Preserves Thread - Jams, Pickles, Relishes, etc

Hi..

I don't know if they'd be available new now.. I haven't seen them in quite a few years.

I'd look for them at Opp Shops.. if there aren't any jars on display, ask for them as they often keep jars out the back of the shops.

Or ask if they might be able to locate some for you - one of the staff might have some at home that they no longer need and would be happy to sell them..

Good luck..I hope this is of help..

Pak'n'Save still had them last season but said it was getting more and more difficult to get them from their wholesaler, the same for pectin. Not sure what is happening there, but I guess we need to be prepared to be cut lose by the big overseas companies, as NZ is just a very small fish in the commercial ocean. So better be prepared to cook from scratch in the near future :)

....escambo....I was in mitre 10 the other day, I came across preserving jars in there... not what you are looking for, but at around $8.00 each I darn near fell over.... Op shops are the best place, or like myself ask family and friends....next door....across the road....uli....plenty of pectin in our supermarkets, It is sold in a sachet, "King" jam set mix....

Bumping for SW26 :-)

Bumping for Babytears.. :-)

Yep, this is coming up very soon also.

Cheers.

Countdown Johnsonville had some jars last year.You could roll up and ask if they can order some for you.Or maybe give them a ring.And I'm sure I saw some in Woolworths Tawa a couple of years ago.Upper Hutt might also be a good place to phone - there are still a lot of preservers living up there.

And yep, pectin is still available in most supermarkets, King Jam Setting Mix made in NZ by Hansells.From lime peel, I believe.

It's usually hidden somewhere on a very low shelf in the least popular area of the shop.

I saw a Chelsea product at the supermarket this week - Chelsea Jam Setting Mix - like a Chelsea 1.5kg bag of sugar with setting mix added.

Adding how to preserve fruit, etc. as the links on page one of this thread are no longer current:
Though there's lots of writing below. once you have the basics, you'll know easily what to do. and. you'll soon find yourself admiring your work. :-)

For peaches - any other fruit can be preserved in the same way.:

Place a large saucepan on your stove, add 3 cups water and 1 cup sugar (more or less to your taste - this is about the same sweetness as tinned peaches are - not the light syrup kind). You can preserve with little or no sugar also.
If you have more than about 10-12 peaches, double the water and sugar, or triple, or more, if needed.
Turn the element on to heat slowly - about a medium to low temp.
Stir your syrup as it heats, to help dissolve the sugar.

Place cleaned jars in the oven on 75°C to 100°C to heat and sterilise for about 30 minutes.
Place Perfit seals, or if using pop-top type jars, the lids of those, into a saucepan of water, so they're covered with water, and place on your stove, bring to a simmer and simmer till ready to use, so they sterilise.

Peel and halve the peaches - they halve fairly easily if you run a small knife blade around the slight dent-line that's in the peach from the stalk around to the opposite side. Cut right through to the stone.
Place the pieces (leave in halves or slice smaller if you want) in a large bowl of cold water so they won't go brown due to being exposed to air.

Once you have enough peaches to 3/4 fill the saucepan, bring the syrup to a boil, drain the water off the peaches, using a sieve or colander, then use that to slide the peaches down slowly into the syrup so it doesn't splash you.

Stir gentle with a wooden spoon so the pieces don't get broken, and heat till simmering again - stirring occasionally - it doesn't take long and peaches cook quickly too.

To get ready for filling the jars, I use a slice tin placed on newspaper beneath the jars as I fill them - which saves syrup running onto the bench.

Once the peaches are almost tender (they'll continue cooking in the heat in the jars) spoon them slowly into your hot jars - I use about 3-4 jars at a time, alternating which one I pour fruit into - start with one jar while you're learning. so it stays hot as you're filling it.
Once filled, use a knife to run down the inside of the jar, right against the side, to let air bubbles out.
Run your finger around the rim of the jar to remove any fibres of fruit, top up with syrup right to the top of the jar, then place either a Perfit seal and screw-band, or a pop-top lid on.
Tighten firmly, and set the jar aside.
Repeat till finished.

If you have syrup left over, bottle that in the same way, to use with lemonade as a delicious drink, or to add gelatine to, to make jelly, or to drizzle over trifle sponge, etc.

The following day, I wash the jars in warm water, dry them well, then leave them till the next day to ensure they're absolutely dry before storing. If they're slightly damp, mould can start growing, so completely dry is best.

Other fruit - plums, feijoa's, nectarines, apricots, rhubarb, etc. can all be preserved this way - there's no need to peel plums, nectarines or apricots.
Apples also can be done like this - they usually form a thick pulp - care is needed to ensure fibres aren't on the rim of the jar due to the pulp being thick, as fibres will mean the seal isn't complete and the contents will go off as air can get through.

For berries, as they're soft, I don't cook them - I place them in the hot jars, pour the syrup over and continue as above - the heat from the syrup will cook the berries.

Grape juice can also be made like this - I wash the grapes, place them in the hot jars and pour the boiling syrup over and continue as above. Leave several weeks before using with chilled lemonade - the grapes in the jars taste good too - this makes a great party punch with ice added.
Passionfruit juice can be made in this way also.

If you don't already have jars,

.they're very cheap at Opp shops - usually about 10c to 20c each - and you can use the pop-top jars from jam, pasta sauce, etc., jars for preserving too. they're good as you can preserve in a range of sized jars. small jam jars of apple pulp to have with roast pork, or large pasta jars of the same apple pulp to make apple pies or crumble, etc. If buying the jars at an opp shop - check under the lids to ensure they're not rusty - placing the lids on while the jar is still damp can cause this. Perfit seals and screwbands are usually available at supermarkets. or if you can't find them there, check out Opp shops for these too.

For the fruit:

Use ripe fruit that are still firm so they are less likely to go mushy while cooking. Peel, core or stone the fruit, and slice, or leave as they are. As you're preparing the fruit, place the fruit into a large clean bucket or container about half filled with water. As you peel more, the water covering the fruit will reduce browning. Any browning will disappear while cooking, so don't worry if a little appears. I peel, slice etc a good quantity of fruit before starting to cook it, and that keeps a continuing cycle going of:peel, slice, into the pot, stir occasionally while peeling and slicing more fruit, put the fruit in bottles, seal, more syrup into the pot, bring to the boil while peeling and slicing more fruit, fruit into the pot, etc.etc.

Peaches, Pears, Apricot's, Nashi, Feijoa's:
Cook till only just tender - they'll continue cooking with the heat in the jars. I test with a skewer to ensure they're just tender.

Apples:
Use less syrup for these. about one third to half the amount as above, so the cooked pulp is thick and not watery.
Cooking type apples include Granny Smith, Ballarat, etc. the more tart types of apples, give a whiter, thicker pulp.
Sweeter types of apples - Gala, Golden Delicious, etc.etc. tend to stay in pieces rather than form a pulp. use less syrup for these, so you end up with less liquid in the jars.
Peel and slice the apples, and cook, stirring well and often, with a wooden spoon, so the apple near the bottom doesn't burn on.
Bottle as above, ensuring there is no pulp on the surface of the rim of the jars to prevent sealing.

For plums and nectarines and apricots.
These don't need peeling.
I preserve plums whole - I remove stalks and wash them, then place in a large colander to drain, and they're ready to cook.
These don't take long to cook, and again, just cook till just tender so they don't go too mushy.
Nectarines.I cut them in half, and use a peach-stoner to remove the stones. Leave like that, cut into quarters, or slices, and cook as above also.
Apricots are easy to cut into half - use a small knife to follow the slight line around the apricot from the stem part, round the fruitand back. Twist the fruit slightly and one half will come free. remove the stone from the other half and they're ready to cook

For Fruit Salad:
You can also bottle a "fruit salad" - cook together: peaches, pears, nectarines, apricots, or your choice of fruit.
Add some passionfruit pulp if you want - stir this through as you begin bottling.
When ready to use, chill a jar of fruit salad, add some sliced bananas, kiwifruit and some pineapple, etc. and there's a lovely home-made fruit salad.

Tomatoes:

I leave the skins on these, for extra goodness and fibre, though you can remove them if you wish. Tomatoes can be either left whole, or halved, and cooked that way, then preserved as for the method for peaches, as above.

Or, my preference is to place the tomatoes in a large pot or preserving pan.
Crush them with your hands to make some liquid - no need to add water.
Add finely chopped onion and or garlic, plus any herbs you like - fresh or dried basil, sage, garlic chives, oregano, etc.then bring slowly to the boil and cook them to form a thick pulp.
Add salt and a small amount of brown sugar to taste, and cook a few minutes longer.
Bottle as for apples, above.
This will make great pasta sauces, pizza toppings, sauce for adding to spaghetti and meat balls, etc.

Spaghetti

Cook tomatoes as above, to a pulp. Place in a mouli, and process till a smooth sauce is formed. Place the sauce back in the pot, and bring this back to a simmer.
While this is heating again, cook some spaghetti noodles, till ONLY just tender, as they'll cook a little further when added to the sauce. Drain well and add to the tomato sauce.
Adjust seasonings if necessary. Bottle as for apple. and enjoy the goodness of your own homemade spaghetti.Any other pasta shapes can be used for a change.

all these sound lovely

Hi everyone, I tried looking at the links to "tradeMe_Cooks" but they are not working, have they been disabled? Shame if they have!!

Bumping up :-)

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All recipes saved to the site TradeMeCooks can be downloaded via a link on the following website ... you will find the link below the vege basket ...

http://www.e-ware.co.nz/recipes.htm

Bumping for Dom46 and for jam recipes..

Bumps a daisy

I made this one by accident last week, thought I'd be smart and use up some Strawberries and leftover fruit mince so call it my "mish-mash strawberry chutney" and if I may say so myself it's very tasty and goes very nicely with cold meat and salad, don't ask me for exact quantities there are none, I just went by sight and taste, so have just listed the ingredients:

large knob of REAL butter!
brown sugar
1 red onion chopped
2 courgettes chopped
1/2 tub of fruit mince (I didn't have any rasins and this already had them plus some spices!)
turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, curry powder, fresh grated ginger and crushed garlic, whole seed mustard (use all of these to your own taste)
malt vinegar
1 Large punnet of strawberries (chopped in half, no smaller or else they dissapear).

I cooked off everything but the strawberries in the butter, sugar and vinegar, making sure the onions were cooked through, gently simmer everything till nearly all the liquid that accumulates is absorbed except about 2-3 tablespoons, add the strawberries and simmer gently, the strawberries will leach their own juice so keep gently simmering and stirring occasionally until nearly all the liquid has absorbed but the mixture doesn't "dry out". Bottle in jam jars.

I made this one by accident last week, thought I'd be smart and use up some Strawberries and leftover fruit mince so call it my "mish-mash strawberry chutney" and if I may say so myself it's very tasty and goes very nicely with cold meat and salad, don't ask me for exact quantities there are none, I just went by sight and taste, so have just listed the ingredients:

large knob of REAL butter!
brown sugar
1 red onion chopped
2 courgettes chopped
1/2 tub of fruit mince (I didn't have any rasins and this already had them plus some spices!)
turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, curry powder, fresh grated ginger and crushed garlic, whole seed mustard (use all of these to your own taste)
malt vinegar
1 Large punnet of strawberries (chopped in half, no smaller or else they dissapear).

I cooked off everything but the strawberries in the butter, sugar and vinegar, making sure the onions were cooked through, gently simmer everything till nearly all the liquid that accumulates is absorbed except about 2-3 tablespoons, add the strawberries and simmer gently, the strawberries will leach their own juice so keep gently simmering and stirring occasionally until nearly all the liquid has absorbed but the mixture doesn't "dry out". Bottle in jam jars.

**bumping too** for gherkin help!I have two plants which are now producing LOTS of gherkins.in hindsight one plant would have been good :-)however.does anyone have a tried and true recipe for pickling gherkins!I've found a couple when Googling but it would be nice to hear of 'local' success (or failures!)I quite like gherkins but can't imagine me eating three dozen in a week.lol.Hence the need to preserve them in some fashion.