Well. it seems as if my first blog went OK, so I thought I'd ramp things up a bit.
It's summer here in Australia and, to me, summer means Mangoes, plump ripe tomatoes, stone fruit and fragrant ripe bananas. As I live in a semi rural area, plentiful supplies of my favourite edible treats are usually easy to come by and, as I don't grow any myself, I depend on local and farmer's markets for my supplies. Sadly this year, we've suffered torrential rain and floods which have ruined the stocks of countless farmers. Queensland, where I live, has been declared a "disaster area" amd mangoes and bananas in particular are in short supply. As I've been thinking a lot about putting some summer tastes away for the greyer days of winter, I'll just have to make do with what's available this year in order to produce some fab jams, pickles, chutneys and relishes. As usual, I've turned to cyber space for some inspiration and voila! a whole fraternity of like minded people - who knew?
I've have to say, I've been inspired by tigressinajam (http://tigressinajam.blogspot.com/), a very creative blog where the Tigress of note ran a canning challenge during the year. I don't feel intimidated at all by this blog and think, if they run another challenge, I might just sign up. I'm sure there's a lot I can learn from this talented group of people and have a bit of fun to boot.
My own solo forays into canning have been a bit less than stellar. I just made some Chilli Relish (not spicy enough but easily rectified next time), some Apple & Red Pepper Chutney (too sweet for my liking and a bit too "capsicum"y for me), some Mixed Berry Jam with Cassis & Almonds (didn't like the Almonds - leave them out next time), and Peach, Apricot and Orange Jam. This last one really threw me...not really understanding the relationship between fruit and sugar, I slavishly followed the recipe which I found in an old cookbook. It turned out like treacle - far, far too much sugar is my humble opinion. The flavour is nice but the jam has a really honeyed consistency. My later research has indicated that you can indeed cut down the ratio of sugar to fruit and still get a good product and I think this is what I would do if I bothered with this jam again. Still, it's edible for the family and will go into our personal larder.
What lead to this sudden need to can? Well, my Grandma died around 15 years ago and one of the things I removed from her house was a brand new Fowlers Vacola bottling outfit which had, as far as I can tell, never been out of the box. I've schlepped this box from house to house each time we moved, always promising myself that I would get around to canning one day - well, the day has arrived. I finally got up the nerve to "give it a go" and the Apricot, Peach and Orange Jam was the first attempt. There was nothing really intimidating about the process so I'll definitely be using the Fowlers again, particularly if Tigress runs another of her "Canning Challenges" during 2011.
So now I've actually written a first (and second) blog, although I'll never be another Julie Powell of "Julie & Julia" fame but I'll have fun and, if by some remote stroke of chance, anyone other than me ever reads my blogs, I will look forward to welcoming them into my realm. And, if I can ever figure out how upload photos, my blog might get a little interesting. More on that later...UPDATE: I've managed with a small picture of my bounty - still not the correct upload process but I'm sure I can nut it out eventually.
My own solo forays into canning have been a bit less than stellar. I just made some Chilli Relish (not spicy enough but easily rectified next time), some Apple & Red Pepper Chutney (too sweet for my liking and a bit too "capsicum"y for me), some Mixed Berry Jam with Cassis & Almonds (didn't like the Almonds - leave them out next time), and Peach, Apricot and Orange Jam. This last one really threw me...not really understanding the relationship between fruit and sugar, I slavishly followed the recipe which I found in an old cookbook. It turned out like treacle - far, far too much sugar is my humble opinion. The flavour is nice but the jam has a really honeyed consistency. My later research has indicated that you can indeed cut down the ratio of sugar to fruit and still get a good product and I think this is what I would do if I bothered with this jam again. Still, it's edible for the family and will go into our personal larder.
What lead to this sudden need to can? Well, my Grandma died around 15 years ago and one of the things I removed from her house was a brand new Fowlers Vacola bottling outfit which had, as far as I can tell, never been out of the box. I've schlepped this box from house to house each time we moved, always promising myself that I would get around to canning one day - well, the day has arrived. I finally got up the nerve to "give it a go" and the Apricot, Peach and Orange Jam was the first attempt. There was nothing really intimidating about the process so I'll definitely be using the Fowlers again, particularly if Tigress runs another of her "Canning Challenges" during 2011.
So now I've actually written a first (and second) blog, although I'll never be another Julie Powell of "Julie & Julia" fame but I'll have fun and, if by some remote stroke of chance, anyone other than me ever reads my blogs, I will look forward to welcoming them into my realm. And, if I can ever figure out how upload photos, my blog might get a little interesting. More on that later...UPDATE: I've managed with a small picture of my bounty - still not the correct upload process but I'm sure I can nut it out eventually.
