The apple and mint jelly sounds great, and so does the mint sauce (if I made it now, would it keep I wonder?). i never thought of muslin for the bouquet garni - I have bay, thyme and parsley - is that the right mix? I already have some muslin, cos i was going to make lavendar bags (with bought lavendar admittedly) for a couple of ladies.

Silly question - what is "dusting powder" - is it like talc for the face or something for cooking with?

The bottled pears sound yum, if you have the recipe T Peers.

I never thought of the chillis - there are lots in the shops now. And we use lots and lots of citrus fruit, so dried and ground would work well (even for my own baking). Does anyone happen to have a recipe for candied peel, like you get in the shops (I know home made is much nicer, but have never gotten a recipe).

Thanks all. Will be having fun the next few weeks.

Might even get around to making a cake, pudding or at least some mince meat this year (my mum always makes us a pudding and MIL a cake, so have never bothered due to time scarcity...hoping for a less frantic autumn/winter this year)....