Rite of Fall: Collecting Walnuts

One of the rites of fall here is collecting walnuts. Usually we will do this on our hikes around Badenweiler in southern Germany. In this area, there are many walnut and fruit trees that are left unharvested. We actually end up returning with heavier packs than we started with, plus our pockets are full as well.

Unfortunately Magda was forced in participating in the exchange between her school and the high school in Chillicothe, Illinois, due to the "illness" of one of the teachers who had originally signed on for the exchange (excuse my skepticism, but it is hard to understand why the success of an English language exchange depends on a part-time teacher who only part-time teaches English. Where are the teachers who teach English full-time?). So I have been picking up some walnuts under a couple of trees in the park that Frannie and I often walk. Usually we find a handful of nuts on each walk, but over time, as you can see, that can grow to a reasonable amount.

The walnut trees here are not the black walnuts that we typically see in Columbus, Ohio. Rather they are English walnut trees. One big difference is that as the nut ripen, they separate from their green cover. Sometimes they seem to spring from their covering and landing a fair distance from the tree. This makes them much easier to collect and make use of.

Around Koblenz, the walnut trees seem to grow best in the micro-climate of Rhine and Moselle valleys. It is usually just too cold and windy in the fields of the Eifel and Hunsruck (there is often a 5-8 degree C difference between Koblenz and the Eifel). The occasional tree that you find there are mostly in the villages where they are protected some from the climate. Further south, around Badenweiler, they can be found every where.

A couple of weeks ago, when the nuts started to ripen, there was quite a bit of competition for them. Every day there would be older couples and younger families out collecting the nuts from the trees in the park. Some would just pick up the nuts from the ground, but others were impatient and threw prices of wood into the the trees to try to knock the nut down. Now that we are at the end of the harvest, the competition has lessened. But still there are enough that I'm able to collect a new handful with each walk.

By the way, the green decoration on the nuts are hops. Hops grow wild here as well. I have noticed them on the banks of the Rhine and along the trail in the Eifel.

Walking Frannie - Her Boyfriend, Ike

Frannie has herself a boyfriend. His name is Ike and he is a Belgium Shepherd. Every time that Frannie sees him, She becomes very excited, running up to him and trying to entice him to play. She use to bark quite a bit, but I think she has figured out that doesn't work and may in fact be considered bad manners. Now she just follows Ike around, sometimes getting into play stance in front of him. Ike is the only dog that I have ever seen Frannie greet this way

Ike is pretty cool about the whole thing. I expect that Frannie is not his only girlfriend. His owner tells me that there are other dogs that, like Frannie, will only play with Ike. Not sure why this is. Certainly Ike is a handsome dog. And his is well behaved as well. Ike's owner does spend a lot of time training him. What every it is, Frannie seems quite happy with him.

Matthias Chapel

One of the advantages of living in Germany is the opportunity to explore "little Germany". That is to say, discover some smaller attraction that is a bit off the typical tourist path, but is itself a little gem. Matthias Chapel situated above the Moselle wine village of Kobern-Gondorf is one such gem.



The chapel was built between 1220 and 1240 by Heinrich II. von Isenburg on his return from the crusades. The story goes that Heinrich II searched for and found the head of the apostle Matthias in the Nile delta. He brought it back to his home and built the chapel to attract pilgrims. The relic was removed from the chapel in 1347, eventually ending up at the cathedral in Trier in 1420 and then in 1927 in Trier's St. Matthias Abbey.

The hexagon shape of the chapel is a bit unusual and reminiscent of the architecture Heinrich II would have seen on the crusade. And there is some really fine stone carvings decorating the entry way. But it is the interior that is what makes this chapel special. The delicate columns that support the roof, the historically accurate colors, the unusually shaped windows, and most especially the mosaic floor combine to make a memorable experience. Some scholars find hidden meaning in the number of hexagons and triangles in the floor.

As I understand, the chapel is open Sundays and holidays, 11:00 to 17:00, from Easter to November 1st. Also for special occations. I was lucky to be there with a group of teachers on an outing that had arranged for it to be open.

Jam from Red Vineyard Peaches

One of the unusual fruits that ripen this time of year is the "roter Weinbergpfirsich" or red vineyard peach. This is a red flesh peach that is grown in vineyards along the Moselle. It is not a particularly sweet peach, but is highly prized  by some for its use in jams, liqueurs and compotes. We picked up a couple of kilo and made a really tasty jam with them and in the process learned a thing or two.

First is the juice from these peaches is a really intense red. Peeling these peaches results in red hands, and if not careful ruined clothes. The hands can be cleaned with the use of lemon juice. But use of the clothes will be limited to working around the house (voice of experience here). But this is also what gives you this ruby colored result.

The other interesting thing is learning how homemade jams are done here in German. It seems a more popular hobby there than in the USA, at least it appears that more shelf space in the grocery stores seem to be devoted to it than in Columbus. We used one product that I haven't seen in the USA. This is a sugar that already has the pectin mixed in called Gelierzucker. Gelierzucker is offered in two strengths, 2:1 and 3:1. 3:1 Gelierzucker would require a 3 to 1 ratio by weight of fruit to sugar to make jam.  It only requires 3 minutes of boil for the jam to set. Cannot get much simpler than this. Peel and stone the peaches, weigh the resulting flesh, divide by three, add that much Gelierzucker, bring to boil for 3 minutes, put the jam in your jars.

These peaches should be available for a couple more weeks. I would still like to try making a peach liqueur before the season ends. Magda claims that once you have a fruit compote made with these peaches, you won't want to use any other fruit. So we will have to try that too. But more on that later.