Babylonstoren Blog http://blog.babylonstoren.com Wed, 16 May 2012 09:04:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Winter menu coming soon http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/16/winter-menu-coming-soon/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/16/winter-menu-coming-soon/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 09:04:58 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1956 Every season, we change our menu at Babel restaurant. And since the winter is just around the corner, it is almost time to do so once again.  Of course, you cannot just compile a menu full of ideas: all the combinations must be tested and tasted to ensure that it will work.  So this is exactly what we got stuck into yesterday. Sometimes hard work can be fun, too!

Keep an eye out for the new Babel menu, due out of 1 June! In the meantime, don’t miss out on our Summer menu, still running for a few more weeks.

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/16/winter-menu-coming-soon/feed/ 0 Our Edible Garden http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/11/our-edible-garden/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/11/our-edible-garden/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 10:11:03 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1951 Our4 ha vegetable garden really is the heart of  the Babylonstoren farm.  Each one of the 300 varieties of fruit and vegetables grown there is edible, and you can see exactly what we grow in our garden here.

Every morning one of our waiters goes out with the garden staff to harvest the fresh produce of the day, and the food they pick is included in our menus, both at Babel restaurant, as well as at the Tearoom. Here are Julian and Constance busy harvesting this morning’s crop of violets, and tomarillos too.

If you’d like to find out more, we have a daily hour guided garden tour, starting at 10am, and taking about 1.5 hours to complete. Please remember that bookings are essential, and you can make a reservation by email at: enquiries@babylonstoren.com.

Today's garden tour was led by Constance-Marie, and here is the group of friends who took the tour just before setting off this morning.

 

 

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/11/our-edible-garden/feed/ 0 Winter warmth http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/09/winter-warmth/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/09/winter-warmth/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 12:23:57 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1940

Slowly but surely, winter is approaching, and when it’s chilly like this , we can’t think of a better way to beat the winter blues than to spend a night or two at our farm hotel. Our cottages are the perfect place to sit and relax next to a cosy fireplace, with a book from the handpicked library we provide in each room.

Tempted?  Well, come and experience it for yourself! Find out more about our accommodation options on our website, or call reservations at 27 (0) 21 863 3852.

 

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/09/winter-warmth/feed/ 1 TASTE, MAY 2012 http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/04/taste-may-2012/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/04/taste-may-2012/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 13:56:13 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1935

   Pure Genius, the new tasting room at Babylonstoren…

  Read full article here

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/04/taste-may-2012/feed/ 0 Early morning on the farm http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/04/early-morning-on-the-farm/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/04/early-morning-on-the-farm/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 07:45:25 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1928 There’s nothing as lovely as an early morning on the farm after a few days of rain, with everything looking and smelling so nice and fresh and crisp.  The sun is breaking through, and the birds are singing as we bustle about, preparing Babylonstoren for all our weekend guests. We’re looking forward to seeing all of you!

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/05/04/early-morning-on-the-farm/feed/ 1 Wurmkompostering http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/30/wurmkompostering/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/30/wurmkompostering/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:02:03 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1915 Ons het n wurmkomposteringsproses begin so vyf maande terug . Handevol erdwurm Eisenia Fetida was in ons gesorteerde kombuisafval geplaas, met die idee om baie waardevolle kompos te maak. En nou is ons bly om te sê dat ons die “vrugte” - ons eie wurmkompos – uiteindelik kan pluk.

Ons kombuisafval is in die vorm van windrye neergelê met dakkies vir koelte, en daarna die klaargemaakte kompos is in kleiner hope gemaak om die wurms van die kompos te kan skei.

Herwonne papier by die teetuin word ook gebruik om kompos te maak.

Hier wys Pieter Pieterse ’n mangopit wat begin ontkiem en sommer sterk begin groei het in die vrugbare komposhoop.

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/30/wurmkompostering/feed/ 0 HOUSE & LEISURE, APRIL 2012 http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/27/house-leisure-april-2012/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/27/house-leisure-april-2012/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:06:01 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1900   Quiet reflection…..

  Read full article here

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/27/house-leisure-april-2012/feed/ 0 Strawberry Popcorn http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/26/strawberry-popcorn/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/26/strawberry-popcorn/#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:20:51 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1894

Ever heard of strawberry popcorn? We’ve been having fun growing, harvesting… and then popping it!

The plants of this beautiful heirloom ornamental maize varietal are no taller than 1.5 m, with the little cobs of red cernels reminding one of a strawberry. By no means it is only ornamental but good to eat too. It may not taste like strawberries, but seeing the red hearts still showing in the dainty snowy popped snack will make you think pink for sure.

 

 

Constance-Marie

 

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/26/strawberry-popcorn/feed/ 0 Growing mushrooms http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/23/growing-mushrooms/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/23/growing-mushrooms/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:32:45 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1884 We at Babylonstoren are always interested in learning something new, and so four weeks ago, we started learning the art of mushroom growing. We decided to first focus on the cultivation of Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) mushrooms for the restaurant.

The Shiitake is the most popular of all gourmet mushrooms, and the first written record of shiitake cultivation can be traced to China, A.D. 960-1127.In Japan, Shiitake wine, Shiitake cookies and even Shiitake candies are marketed.

We’ve picked our first harvest of Shiitake mushrooms, and the great taste makes it definitely worth the effort. As we went, we kept a photographic record of the process to share on the blog. Here’s our growing room with the Shiitake growing blocks:

1. The Shiitake mushroom  oak chip based substrate which is inoculated with Shiitake spawn. We control the temperature and humidity in our mushroom growing room in order to create the optimum growing conditions for this specific mushroom.

2.  The first mushroom heads appear after  9-12 days

3.  The mushrooms are picked when the gills of the mushrooms are visible, and taken to Babel restaurant to be used in one of our dishes.

In our mushroom growing room, we included two blocks of King oyster (Pleurotus eryngii) substrates as well. King oyster mushrooms are known as the best tasting oyster mushrooms, ard are sometimes presented as vegetarian ‘bacon’! Their stems can grow to 10cm length, and ours are looking pretty healthy too.

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/23/growing-mushrooms/feed/ 1 From our orchard to your table http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/20/from-our-orchard-to-your-table/ http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/20/from-our-orchard-to-your-table/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:39:51 +0000 admin http://blog.babylonstoren.com/?p=1879 Have you tasted our famous pear chutney? You can buy it off the shelf in the Babylonstoren farm shop, or, if having a light meal at our beautiful tearoom in the garden, ask for it to be served as a delicious condiment. And in case you were wondering about how we make it, here is a peep behind the scenes, into our preserving kitchen where we make all our delicious preserves:

 

First we select our Packam pears straight from Babylonstoren’s orchard. Then we dice them, add all the other very special ingredients and cook up a delicious combination to create a real unique chutney. Just being nearby invites you to taste this delicious condiment, as the aroma from our preserve kitchen permeates the air.

As with our other bottled products, we use fructose syrup as a sweetener and stop the cooking process before the chutney becomes too sweet. We do try our best to strike a balance between moderate amounts of sugar and too much sugar in our products.

 

We’d love to hear your own favourite homemade recipe. Please feel free to share them with us.

 

Greetings from the kitchen!

 

Annemarie Nortje

 

]]> http://blog.babylonstoren.com/2012/04/20/from-our-orchard-to-your-table/feed/ 0