Like most things its either a feast of famine in the garden. With it being holidays and some of our kids away at the moment we have to much for our needs at the moment coming from the garden.
This got me thinking what I would do with the excess?
I spent some time reading up on how to preserve foods. Alot said you need fancy jar kits worth $100's!! I then kept reading and spoke to a few of the older folk who said to just reuse old jars just be sure they are well cleaned and sterile.
I had a few jars of my own I'd kept but needed more, thanks to a nice local on facebook who answered my call on the local free,swap,sell I soon had 30 jars!
So I looked at recipe's suitable for what I was after....I have LOTS of zucchini and although we love quiche we can only eat and freeze so much with only 2 adults and 1 child at home at the moment.
I came up with this recipe.....
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| all chopped and ready to go |
Zucchinis, onions, capsicum, salt, sugar, vinegar, water and a handful of spices.
- 1 kg zucchini
- 2 large onions
- 1 small capsicum (red looks attractive)
- ¼ cup salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons mustard powder
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
Chop the zucchini, onion and capsicum finely. Add the salt and leave to stand for two hours or more. Drain.
Combine the sugar, vinegar, mustard powder and turmeric. Place the vegetable mixture into this, bring to the boil, then cook for 20 minutes.
If you think it necessary at this stage, the pickle can be thickened with one dessertspoon of cornflour mixed to a paste with a little white vinegar.
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| The finished product. |
I don't eat it but am told its REALLY nice!
This is a chunky version as thats how its liked but others might like to grate the ingredients rather than chopping if they rather that consistency.
I also had 3 cucumbers sitting around we weren't going to get eaten in a hurry and more in the garden ready in the next few days so I decided to make something with them too.
I came up with this recipe .....
Ingredients
4 Large cucumbers
1/4 cup of cooking salt
1 1/2 cups of white vinegar
1 cup of water
3/4 cup of sugar
2 tea spoons of mustard seeds
1/2 small red capsicum
Method
1/ Wash cucumbers and thinly slice
2/Place cucumbers in a dish in layers, sprinkle salt between each layer. Leave overnight.
3/Rinse under cold water and drain.
4/Combine vinegar, water, sugar, mustard seeds and 1 teaspoon of salt to a pan.
5/Stir until sugar is dissolved and bring to the boil.
6/Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5mins
7/Add cucumber, bring to boil and remove from heat.
8/Pack into sterilised jars, adding a few thin strips of red capsicum.
9/Fill with vinegar to within 1cm of top and seal.
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| The finished product. |
I took the skins off these because the skins weren't the best, am sure they will be eaten just the same. Its just not as pretty without the green colour.
I've enjoyed making these preserves and am sure they are the first of many. I look forward to learning how to preserve the tomatoes once they ripen, making pasta sauce, salsa and semi sun dried tomatoes. All going well we will have beetroot, corn and much more.... I've already started looking at other ideas on what I can make next. I can see how this becomes an obsession, given I don't eat any of what I've already made yet I'm keen to keep going! Its nice to know months from now we will still be enjoying the rewards of our summer garden.
aus.keeys
