Kelly kettle - quick review

So Jake kindly offered to root out her old Kelly Kettle for me to use. I'd only ever experienced one of these in passing, courtesy of nutty Nigel who has been known to show up at our midsummer solstice picnic with this mysterious alloy cylinder, shoves some grass and twigs in, lights them - then proceeds to pour a smug cuppa all on his lonesome while we philistines shiver in the advancing evening chill.

So what the hoots is a Kelly Kettle? Well, it looks like some kind of mini milk churn with two holes in the top and a hollow base.

One of the holes in the top (for filling/pouring) has a big cork in it, attached to a chain. I lose things all the time, so the chain is a very welcome feature. On closer inspection the bottle itself is kind of 'double-walled', the other hole at the top serving as a chimney/fuel port.  The alloy pan that you can see in the foregound (it's not rusty, just powdered from other rust in storage) is the ' fire base'.  Kelly Kettle's blurb states: Works with any fuel: sticks, dry grass, bark, pine cones, even dry animal dung! Awesome! I just happen to have more dry grass than I know what to do with...and some twigs. So without further ado - let's hopefully make some water boil without gas, electric or any sweat. First off I REMOVE THE CORK STOPPER as kindly warned. Boiling water in a sealed container will explode. Always remove the stopper BEFORE applying heat

Now I fill with water.  Then I load the fire base with dried grass. Packed in, not too tightly. We're going with a match, I'm sure those who are practiced with a fire stick would have no trouble setting it going. But I have a match - and (as yet) no fire stick, so onwards... :)

The grass blazes so I add some twigs, hoping that they will catch as I place the Kettle on top of the fire base.

Ok it's gone out.  Bah.  It now starts speckling with rain. Removing the kettle to try again - I'm feeling less confident.

Then I figured that I could drop a whole load more twigs into the chimney of the kettle once the tinder was alight. Hmmm...should've spotted that sooner. I think Jake actually told me about this, but hey ho...

So I wait, about a minute - and, what's that? Wait...yes... we have a bijou blaze going on down in there! I load a few more twigs in the top and the rain is coming down now. The internal fire continues unabated for another few minutes, and water starts bubbling and then literally geyser-ing in great spurts out of the top. OK, so I overfilled it a tad, but now we have hot water. I remove the kettle carefully and rest it on the wet grass.

After fetching a mug it becomes clear that there is only one (swinging) handle on the kettle and I certainly do not wish to steady a scalding hot kettle with a bare hand - so the trick here (I found) is to just tip/push the kettle forward on it's own base, using one hand on the handle, taking care to first position the mug in an optimal position to receive the water.

Verdict? I love it. Over 1.5 litres of boiling water in 5 mins, from a few twigs and some dry grass.  I make instant hot chocolate, taking care to extend the little finger while supping.  Result? One steaming mug of hot chocolate. Hear that, nutty Nigel?  Next time I'm inviting friends and sharing the love.

 Zing!