The art of keeping perishable foods for use at a later time adds variety to the diet and lowers the cost of eating. Techniques include drying, pickling, wine making, jams and freezing. The objective is to offset some of the abundance and healthy seasonal fruit and vegetables to a time of scarcity.
Details While looking for the simplest recipe for processing small scale harvest of home grown olives I came across the following process:
Step 1: PREPARING OLIVES Make a simple, straight cut into each one or poke each with a fork. This will allow them to release some of the bitterness and soak flavour faster. Place all olives in a big pot, cover them with water and place a big, heavy plate in the pot to keep the olives at the bottom, fully submerged. Leave olives in water for 2 weeks, changing the water every day.
Step 2: ADDING OLIVES TO BRINE Sterilize your glass jars and lids first by washing them with warm soapy water and then popping them in the oven at low temp (120C) until completely dry. Allow to cool before handling. If lids are plastic, do not put them in the oven but pour boiling water over them. Add olives to jars, making sure they are packed as tight as possible. Stuff as many as you can. To make brine, for every 500ml water, add about 100ml vinegar and 2 TBSP coarse salt. Pour brine in the jars filled with olives, to the top of the rim, until it begins to overflow – it is key that no air remains in the jar. Screw the lids on the jars, label them and leave them in a dark cupboard for about 2 months
Step 3: MARINATING THE OLIVES – make enough for 1-2 weeks at a time Now your olives are ready to take on the flavours of the marinade. Put the olives into a saleable container and add the following:
Chilli powder or flakes
Lime juice + zest
Finely chopped garlic
A nice coating of olive oil
Marinade oil leftover after eating will make a wonderful addition to salad dressings! Place olives in the fridge for 1-2 days. Flavours develop as they sit. Keeps well for few weeks in the fridge.Date July 03, 2017Link To http://talesofakitchen.com/raw/easy-hom...
Harvest time Late autumnEdible Tags olivepreserverecipe
We have an over-abundance of tomatoes at the moment and it's hard to think of what to do with all of them. A fantastic way to preserve tomatoes is to roast them and then blend them... and then put them into freezing containers or bags and into the freezer. March 06, 2011tomatoesbakingpreserving
Our tomatoes are out of control, a huge improvement over last year.
We have a bunch of different varieties but the most prolific by far are the roma. Last year a lot of these ended up in the compost and subsequently sprung up all over the garden. Unable to bring myself to pull them out we are now drowning in tomatoes.February 19, 2011tomatopreservestew
The plum harvest has started and we are using every technique to preserve and offset some of the bounty. Drying is one easy, low tech way to save fruit for another day. I made some trays with fine wire mesh that can be hung in the sun.January 02, 2011plumsdryingpreserving
Another way of dealing with surplus fruit is to dry them in the sun for use over winter.
Use a simple wooden frame with fine mesh / gauze stretched over and then place the cut fruit and put the whole contraption out in the sun.February 17, 2010FruitDryingPreserveSummer
With an excess of plums and apparently to much spare time, I decided to try and make wine. The process is reasonably simple, so I have high hopes. No doubt as other fruit come ready I'll be experimenting with other flavours. January 30, 2010Plumswinefermentation
