Sauce with a kick !

About a week ago, I noticed that the Habanero bush was producing much more than I could realistically use up in "Habanero Gold"(sweet pepper jelly), so I decided I would make up a batch of  spicy Tomato/Habanero sauce.
So I picked  a decent amount of them, sorted the ripe ones to do the sauce and retained the others to cook with and to give to a friend that wanted some green ones..

For the recipe I  used 14 cups of peeled,cored and chopped Tomatoes..
5 Cups white vinegar
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons ginger(minced)
2 tablespoons Garlic(minced)
1 teaspoon all spice
2 teaspoons mustard powder
3 bay leaves
2-3 cups, seeded chopped  red/orange Habaneros
4 largewhite or brown onions(chopped)
1x 500 ml bottle of tomato pasta sauce.
I added all of this together into a stock pot and boiled for about 30 minutes.

After this I removed from the heat, fished out the bay leaves and blended the entire contents of the pot. I then placed it back on the heat and boiled for another 20-30 minutes to reduce and reach the desired thickness., keeping an eye not to stick to the bottom.

I then made my self a funnel out of an old drink bottle and filled my bottles that had been keeping hot in a sink full of hot water.
After this I wiped the rims clean with paper towel soaked in white vinegar, placed the caps on(which I buy new each season) and placed all the bottles into my electric  boiling water bath preserver.

After bringing up to boiling point, I then processed the jars for 15 minutes, after which I turned off the processor ,removed the lid and allowed the bottles to sit for a further 5 minutes before removing them onto a towel covered bench to cool.When they were cooled I labeled them and stored away 9some to stay on the coast and some to go up to the farm.

I ended up with 12  x 500 ml bottles, which I was really happy with.
I had a small amount over(about a half pint) which we used some of on our dinner that night.

 It was so tasty, I am very pleased with the result, just a lovely tomato sauce with a good kick of chilli.I was extremely happy with dinner that night because apart from some of the sauce  every bit of that food on the plate we had produced ourselves. The lamb was from the farm, the chokos fresh from the garden, corn frozen when we harvested our crop, and canned carrots and beans from our garden as well.Even the tomatoes had been our own(I used previously canned tomatoes)
I certainly will be making this again, I think it will prove to be a popular condiment in this household in the future.Most of us like a bit of chilli.
So until we meet again,
take care all of you  and stay safe,
Cheers
Jane.

Mrs Morris's Mustard Choko Pickles.

Ever since we have lived here on the coast, nearly 30 years, we have had a Choko vine for most of that time. Some years there are a glut,and some years just a  reasonable amount, but every year, we run out of things to use the choko for. It is also known by two other names around the world, Chayote and Merliton.

The top picture shows the vine in a good year, where it ran every where, the the lower photo is just last week, we have a smaller crop this year due to the extreme heat and dry weather  that we had experienced this last summer and the fact that we were not  here to give it as much water.
I have a mustard pickle recipe that I make each year,  that a lovely   neighbour of my Mum's  up in the country passed on to her.She is long gone now , her name was Mrs Morris( so we now always without fail call this recipe "Mrs Morris's Pickles" It can be made with Green Tomatoes,cauliflower,choko or a mix of all three.(I have used zuichinni as well sometimes).
Firstly I advise you to put on thin "skins" gloves as the chokos have a strange slimy  feel when peeled that dries like a brown second skin on your hands and is difficult to remove. I doubled the recipe when I made this batch. It doubles and triples quite well. I rarely make a single batch.

You will need to have 2 1/2 lbs of Choko, Green Tomato or Cauliflower(I used all choko)
next you add 1 cucumber,Peeled and chopped

Then  you add 1 green capsicum(Bell pepper) Chopped(seeds removed)

And 2 large onions, peeled and chopped.

Put this altogether in a large stainless steel stock pot, cover with water and  add 1/4 cup salt and leave overnight. All the peelings went to the two worm farms.

Next morning, place pot on heat and bring to the boil and boil for10 minutes,. While this is boiling prepare your jars ready and  make a  smooth  paste  up in a bowl of 2 tablespoons of plain flour, 2 teaspoons dry mustard powder,1 teaspoon curry powder,2 teaspoons Turmeric and a pinch of cayenne pepper with about 3-4 tablespoons  of white vinegar.
After the 10 minutes, drain off the liquid, and add 2 cups white sugar and 1/2 pint white vinegar and return to heat and boil for about  3 minutes.

After this, remove and add  yellow paste

Then stir thoroughly to  combine evenly and make sure there are no floury lumps.Place back on heat and boil for about a minute or two to  thicken and cook the flour.

I then used a small plastic jug to pour the piping hot pickles  into jars  as my plastic jar funnel  is just a teeny bit too small for the jars I used this time.
I then wiped the rims of the jars clean with a paper towel soaked in white vinegar, screw on my new lids and place my jars in a double layer with a pizza tray separating the layers into my electric water

bath preserver.I then brought it to the boil and processed the jars at that temperature for 10 minutes, after which I turned it off, removed the lid and let the jars sit in the unit for another 5 minutes.

I then removed them out onto the towel covered bench until they cooled,
I then insisted they line up and pose  for one final photo shoot before labeling and storing away in the pantry.

We use these  pickles a lot, We use it in Sandwiches,plain and toasted with cheese, and on hot and cold meats, beaten into cream cheese as an impromptu dip.and in a tuna casserole that I make pastry and spread the pickles over the pastry then roll it  up and cut  slices through(I then turn these spirals face up on top of the tuna and white sauce and bake.) It Maybe an acquired taste, but one my family loves.My Mum used to make it when we were young and we always loved it.
This may be the last crop we see here as we will have probably moved to the farm full time before next years crop, and it will probably take a while to establish a vine out there(if at all as it is frost sensitive). So I may in future be making the Tomato or cauliflower version of this, which isn't a problem as they are equally as tasty.
So everyone until we meet again,
Cheers to you all,
Jane.

A basket full of pears.

Due to the prolonged drought last year we have been fairly limited this season as to what fruit we can preserve. The supplies have been lower and more expensive than usual. Even our neighbours who usually have their own Apples,plums,apricots,peaches, pears ,quinces ,cherries and mulberries have had  nothing at all this year.
So  with this in mind when I was shopping the other day I noticed that pears were on sale at Harris Farm Market at 99 cents a kg, so I decided to purchase about 15 kgs.

So, I thought about what I could preserve. I decided to do pear slices and diced pears in extra light syrup.(we are trying to cut down on the sugar  load a little)

I set to work peeling,cutting and coring the pears and as each was done I dropped them into a solution of water and lemon juice to stop them from turning brown.

The pears were then packed into pint mason jars and covered with an extra light syrup made by dissolving  1 1/4 cups white sugar into   5 1/2 cups of hot  water .

I then removed the bubbles from the jars, wiped  the rims clean with  white vinegar on paper towel and completed the seals and processed  in my electric water bath preserver for  20 minutes
I was on a roll, and thought about what else I could make,so  I went and purchased some more pears and some other fruit and started on making some fruit salad  cocktail.

So the peeling and chopping began again, I placed all the fruit in a big stockpot, mixed it all up well and then packed into my jars, poured the same extra light syrup over and then  removed the bubbles with a good old chopstick.

The jar rims were then wiped  clean, lids fitted to seal and  they were processed in my electric water bath preserver for 20 minutes.

I had about 2 kgs of pears left after this and  wanted to try a recipe for Caramelized vanilla pear preserves that a canning friend   Bev Dobson had passed on to me.

So , back to the chopping board I went. This recipe calls for 2kgs of diced pears(cut to about 1-2 cm )
To which you add 2 cups sugar,1/3 cup lemon juice and 1 good teaspoon vanilla  extract.

This is then cooked until the fruit softens and the liquid  reduces, thickens a little and changes to a  light golden colour. The smell is amazing as it cooks.
It is then put into jars, sealed and water bathed for 10 minutes to  make sure that the seal is intact to make shelf stable.

All in all I was quite pleased with my couple of days work, these will all be wonderful additions to my pantry shelves and I am certain they won't last very long.Having said that, we have already gobbled up two pints of pears .

I now have to think about what to preserve next, I have this thing where I struggle to look at empty jars on the shelf, I want them full again as quickly as possible....All part of that Canning Addiction I suspect.
I have also started my own Facebook  page. It is called" My Canning Addiction" and can be found at
https://www.facebook.com/aussiecanner
I hope to see you there sometime,
So until we meet again,
Cheers,
Jane

My kitchen runneth over .

It's been a really busy week in the coast  kitchen, The man of the house went off away  to work and I decided,in my wisdom that I really needed to pull the proverbial finger out and get something accomplished and have something to show for all my time here alone.
So I decided in my wisdom to  stock up on my Apple Pie Moonshine supply as as it was  getting pretty low and I had found some cute jar mugs for $1.00 each

in our local cheap shop that I thought would be perfect for the job.I was really pleased with the result and am sure that they will be a big hit at our next  social gathering that we  organize .
Next  item on the agenda was "Habanero Gold", we had grown Habaneros for the first time this year specifically to make this gorgeous golden jelly with a kick  and thought that if I didn't do it soon, they would fall off the shrub and all would be forgotten ,which would be such a waste..

So, I picked the hot little blighters (wearing gloves) and prepared them(wearing gloves) along with the other ingredients and  produced these beautiful little jars of the most tasty jelly to have with cheese and crackers  during happy hour. I have also been told it is  lovely as a baste for chicken and fish before grilling and warmed a little as a dipping sauce.

This  batch is supposed to last me 12 months, but there is fat chance of that happening, so as more habaneros ripen looks like  I will be making jelly again.
The next item on my to do  list was dilled carrots, I had purchased a 5kg bag and had big plans for them, half into the dilled carrots and half for  some salad pickles.

I had decided to make some Vietnamese  Daikon radish and carrot pickle. There had already been an earlier batch made of this  a few weeks ago, and I quickly realized that the supply I had was definately not going to last very long, as we were consuming it at the speed of light(or should I say The Man of the house was !).So, here goes, this is how I make it.....
Firstly I peel and  julienne Daikon long white radish and the same for carrots. I think there was about 2 kgs of each when done.

Then in a deep stainless steel saucepan on the stove, I heated up 6 cups of white vinegar,6 cups water, 3 cups white sugar,and about 2 tablespoons grated ginger root, until boiling, adding the carrot and radish and bring back to the boil and simmering for  1 minute.Then take off the heat.

Then into the bottom of your pre -prepared jars place 1 Star Anise (a beautiful aniseed tasting  spice).

Next pack the carrot and radish into the jars and pour the sweet  boiled liquid over the top of them leaving about a 1/2 inch head space at the top.You will then need to  release any bubbles with a non metallic utensil and then re-adjust the head space level again.

A quick wipe over the rims  with paper towel soaked in vinegar, and pop on the pre-simmered lids and screw on the rings finger tight and all is ready for the water bath.

We then place the jars in the water bath preserver (electric in my case) and cover the tops of the jars with a couple of inches of water, place the lid on ,bring to the boil and maintain that for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes is up, turn the heat off, and remove the lid and let the jars sit for another 5 minutes before removing them  onto a towel covered bench out of cold  draughts  to cool down .

The jars are  left  to cool for 24 hours before removing rings, washing and labeling and storing away in the pantry(minus the rings).
Another job  I decided to do  was to use up the peelings of the radish,carrot and some celery leaves  that I had saved  to  make  some vegetable powders by dehydrating them and  grinding them up..

So I loaded all these into my great little dehydrator and set them going. I had to do this in two loads which took most of the day.After they were ready ,they looked like the photos below.

After they had all dried and been ground up this is what I had, celery powder, Tomato powder(from a previous days work) and a mix of carrot and radish together.

These powders will be a wonderful addition to my pantry to use as fillers and flavours for many dishes to come out of my kitchen, without the added salts and chemicals and preservatives that are found in the commercial products.I was very pleased with the final results and will continue to make and use these extra little  bits and pieces that would normally have been wasted to a certain degree.
So until we meet again next time,
I bid a cheery farewell to you all,
Jane.