Preserving Madness

 Well I did promise.  So here a few of the recipes I entered in our local agricultural show.  I was soooo pleased with some of my preserves.  I had a full shelf of interesting and varied preserves, both sweet and savoury.  I gave away lots of little jars to friends and fellow comrades.  I remember this one morning when one of the ladies in our group dropped by with some information for the court case.  I laughed as I watched her face.  She said it was better than eating at the fanciest of places.  I lightly toasted some pasta dura bread and pita bread.  A row of little jars surrounded the bread and cheese platter and my dear "E" didn't know where to begin.  She sampled Pumpkin Chutney, Corn Relish, Roasted Capsicum and Eggplant Chutney, Tomato Relish, Sweet Mustard Pickles and Pickled Beetroot.  The Pumpkin Chutney was her prize choice of them all.  I'm pleased to say she had what seemed an awful time trying to choose.  I think she approved of them all!

With the scones I served an array of the following; lemon butter, passionfruit butter, strawberry jam, mandarin jam and kiwi jam.  I have never made a kiwi jam before.  I picked the kiwi fruit the day before from our twenty year old vine. It's a long time overdue that I finally make something out of them.  "E" was blown away.  The kiwi jam was amazing, the strawberry sensational and the passionfruit butter - OMG.  I'd never made passionfruit butter before.  Let's say it won't be the last time either.

Issy's favourite preserves were the Roasted Capsicum Sauce followed by the Pumpkin Chutney and Corn Relish.
Mitchell's  fav's were the Strawberry Jam and the Roasted Capsicum Sauce.
Hubby's fav's were the Sweet Mustard Pickles and the Roasted Capsicum Sauce.

As for me - the passionfruit butter.  It was heavenly.  I do have a soft spot for my Orange Marmalade, but the rest of the family doesn't like marmalades in general because of the rind.  Oh well. The Roasted Capsicum Sauce was a revelation; thank you to Sally Wise for her recipe.  The judge gave this preserve a second place.

Unfortunately Sally, she didn't give any prizes to your Pumpkin Chutney, your Corn Relish or your Pickled Beetroot.  She did however award a first to your Sweet Mustard Pickles, so thanks for the recipes.

The judge also awarded my kiwi fruit jam with a second place - I was pleased as the jams drew the greatest number of entries.  So there's the preserves report for 2011.

The following recipes are from this book - she is very wise is this Sally.

Ingredients

Method

What a winner this recipe turned out to be!  We love it and I recommend it.

I baked my beetroot instead of boiling - a lot more robust that way. 

Sally calls this recipe 'piccalilli' but sweet mustard pickles is close enough. 

Sweet Mustard Pickles

My only blue ribbon in the preserves - what a toughie this year turned out to be!

A big thumbs up from Hubby - hardly any left!

No award this year - but I was delighted with my orange marmalade

I spotted this jam in Sally Wise's book - with loads of mandarins I gave it a shot.  Gorgeous colour and heaps of flavour.

I added some lemon rind to this recipe which was rather noticeable.  Not enjoyed by some, but I liked it.

A solid favourite in our family - good old tomato relish

Gosh I could keep going; no kidding!  I also entered a lime syrup, lemon butter, lilly pilly cordial, strawberry jam, garlic and chilli flavoured olive oil.  June was definitely a month of preserving madness.  And I loved every minute of it! 

Back in August - off to Sydney.