How has June ended already? Over and gone in a sweaty, hot, sticky flash and straight into the equally muggy July. That doesn't mean that we haven't managed to pack in a fair amount of cooking, eating, stocking up on new products and general schweffing around. Plus ca change, eh? This month, we have been...

1) CRUSHING on cherry season. We regularly drive through Kent and have the pick of the roadside bounty. The first few bagfuls were a bit meh, and our enthusiasm for cherries clouded our judgement. We are now happy to report that cherry season is well and truly in swing.

2) HOARDING anything cabbage related. They may be retro, but they have moved from the category of "naff" to "pleasingly naff", as it is now the time of the cabbage. Move over copper and marble kitchenware, these are the latest accessory you need to grace your kitchen table. We have a good stock of these in the shop and will be putting some on the website soon. As ever, if you see anything you want on instagram, just holla!

3) EXPERIMENTING with butter. We have had the butter kit on the site for a while, but Bob (one of the Fenstanton packing team) has a real taste for the golden stuff and has been experimenting with our suggested recipes and perfecting the optimum buttery blend. He is convinced he has cracked it and we will be updating our instructions accordingly. In the meantime its chunks of salty butter on hot toast again - keep on with those experiments Bob! Previous experiments were detailed here. 

4) DAUBING rose harissa on everything. Literally everything. On the side, drizzled on top, coating, basting... I have even had it with peanut butter on toast. Hence there is hardly any left in the picture below... I am going to have to work out how to make my own (good thing that rose is a gin kit botanical) as at current levels of consumption, I can't keep getting it from Whole Foods. 

5) RESTOCKING on these rather beautiful Japanese pot rests. These might be super traditional but the design has stood the test of time and they still look fabulous in modern kitchens. We like them so much that we now have two different sizes. Fabulous. 

6) STOCKING UP on cassia bark in preparation for our Christmas in July drinks experiments where we cook up the latest botanical blends for the Christmas season. Cassia is a bit like cinnamon but with a more tangy flavour. It is absolutely perfect for giving a dose of Christmas to any spirit and, alongside cloves and orange peel, adds a festive twist to the gin blends.