Normally, I loathe summer, but this year, partly because it has not been overly hot and partly because of the vegetable and fruit garden, I am quite enjoying it. So far, we have had beans, Spanish onions, spring onions, kale, snow peas, corn, chillis, zucchinis, pumpkin, celery, basil, red cabbage, carrots, beet, lemons, limes, manderines, peaches, spinach, bok choy, cucumber, rhubarb, raspberries, articholes, strawberries, mustard greens and a few more that I have forgotten from our garden. All this in spite of the bats, rats, mice, birds and dogs.
We have had a lot of failures too. My tropical experiments didn't work very well, and in my enthusiasm, I over planted my beds, but I'm learning from my mistakes and I am sure will improve in my skills with time. We had to fence off some areas from the dogs but decided we preferred canine predators to rodent ones after we discovered rats love tomatoes and corn and are good climbers. Now, we let the dogs into the garden in the hope they will put off the rodents.In addition, in spite of having a tank, we have had to use mains water, which has added to the expense, so I think another tank is likely in the future.
I was quite despairing because everybody else had tomatoes far earlier than I did, but now, the vegetables have taken off and we have so many that I have been able to bottle and freeze, as well as share the glut with family and friends. I think this sharing is what I am enjoying most. I give eggs and vegetables, but I get back so much from friends and family. It really makes me feel part of a community.
In this post, I'm going to post some of my favourite recipes for dealing with a glut of tomatoes, peppers and capsicums.
Kath's tomato ketchup.
I always loved the ketchup at my mother-in-law's farm because it was made from real tomatoes and tasted much spicier than the the store bought stuff. She revealed her special taste to come from the addition of Ezy-Sauce. When I realised I had so many tomatoes, I bought a bottle from the supermarket and now I have my own version of Kath's ketchup.
Ingredients:
4 1/2 kg ripe tomatoes
56 g garlic
680 g onion
56 g salt
2 tsp ground ginger 680 g sugar
375 ml Ezy sauce ( use more Ezysauce for a spicier taste)
Method:
Sterilize clean bottles in the oven. I used some nice red and white sangria bottles for some of my sauce bottles and they looked very funky.
Chop up onions and tomato and leave overnight.
Boil onions, tomatoes, apples, ginger and garlic for 3 1/2 hours.
Magimix to puree.
Add sauce, warmed sugar and salt.
Boil for 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently. Make sure you keep the heat up or it won't thicken.
Pour into bottles and seal.
Capsicum relish
I confess that I didn't have enough ripe capsicums in my garden for this, but they were very cheap at the market, so I bought for this recipe. My first attempt was so good, I made a second batch. This recipe is based on the Australian Women's Weekly recipe. However, I increased the spices and garlic and used golden sultanas because they were what I had in the cupboard. Plus, unlike proper chefs, I never seed or skin tomatoes as I am too lazy and like lumpy relish.
Ingredients:
2 Spanish onions, chopped
50ml olive oil
1 kg red capsicums, cubed
500g tomatoes, chopped
3 clovees garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
120g brown sugar
100g golden sultanas soaked in 80ml verjuice
240ml white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon allspice
Method:
Sterilize clean jars in the oven.
Sweat onions in olive oil till soft.
Add capsicum and cook for 5 min till wilted.
Add garlic, ginger, allspice, sugar, vinegar, sultanas and verjuice.
Mix and add tomatoes.
Simmer 40 min stirring from time to time until thick and homogenous. Note that too low a heat will cause the mixture to remain watery.
Pour into jars and seal.
We eat ours with cold meats, cheeses and salads
Sweet Chilli Jam
I had a lot of chillis of all shapes, sizes, levels of ripeness and levels of heat, plus quite a few green capsicums so I put them to use in this "jam" which we use as a relish. Obviously, if you want your jam with more of a kick, use hotter chillis, and less spicy, use milder chillis and more capsicums.
Ingredients:
20 chillis and capsicums.
2 lge brown onions
4 cloves garlic
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
juice of one lemon
1 tspn fish sauce
Method:
Sterilize clean jars in the oven.
Wash chillis and cut off tops. Peel onions and garlic.
Magimix them.
Place in saucepan with all other ingredients.
Stir to dissolve sugar and bring to boil.
Boil for about 45 minutes, taking care not to burn mixture. ( Too low a heat and it won't thicken. Too high and it will burn. Take care!
Pour into jars and seal.
I also made raspberry jam after buying fresh raspberries at Picnic Point Farm at Bairnsdale. I bought some of their plums to make jam too, but we ended up eating them all! Instead, we are enjoying the plum jam my daughter made.
Even though I am enjoying harvesting the present crop of fruit and vegetables, I am avidly watching the new crops ripening. My potted olives have 2 crops on the them and will soon be ready to bottle.
My persimmons are ripening too, as well as my quinces. Plus, I've just discovered some pods on the soy bean plants. I can hardly wait.
While I am waiting, I've begun weeding, topping up and feeding my existing beds, getting them ready for sewing new crops. The chickens and the rabbit are enjoying devouring the plants that I have ripped out once I have harvested their bounty. And, I am enjoying trying to decide what to plant next time.
