From the Garden

A great day for getting things done. Firstly a tour of the garden to admire the Calla Lilys. We have lots of these in the garden in many different colours, however, my favourite is a beautiful pink with a slightly frilled flower.

Then a quick inspection of the apricot tree. It is a fine line between ripe fruit and invasion by possums and birds. The tree is relatively young and has quite a bit of fruit. It will need to be picked later today as something has nibbled a few of the apricots. The plums will also need to be picked. We eat many of them fresh  as the flavour of freshly picked fruit is divine and then slow roast and freeze the remainder for later enjoyment. The quince tree is loaded but will not be ready until Autumn and the rhubarb prolific. Hopefully, lots of fruit for the freezer. I am fortunate that many people cannot be bothered with preserving and let me have the fruit. Lucky us, we have beautiful fruit to have for breakfast and to use in all manner of desserts all year round.This is the technique for the slow roasted fruit.

Slow Roasted Stone Fruit
Line metal trays with parchment/silicone paper such as Gladbake or use a pyrex dish.
Wash stone fruit, cut into halves, remove stones if you can or remove after cooking.
Spread fruit in a single layer over the paper.
Sprinkle caster sugar sparingly over the fruit.
Bake in oven 150deg Celsius until just soft. Try not to overcook.
Pack fruit into plastic containers, label and date and freeze.
I reuse all plastic containers for the fruit.

prepared fruit in large stainless steel tray

prepared fruit on Gladbake on aluminium tray

cooked fruit

packaged into plastic container and ready to be frozen

Summer is a great time for preserving. I enjoy making a selection of preserves, many of which become gifts. This savoury jelly makes an unusual gift and is great with cold meats or cheese in sandwiches. It is like a spicy and firm sweet chilli sauce.

Capsicum and Harissa Jelly
4 capsicum, washed and deseeded
8 red chillies or more if you like it hot
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
5 cups sugar
1 tablespoon Harissa spice
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 pkt JamSetta

Put capsicums and chillies into food processor and process until fine pieces.
Place capsicum mixture in saucepan with vinegar, sugar, harissa and garlic powder. Boil mixture until it stops foaming, stirring  to prevent mixture sticking and burning. This will take approximately 15 minutes.
Dissolve Jamsetta in a little water and pour into capsicum mixture, Bring back to boil, stir and simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from and allow to stand for 10 minutes and the pour/spoon into warm sterilised jars. Label and store in pantry. This makes approximately 5 jars.

I use recycled jars for my preserves and prefer smallish jars with a wide neck such as the salsa jars. I wash them, remove any old labels, dry them and then place them in the a 120 deg Celsius oven for approximately 30 mins.