I have been considering ways to preserve fruits so that they very nearly resemble the raw product. I have much success doing this with vegetables and have just started eating my lacto-fermented cucumbers which are just 'blow-your-socks-off' delicious.
Anyway, I have found the following recipe on the net and intend to try it as soon as I can on my excess apples and when I can track down some cheap Golden Queen peaches.
I'd be really interested in seeing other ideas.
buzzy110,
Feb 21, 10:17pm
I have also been thinking about using a high UMF (or whatever the new measurment is) Manuka honey. I was wondering whether the anti-bacterial quality of this honey would be sufficient to prevent spoilage if I packed the fruit into a weak brine made with this and stored in an air tight jar.
buzzy110,
Feb 21, 10:26pm
I know that anyone who stumbles upon this thread will be wondering what is wrong with the more traditional methods of cooking and bottling in syrup so I will explain.
I have often thought about how limiting traditional methods are. When you preserve vegetables in sugar and vinegar, via cooking you can only use them as condiments and not as a stand alone vegetable. By lacto-fermenting I get a vegetable that can be eaten exactly as I would have eaten it freshly cooked AND I can also eat it raw. I also get healthy tonic which tastes divine.
When preserving fruits as jams, jellies, chutney, and relish, I am once again limited to eating it as a condiment, rather than a stand alone fruit and the flavour of that fruit is mixed with many other, more overpowering flavours.
When preserving fruits in syrups the fruit is already precooked and sweetened and the uses are limited, once again to being eaten in a sweet dish - i. e. pie, with ice-cream, cereal, cream, crumble or whatever. These things are hardly ever eaten in our household so I have fruit from several years, sitting on my shelves. Don't need anymore.
I just would like to take some fruit out of the jar and taste summer once again, without the other stuff. I'd be more likely to eat it that way.
buzzy110,
Feb 21, 10:29pm
Here's hoping that someone has recipes hidden away that they may think are of no use to anyone because they are not jam, jellies, pickles, relishes, chutneys, water bath, bottling or basically non-traditional.
buzzy110,
Feb 21, 10:33pm
I have been looking at rumtopf and whilst that is a brilliant way to preserve raw fruit it also has more sugar than I'd like and the fruit flavours are muted as a result.
cookessentials,
Feb 21, 10:37pm
Sounds interesting buzzy... tell us more
buzzy110,
Feb 21, 10:54pm
I have no experience with non-traditional fruit preservation, and cannot find any books on the subject, so it is me who is asking for advice, not giving it.
rooper,
Feb 22, 7:22am
There are 2 good books that I know of that go into great detail and recipes for lacto-fermented pickling. "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon and "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Katz. I have "Nourishing Traditions" and use it a lot.
darlingmole,
Feb 22, 7:33am
Buzzy ~ have you tried the fruit this way? ie preserved in the water
winnie231,
Feb 22, 8:09am
rooper - they are great books but buzzy uses lacto-fermentation already ...
She is looking for help in regards to fruit. I for one can't help you much at this point buzzy but I'll ask around the 'alternative' folks here in Golden Bay ... someone may know something useful for you.
amazing_grace,
Feb 22, 7:44pm
Buzzy, so I am trying to understand your fruit in cold water method. If the fruit and jar is underwater, how come the fruit doesnt just float to the surface of the pot you are using. I am imagining that you have your fruit in a jar underwater in the sink and you turn on the tap forcefully... . isnt all the fruit going to burst up? also if you put fruit in water in the fridge, in a couple of days it just rots. How come with this method it doesnt? and the jars with rubber rings, I find them almost impossible to use cos you gets lots of air in the top. I use an Agee preserver so all my stuff is waterbathed... . What about the airlock? have you tried salting veges? (like salted beans etc? )
amazing_grace,
Feb 22, 7:45pm
Also, your cold water method doesnt say how to pre-prepare the fruit? do you remove stones etc?
cookessentials,
Feb 22, 9:16pm
I meant the lacto-fermented cucumbers!
buzzy110,
Feb 22, 9:21pm
First question last -(have you tried salting vegetables) That is lacto fermentation and I have been doing it with great success. I tried it on a smaller scale last year with beetroot, carrots (whey and salt) and cabbage (sauerkraut). On another note I have also lacto-ferment vegetables using only whey. This is called marinara and is great for using a medley of vegetables using red cabbage as the bulk. I thought that the whey only fermented vegetables were a bit tasteless as there is NO salt used so didn't repeat the experiment this year. I may do so at a later date.
However, I am now trying to expand my repertoire to fruit
buzzy110,
Feb 22, 9:27pm
First question - the method I posted has not been tried by me. I posted it just to give an idea of what it was I was seeking. I did consider all the points raised, but I am intelligent and adaptable with a sorely unused analytical function. Ifigured I'd be able to nut out a way of doing it successfully. When I read the recipe I did understand, more or less, the rationale behind the method and could see, to a certain extent, why it would actually work. I just couldn't picture the taste of the finished product.
I also have a huge apple tree so I can afford to experiment.
buzzy110,
Feb 22, 9:31pm
rooper - Thanks for the suggestions. I have Nourishing Traditions as well as Preserving Food without freezing or canning. the later book is brilliant and here is another recipe I have gleaned from it that I'll share. I think this may also be a recipe that could be adapted to other fruits. I just have to work out, first, why it works with blueberries. It also uses honey, which is what I am thinking of experimenting with.
buzzy110,
Feb 22, 9:41pm
From Chapter headed: Preserving Foods in Their Natural State
Blueberries Honey Canning jars and lids Masher
Soak the jars for 12 hours to allow any mold spores to hatch then sterilise in boiling water just before use Crush the berries with a masher and pour them into the sterilized jars Fill jars ½ to ¾ of an inch from the rim. Fill the rest of the with crushed berries preserved from the previous year Coat the inside of the lids with honey and close the jars
Blueberries will keep for 1 year, if stored in a cool dark place
My only problem with this recipe is the last instruction. I will have to figure out what may have happened to the berries from last year that they are used to innoculate the new batch. I suspect that some sort of lacto fermentation has taken place. Once again I will have to employ my rusty analytical function and see what I can think of instead.
I may make just one or two jars using whey and honey fermentation and then if that actually works (and the science says that it won't, but I can try anyway) then I will be away.
buzzy110,
Feb 22, 9:45pm
Winnie - I wish you luck in your enquiries. Don't be alarmed if people look at you like you have just grown two heads and have lapse into some sort of wonderland state.
The whole idea of preserving fruits without cooking is either totally impractical and impossible, or it has been an ancient practise that has been so long lapsed and superseded with bottling in syrups, freezing, drying, fermentation to wine, cider and vinegar that any past processes been truly and thoroughly consigned to the mists of time.
buzzy110,
Feb 24, 9:52pm
At the risk of just talking to myself here I thought this recipe I posted in Wild Fermentation may be another interesting and viable option for preserving fruits. I reckon it would make an excellent sugar and vinegar free relish as well as something that can just be eaten.
FRUIT KIMCHI Fruit - e. gs (figure that any mix or even on sort of fruit will do) 1/4 Pineapple 2 pitted Plums 2 cored Pears 1 cored Apple small bunch Grapes (stemmed 1/2 cup Cashews (or other nuts) Juice of 1 lemon 1 small bunch of chopped Coriander 1 - 2 Jalapeno Peppers - finely chopped 1 - 2 hot red Chillies - fresh or dried 1 Leek or Onion (finely chopped 3 - 4 Cloves Garlic (or more) finely chopped 3 tablespoons (45mls (or more) grated Ginger
Chop fruit into bite-sized pieces and peel if you wish Leave grapes whole Add in any other fruit you may want to try Add nuts Mix fruit and nuts together in a bowl Add salt, lemon juice and spices (mmm doesn't say how much salt so you'll have to guess) and mix well Stuff mixture into a clean quart size jar and pack down tightly till the brine rises If necessary add a little water (Now here is the process for fermenting: Weigh fruits down with a smaller jar or a zip-lock bag filled with some brine. Or if you want you can just press the fruits down daily with clean hands. Either way cover to keep out dust and flies. Taste kimchi every day and after about a week, when it tastes ripe, move it to the refrigerator)
As this sweet kimchi ages it will develop an increasingly alcoholic flavour.
buzzy110,
Mar 8, 10:20pm
Hi winnie. Have you had any luck asking around your alternative lifestylers yet?
emseacows,
Mar 9, 7:26pm
buzzy - my husbands mum bottles fruit in water - I should ask her for the recipe apples - not a long term solution, but. pick em off the tree or buy - then individually wrap each one in newspaper and place in a box with holes in the sides (remember the old apple box? ). \ Store apples in the box in a dark cool place. Keeps em for a few months. I am thinking you could try to do this with other fruit too... but have never had a go at it yet.
la_laa1,
Mar 9, 8:17pm
I am also very interested in this methodology, my only imput however is pumkins, when ripe pick, leaving about 10cm of stem, let stem dry then gently remove stem only from pumkin then fill the resulting depression with candle wax and store in a cool dry place.
buzzy110,
Mar 9, 9:42pm
Oh thank you so much for your input. My major problem with those methods is that I live in a virtual heat box and whilst I have been racking my brain I just haven't yet figured out how to develop a cool spot. Our property is so warm that I use virtually no heating in the winter and sleep with summer weight bedding with my feet out of the bed to keep cool, and that is in a 1950's house with little insulation.
Even the property is hot. The coldest side of the house outside never drops much below 18oC in the middle of winter. Strange I know. If I still lived in West Auckland I'd been keen as mustard but I think over here all my produce would rot or start fermenting in the first 3 days.
buzzy110,
Mar 9, 9:43pm
I'd be really keen to know about your mother-in-laws recipe and methods.
winnie231,
Mar 9, 10:06pm
buzzy - I left the challenge with the folks at the organic shop & will be calling in today when I go to town (40km away from home) to see if they have any answers for you. In regards to your 'hothouse' ... what about digging an old fashioned, underground food store/cellar on the coolest side of your house? Here's a good place to start with research:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5673472_build-food-storage-cellar. ht ml
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