Sunday, August 8, 2010

Always have a plan B!

Today I had planned to do some potting of strawberry plants. But rain started around 4am and didn't let up. I am happy to have the rain as we have had a very dry winter so far.

Luckily I had a plan B which was kitchen based work. So today the kiddos and I got stuck in and made the following:

Canned 4 jars of pears in a light syrup.



Our olives are ready so we rinsed them and put them into a red wine vinegar, olive oil and water solution.



Canned 2 jars of guavas.



And made 4 jars of passionfruit butter.



This recipe is from my favorite book "Living the Good Life" by Linda Cockburn. We tripled it as we had so many fruits to use.

1 cup passion fruit pulp
50g butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar

Melt the butter and sugar in a double boiler. Add the pulp. Then add the beaten eggs and stir until thickened. Pour into sterilized jars.

We eat it on toast, flapjacks or on ice cream. (And if no one is looking, I steal a spoon of it every now and again :-))

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Way to go, Wendy....
I just had a few strawberries just a while ago. Bought them from Tesco.
It's raining here too, almost everyday...
Have a nice day..

Joyfulmama said...

Hi Wendy! I bought some pears yesterday with the express intent of coming home and canning them, but since I have never canned a thing in my life, do you mind sharing some pointers?? I was super-excited when I saw that you did it!

Urban Homestead South Africa said...

Canning pears is easy...they just need a light syrup and to be sealed tight.

Peel and core your pears and keep them in a bowl of lightly salted water to stop them browning.

In a pot make the syrup with 2 1/4 cups sugar and 5 1/4 cups water. Dissolve the sugar.

Pack your pears into your cleam jars and pour the slightly cooled syrup over.

Place the jars into a deep pot, fill 3/4 of the way up the sides with water and boil for about 10 mins.

Remove and allow to cool. These should be fine on the shelf for about 3 months.

Try to keep the jars warm before the syrup is added to preven cracking.

Enjoy!

Joyfulmama said...

Wow, that was quick!! Thanks SO much - my fingers are itching to get started!! Will let you know how it went. Stay warm!

Chris said...

Beautiful looking preserves, Wendy! We have been enjoying some pears in light syrup too, I like them warm with custard. The passionfruit butter looks delicious, I haven't made this before - just lemon. :)

Jane said...

Hi Wendy, I do like your bottles of fruit. I will be trying that - after a visit to F&V. I want to make soap, and saw rice bran oil in Checkers last week - I read on the forum that you had also found some. But where did you find coconut oil. Warrens Chemicals looks quite useful, but no coconut oil.
Have a good day and enjoy the blue skies.
Jane

Joyfulmama said...

Hi there Jane. Not sure where you live, but I readily find organic cold pressed coconut oil at health shops here in the Northern Suburbs. Crede Natural Oils make a good one. They are in Strand, but here is their web address: www.credeoils.com and their phone number is 021 854 8862.

Kate said...

I just have to comment to say YIPEE! Thanks for writing about your lives - such a great find. It's difficult to find SA examples of how to do things the way I'd love to do them (although mostly don't:)maybe one day). Your garden looks beautiful by the way.

Jane said...

Thanks. I phoned Crede Natural Oils. Not cheap! R85 per litre and I would have to buy R500 from them. Maybe I will try a health shop first time. I am in the southern suburbs, and my usual health shop has stock.

Urban Homestead South Africa said...

Hi Jane

I get my coconut oil from The Health Connection. It is the most expensive part of the process but it is still cheaper in the long run as you get so many bars of soap.

Blessings
Wendy

Joyfulmama said...

Hi Jane. I paid R64,10 for 400ml the last time I got it from the health shop. My baby boy has eczema and I use this as a moisturiser.(Thanks for letting us use your blog as a bit of a forum here, Wendy! :-) )