Well its been a while and Feb 2018 is already here, blackberries are ready and I havent even got out yet. The tomatos are gone wild, cord already harvested and the pumpkins are taking over the yard. Its time for storage and eating tomatos everyday.

Preserving fruit is really easy and almost a lost art- fruit is everywhere, if you dont grow your own trees, get friends with people that do, find them on roadsides or swap for it. Most fruit will preserve, apricots love to be preserved for use later in stewed, turnovers, in custard, icecream or if you want turn it into Jam.

the 4 step process- wash fruit, pip and cut- break open the stone to get to the Kernal, its packed full of flavour and will help the preserves. Put into washed jars, fill with sugar syrup, remove all air bubbles, put on rubber and lid with clip- water bath for 1 hour in preserver and wola!- fruit for years to come

http://www.canning-food-recipes.com/canningfruits.htm

Apricots

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4- finished product

Its Passata time as well- there are many ways of doing this- I wash tomatoes, put through the tomato passata machine, boil down the flesh to remove excess water, wash and heat jars ( dishwasher and oven) – put hot product into hot jars, put on lids and as it cools, it will seal and you are done.

flesh in and skin and see out

Passata making by an 8 year old

Soem Tips for blanchign corn, remove husk, cut in half, put into water, bring water to boil and simmer for 5 minutes, put into cold water ( sink with iced water) to stop cooking process, then let drain, put onto oven trays and freeze, once frozen, pop into bags and you have blanched corn that you can choose 1, 5 or 10 when you need them.

Blanched Corn

Freezing options