Lemon Marmalade

Ingredients

1.250 g lemons

Juice of 4 lemons

1 liter water

1.400 g sugar

How to go about it

Extract the juice of the 4 lemons.  Cut off the tops and bottoms of the rest of the lemons and finely shred the lemons, you could use a mandolin for this or the grating attachment on a food mixer.  Put the shredded lemons with the juice and water in a large saucepan.  Bring to the boil and cook until the lemons are soft and translucent.  Take out the pips at the same time when the rise to the top of the water.  Then add the sugar and boil for 30 - 40 minutes. Test that it is set by putting a bit on a cold saucer.  Lemons have a lot of pectin so this marmalade sets easily.  Put into sterilized jars.

Squash and Citrus Jam

It's nice to have a bit of homemade jam in winter, but unfortunately for my jam-eating husband, the larder is empty.  The choice of seasonal fruit in winter is small but fear not for the ever enduring squash is still rearing its beautiful head in my house and putting itself forward as prime candidate for the task of restocking the pantry.  So all is not lost and my husband can continue eating his trois tartins with confiture and dipping them in his bowl of coffee every morning.


Ingredients

1.5 kg squash, peeled and chopped into small pieces
2 oranges
2 lemons
1.300 kg sugar

Finely slice the oranges and lemons and put them in a bowl with the squash and sugar.

Leave for 24 hours

A lot of liquid will have come out of the squash and citrus

Cook on medium to high heat until you reach setting point, 190°c or until a bit sets on a cold plate.  I'm not overly bothered if my jam doesn't set hard, I prefer to keep the fruit flavour and not spoil it by over cooking.

Prepare some jars by washing them in hot soapy water and heating the jars in the oven on 100°c for 20 minutes.  Use new lids each time you make conserves.

Bottling Cherries

Bottling Cherries is so simple and when you have a glut it's the time to take advantage of this fruit.  Cherries are a rich source of antioxidants.  Queritrin, a flavanoid is rich in cherries and said to be anti cancerous.  Rich also in Melatonin, an antioxidant that has been found to help the bodies natural sleep pattern.  So why not try a glass of natural cherry juice before going to bed.  I also keep the cherry stalks and dry them in the sun to make a tisane, something my husband told me about.  Said to be good for helping the kidneys eliminate water from the body.  Incidentally they are sold in supermarkets in France.

Bottling cherries whole

Fill sterilise jars with cherries,  I don't stone them, as I think it damages the fruit too much.  I stone them later on when I use them, the stones also come out easier after they have been conserved. Push them down in the jars a little.  Next make a light syrup with 1 litre of water and a 150g of sugar dissolved in it. Fill jars with cool syrup, leaving a 1 cm gap at the top.  Don't screw lids on too tight, as the air has to escape.  Of course, this depends on what type of jar you use.  Put into tall saucepan and fill with water, covering jars by 4 cm.  Put on the heat and bring slowly up to 80°c, taking about 45 minutes.  Then maintain this for 10 minutes.  Don't let jars cool in the water.  Lift them out, being careful not to touch the lids.  As they cool, the lids will become concave, if they don't repeat the process.

Cherry syrup

I put about 9 kg of slightly tart, unstoned cherries in a saucepan, I then added about 30g - 40g of sugar for each kg of cherries.  Bring up to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Tip into colander and squash the cherries with a masher or put into chinois.  Pour into sterilised bottles, store in fridge and use within 2 weeks.  Dilute with still or fizzy water or why not make a cherry cola.

Conserved Aubergines



Aubergines

I've never tried to conserve aubergines before but after talking to neighbours on how they conserve them, I thought I would give it a go.  I have so many of them and I am running out of ways to cook them.  The truth is I am so busy with the garden and conserving, I hardly have the time to cook.  Well, maybe that is a bit of a exaggeration because I always have time to cook and above all - EAT.

Ingredients


aubergines


How to go about it


BBQ the aubergines, or grill them,  as they are.  It is better to have a bit of flame as you want to char the skins and not overcook the them.  When the skins are blackened, take them off the BBQ and wrap them in newspaper or put them in a plastic bag and let them cool. 

Next step is to peel them, a bit of a mucky job but the aroma of the char grilled aubergines is heaven and when you open them in winter you will be transported back to the Summer. 

Put them in a colander and let them drain overnight in the fridge.

Tear off strips of aubergine and put them in hot sterilized jars of your choice.  Put on the lids.  Put them in a pressure cooker and put water in to come up to  5cm of jars.  Put lid on pressure cooker and bring up to the boil with out weight on, when steam comes out, continue heating for 10 minutes.  Then put on weight and pressure cook for 20 minutes.    Turn off heat and let them cool in cooker for an hour.  Remove from cooker being careful not to touch the lids.  The lids should now be concave.  This cooking in the pressure cooker is very important for low acid foods.  A normal bain marie is not suitable for low acid foods as it does not reach a higher enough temperature to kill the bacteria.. 

You can add other vegetables, like peppers or maybe some onions, char grilled the same as the aubergines.

Courgette and Peach Chutney

Here we go again with the same ingredients but this time something for the winter.  We've had strong winds this week and it has blown loads of the peaches to the ground, they were still in good condition and totally usable.  Courgettes, well they just keep coming.

Makes about 2.5 kg

Ingredients


1kg courgettes
1kg peaches
3 large onions
150g sultanas
500g sugar
1 litre white wine vinegar
1 stick of cinnamon
4 star anise
1 tablespoon coriander
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
1 tablespoon Jamaican pepper
2-3 fresh chili peppers
1 tablespoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cardamon pods


How to go about it


Peel and chop courgettes into cubes, chop peaches.  Put in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the salt and let degorge for 30 minutes, rinse and pat dry.  Put all ingredients into large saucepan, bring slowly to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.  Then turn up heat a little and cook for 1.5 hours until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.  Put into hot, sterilized jars and seal.  Leave for at least 6 months.

Piccalilli



Cauliflower glut, only one thing to do - is make Piccalilli!

 




 This is the best recipe I have seen for piccalilli, I can't wait to try it.  www.rivercottage.net/recipes/pams-piccalilli/  The colour and scent of the mixture is intoxicating and could not resist trying a bit of the sauce, delicious.