further east where the mountains are more rugged. Just landing at the airport is thrilling. And remember to bring back some tea.
Have just finished the first batch of marmalade for 2024. I seem to collect jamjars all year round and then when I actually need them they are nowhere to be found. So I have an enormous kilner jar of marmalade and one normal size jar. If anyone wants some marmalade, just send me a jar and I will fill it up for you. It’s always such a hit and miss process which I sort of like because you never know exactly when it’s boiled enough to be at setting point. I get bored easily. And I put the saucer in the freezer for about a minute so that wrinkle test never really works. I do a lot of plate licking and then when I have had enough of standing around watching the bubbling cauldron, I let it cool for a bit and decant. I have been known to tip all the marmalade back into the pot the next day and boil it up again. Mad.
This year, aged 91, my mum has decided not to make her marmalade. Her’s was a true labour of love and involved muslin bags tied to cupboard handles dripping liquid gold into vessels which ended up being no rind marmalade. So more like a marmalade jelly. Delicious.
I have a great friend who said he loved kumquat marmalade. So I found some kumquats (was a few years ago and they were hard to find). Some needs clarification – I found about 300g of kumquats. At the end of the process, I made one jar of marmalade. But, he did say it was very tasty. He recently married and his wife is an amazing jam maker so my trifle this Christmas was made with her gorgeous loganberry jam. I got the balance of sherry/trifle sponge right this year (drink more than you put in), and it was a great trifle, even if I say so myself.
It’s snowing here and I need to finish my book club book. My choice this time. Not my finest at all. I thought I would find a story about people who make crop circles quite interesting. Am questioning that thought process. Am sure the rest of the book club will wish they had spent the hours more fruitfully, if they have managed to read it.
Will let you know.
Snoo's kitchen 