Bess' Tomato Sauce

Made with home grown cherry tomatoes, (seeds from Diggers,) this is the most full flavored sauce you could imagine. There is no onion, so will keep well.


Bess's Tomato Sauce




1 k. tomatoes.
1 teaspoon each,ground cloves, black pepper, ground ginger ,( or 2 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger)
2 teaspoons of mixed spice
2 cloves of garlic , crushed
Pinch Cayanne
6g. salt
120g. white wine vinegar
200g. raw sugar

Place all ingredients except sugar, in saucepan and cook for 30 mins.,

 

Push through a strainer  to remove seeds.

Add sugar, to strained juice and simmer  for 60 mins.
 

Bottle into sterilized jars.

This makes , in volume, 1/2 of what you start with.

Lemon and Carrot Marmalade.

The original recipe for this came from the Victorian Department of Agriculture booklet about 60 years ago.  I have adapted it to suit any Citrus fruit and even add Grand Mariner to some jars.

Ingredients
350 g lemons , washed
100g grated carrot
500 Mils of water
1 tablespoon of lemon juice and pectin if necessary. I use Jamsetta.
Sugar,  which will be 3/4 of amount of liquid in pot.

Method.

Place 2 small saucers into freezer. This is for testing set of marmalade
Cut lemons in 1/2 and slice into thin 1/2 moons. Remove seeds.
Place grated carrot and sliced lemon, lemon juice and water into large pot. Lid off.
Simmer for 30 minutes or until rind of lemon is very soft.  Finger nail should easily go through rind.
For each cup go liquid in pot,  add 3/4 cup of sugar.  I usually have about 1 liter of liquid so add  750 gs of sugar.
Stir sugar while Marmalade is coming to the boil.
Boil briskly until set. Skim off any scum that floats to top.     Test after 15 minutes on saucers.  Put  about 1 dessert spoon of jam on saucer and place back in freezer.  After 5 minutes,  run finger through jam.  If it wrinkles and stays apart ,  then it will set.  If not , boil for another 5 minutes.  Test again.
When setting is reached, pour into sterile jars.  Put lids on immediately and carefully turn upside down.  After 10 minutes turn up right way.

This makes a very tasty sweet Marmalade.  It can be used in place of mixed peel in cakes, at base of puddings, poured over lemon cakes and od course on toast for breakfast.

You can substitute any citrus for the lemons .
You can double the recipe,  but cook for a little longer.

Plum liquor

This is very easy and can be served straight or over ice or with ice and Ginger Beer.
The bonus is that there are plums over that can be used in jam or a Crumble
This recipe and photo are from Isi,  who lives in Portugal.  I have adapted the recipe from the one she published on Forum Thermomix.

Ingredients

400g of water
800gs. Plums,  stones removed
300 Mils of Vodka
100g sugar.

Method
Steam plums for 30 minutes.  Allow to stand for 15 minutes after steaming to drain all the juices.
Add sugar and Vodka to liquid and simmer for 5 minutes.
Bottle into sterilized bottles.

Preserving Citrus Peel

Where instructions are for TMX, simply cut softened peel into 1/2 cm cubes.

Preserving.

Apple Jelly

Apples
Jelly
Jam,  with other fruits,  eg. Berries, plums.
Bottled in Microwave
Stewed and vacuum packed and frozen
Dried, leathers
Chutney

Apples can be peeled and cored,  these saved to make jelly or as base for other jams.  Assists with the setting of jams.
The Apple flesh can be dried or bottled or pulped and frozen or dried as leather.
Bottled apple can be used throughout the year for Apple Sauce, Crumbles , added to cakes, pies.
Dried Apple slices for snacks for Adults and children, added to muesli.

Windfalls are good and watch out along roads for wild Apple trees.

When making most jams and jellies, add 3/4 of a cup of sugar to 1 cup of liquid or pulp.  Juice of 1 lemon and if necessary some pectin,  Jamsetta is good.