Feijoa and Loganberry Jam Recipe

 

During summer my husband froze some loganberries or boysenberries. We attempted lately to find out what exactly they were but I don't remember a definitive answer. Now that it is autumn Down Under, I wanted to find another fruit to change the jam up a bit, it is very strong and besides, we have some raspberries to preserve as well. I thought of foraging for apples, but on the side of the Murray Valley highway is not the best place. Feijoas came up on Gardening Australia this week, so here we are. My husband's friend generously allowed him to take some home while they were doing a job in his backyard. 

Feijoa and Loganberry Jam

Ingredients 
1 kg feijoas
1/2 cup water (not too much)
1 kg Loganberries or Boysenberries
juice of 1 lemon
2 kg sugar

Method
Wash, trim ends then peel the feijoas. Cut like wedges then chop across, 3-4 mm. Add to water, add frozen loganberries, leave lid on to get pot warmed quickly, once to temperature remove lid, cook on low heat until warmed then increase heat. In about 1 hour the loganberries will start to breakup and the feijoas will be softened. Use a potato masher to break any big pieces of fruit up. After mashing fruit add lemon juice and sugar slowly dissolving by constant stirring increase heat to quick boil, watch for spitting jam.

The temperature should be at jam set (104 C) in about 1 hour.

Sterilise jars by placing in a cold oven and set the temperature to 100C. Remove them from the oven with tongs. Boil lids in water for ten minutes.

Ladle jam into sterilised jars on an old towel and screw on lids. Wipe jars when cold and label. 

Makes 9 jars. 

This recipe is a carefully considered adaptation of a recipe from Radio New Zealand for Feijoa and Blackberry Jam. The jam has a delicate taste but is not at all weak, and the house smells devine.

Jam Melon Recipes

I have a lot of melon recipes posted around the net on the days we made things with them.  This seems to be a good collection, I am hoping so.  I have to go back and work out which was the best from another place. 


Jam Melon Pickles
5kg melon
6 large onions
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup sugar
8 cups vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
see below for modifications*
Cut up melon and onions, sprinkle with salt and stand overnight. In the morning strain off all liquid, mix the dry ingredients with a little vinegar, put into the pan, and stir till it boils. Then add the rest of the vinegar, the melon and onions, and boil till tender.
Adapted from: P.W.M.U. Cookery Book 1982 edition. Ann Gemmell, Lothian.
The modifications are *an extra cup of sugar and 4 tabs flour added 10 minutes before the end after mixing it with a bit of the pickles in a cup. We also used a handful of salt (1/2 cup) for the salting down process, as per a recipe for melon chutney (posted).

Makes 16 jars.


Jam Melon & Apple Chutney
2.7kg jam/pie melons
800g apples
1.75kg onions
1.5kg sugar
4 cups vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons white pepper
2 teaspoons ground cloves
500g raisins
Chop melons finely, as well as onions and apples. Put 1 cup of vinegar with mixture on low heat. In meantime finely chop raisins.
When starting to boil put in the sugar, the longer the sugar is in the darker the chutney.
After the sugar is well dissolved and the chutney is cooking add the raisins.
Wait until everything is well cooked. Add rest of the vinegar, simmer on low heat in two pans, until thick.
Will take about 2 hrs to get to correct thickness.
Takes a couple of months to ‘mature’ in flavour, should improve with keeping and store for two to three years.

This chutney my husband likes as he likes sweet things on cheese.

Ezy Sauce Apple Chutney

Apple Chutney

4kg green cooking apples, cored
1.5kg onions, peeled
500g seeded raisins
60g garlic, about 5 large cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2kg sugar
1 bottle Ezy Sauce

Chop apples, onions, raisins and garlic. Alternatively, chop in batches using a food processor. Place in a large saucepan, add salt, ginger, sugar and Ezy Sauce. Mix well and simmer for about 2 hours or until mixture is a thick jam like consistency. Fill using a small jug or ladle into hot sterilised jars. Cover loosely, cool and seal. Makes about 6 litres.

Serving suggestion: pork, beef, sausages, lamb, chicken or hamburgers.

Fantastic Idea for Lemon Curd

Photo source

I am a big fan of Greek yoghurt. I also have enjoyed frozen yoghurt in the past. What a great idea to combine lemon curd, especially if it is homemade with Greek yoghurt which is so healthy.

Lemon-curd Frozen Yoghurt

Agee & Kilner Jars

Jam Funnel

I was watching Nigella's Christmas Kitchen tonight Series 2, and she was making Chilli Jelly. She uses the jam funnel to put chilly jar and her other preserves into jars. For those with experience with preserving you will know that usually you have to put a teatowel down first, take the jars out of the oven (Nigella uses the dishwasher) onto the teatowel. Then with a ladle sometimes a little goes onto the teatowel. The funnel sounds perfect! I want one!

Medlars

I just love medlars, and I hope to buy a tree, though $100 is probably why I haven't bought one yet. I can buy one from a tree farm in Holbrook NSW called The Vintage Tree Nursery.

I had a tree before in our rental property that we lived in in 2003. Bletting the fruit still remains a mystery to me, though I think I did lots of research. I suppose if you are not using the information, you basically have to start again.

I bought some ready made jelly, though I can't say I have done a lot with it. I was thrilled though to see medlars on River Cottage Autumn a couple of days ago. They made medlar and apple chutney.

The girls picked medlars at the time when we had the tree, my husband even collected some sawdust, though it smelled to much like petrol from memory, but the fruit went rotten. Maybe that was a good thing, maybe I actually just bletted them? It would be hard to say since they were thickly together in a bowl.

My joy of medlars comes from my uncle's love of fruit trees, and I remember him visiting a tree in an older lady's garden.

Photo: Flickr Non-commercial Creative Commons: mgjefferies photostream here.

Ezy-Sauce Tomato Sauce

Ezy-Sauce Tomato Sauce

9kg sliced ripe tomatoes
1.5kg onions, chopped fine
115g garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon ground ginger (mix into thin paste)
1.5kg sugar
140g salt
1 bottle Ezy Sauce

Boil together for 3 1/2 hours tomatoes, onions, garlic and ground ginger. Then strain and add about 1.5kg sugar, salt and Ezy Sauce. Simmer until thick enough (1 hour or more) and bottle. For a thicker sauce add 1.5 or 2kg of apples.

My husband has a note that it makes 8.81 litres. (OK the picture is not homemade tomato sauce but you get the idea.)

Ezy-Sauce Tomato Relish

Ezy-Sauce Tomato Relish

8.5kg ripe tomatoes, skinned & sliced
3kg onions, sliced
4 level tablespoons mustard powder
4 level tablespoons curry powder
mix last two with water to a thin paste
3kg sugar
1 bottle Ezy Sauce
115g flour

Put in a dish tomatoes, onions and salt. After 12 hours empty all into pan. When boiling add mustard and curry powder paste. Now add sugar and Ezy Sauce and boil about 2 1/2 hours. Then minutes before end of boiling add flour made into a thin paste with water. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.

I like mine on silverside. My mother made it and that is what I think I remember about it.

Preserving Pans

My Mum has/had a preserving pan, it made a distinctive sound when you put the handle down. That was because it was made of aluminium.

I was a reading the Ezibuy homewares catalogue today, and found a red enamelled preserving pan. My husband likes it, and it is much cheaper than the $237 maslin pan from the Aga shop.

Ezibuy also has quilted jars and Ball jars much like the old fashioned Agee jars in Australia which I use to hold dried lentils etc. Why would you want a quilted jar? Because the Americans have them, and it is nice to have something similar sometimes.

Homemade Worcestershire Sauce

This sauce is a family recipe. It keeps indefinitely and we love it. It comes from the Leader Spare Corner book. My husband first made it probably in 1984.

Worcestershire Sauce

1 gallon vinegar (make sure you have the right gallon recipe for the right country)
1 oz cayene
1/4 oz cloves
1/2 oz ground mace
1/4 oz allspice
1/2 oz ground ginger
1/4 lb salt (+ 1oz garlic my husband has added this)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup treacle

Crush all ingredients together and mix with cup cold water and put into boiling vinegar. Simmer for 1 hour. Strain and bottle. Strain through an open fabric, leave some sediment with it.

Making Plum Jam

We had a knock on the door midweek, the person bearing nashis and over 15lb of small blood plums.

On a very hot Saturday I weighed the plums and hubby bought the last of the sugar at a small supermarket near our new house. I had checked an old Department of Agriculture Victoria book and called him with how much sugar I thought we would need. I checked on ebay, bad move and found another interesting cookbook to buy. We have had so much value with preserves and things with out old books that we have had over 20 years. They were my husband's mostly.

I found a recipe in my new school fundraiser book.

Blood Plum Jam

1lb plums, piped
3/4lb sugar
for every pound of fruit add 2 tablespoons of water

Boil plums and water together until soft then add sugar slowly and simmer (not boil) till a skin forms on top of jam. Do not stir. Bottle in warm sterilised jars.

We did a pectin test and did 1lb for 1lb. I must say it set very hard.

This morning, Sunday, another hot day after a hot night. Both days were over 40oC. My husband started the jam. We have two pots of jam going. Some is bottled as you can see.

Cost of sugar $11. Twenty jars of jam.





My son liked the taste, and he wants scones to go with it. I don't think, since scones are cooked in a hotter than normal oven, that will be happening today.