Friday, August 24, 2018

A dose of medicine

 Not quite the oranges and lemons ~
of St Clement's


Lemons and limes from our trees, instead. They gave us a crop before they started to curl up their leaves in the drought. Now there is fruit on the ground everywhere. There's only so much we can eat, and preserve, before the tree could hold no more fruit.


 Rindless


Our citrus is pretty hardy, so I'm hopeful they'll recover until the next drop of rain. But I've got to be thankful for what I received, and actually do something with it. There was a part of me that said, "you're too busy", to make marmalade, and "haven't you got enough to do already?"

Absolutely, the temptation was there - as I was constantly nursing family members back to health, at the time. But it niggled at me constantly, the thought of my bare trees, when they did eventually drop all their fruit.


Kumquat Jam


I'm glad to say, I ignored the temptation to ignore the fruit. Actually, it was the trees which inspired me, to fight back my own mortality. If they could hold onto their fruit despite the lack of rain, surely I could muster the strength to do something with them?

So I made marmalade. Albeit, not perfectly. I still need more practice with reaching the gel point. My Lemon, Lime and Ginger marmalade, was too runny, and my Kumquat jam was too thick! But I'm really glad for the practice, and it still has a lovely flavour.


Kent (or JAP - Just A Pumpkin) pumpkin!


Now I have a pumpkin I'm thinking of turning into chutney, next. Recipe found here. I'm nursing myself through my own sickness (thanks family for sharing with me, lol) but part of the healing for me it seems, has been finding ways to overcome, regardless.

My kitchen, and preserving foods I love to eat, is part of my medicine cabinet. Not just the food itself, but the moving of my parts to make it happen. So pumpkin chutney, here I come!

Is there any delicious foods, coming out of your kitchen, lately?



18 comments:

  1. Not much happening here, Chris. I am also recovering from the lurgy and have a huge Queensland Blue I was going to cut up and make pumpkin soup in the crock pot but that hasn't happened. You are obviously more motivated than me. I think I caught the virus from my sister when taking her to see the doc.

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    1. I hope you recover from your lurgy soon, Chel. I've had sneezes all day, today, lol. I'm hoping to turn the corner soon! Time for an orange. The same colour as pumpkin soup. I reckon both would serve us well! :)

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  2. My citrus survived our dry summer without any problems because they all have swales behind them (being on a slope) which I filled with water at least once a week. Despite keeping them alive, much of the fruit dropped off but now my lime is flourishing with a good crop. I'm going to make lime marmalade this weekend.

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    1. I love to add ginger to my lime marmalade, if I managed to get any to survive summer. Do you grow ginger? I recall you growing tumeric, successfully.

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  3. Chris, even the runny marmalade will be useful and delicious used in cakes, puddings and even savoury dishes where a pop of citrus flavour is needed. Ha, I love your "JAP" pumpkin. Aren't they peculiar the way they cross pollinate and give us all different shapes and sizes? Pumpkin baked in the wood oven is one of our staple vegetables here. What's on the go here? More jams )from last summer's fruit that has been in the freezer) to stock up the farmgate shop, marmalade from so much citrus I can't bare to waste, and sourdough breads of course. ;-) I hope you're feeling recovered.

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    1. Yum, roast pumpkin! Leftovers, often make a great soup too. Can I ask you Sally, do you make your marmalade without store-bought pectin? That's where I think I come undone. I try to make mine from the seeds and membranes of the fruit. Just wondering if that's what you do as well, as I could use some pointers!

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  4. Forgot to mention that I'm sad your citrus trees are suffering and I hope they recover after some rain. We are all praying for the heavens to open up for you up there.

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    1. The clouds are looming and the wind has a fresh feel to it (Friday afternoon) so we're hoping the rain comes soon.

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  5. Barely got a mandarin off our tree this year, dropped most of them! I do have a chocolate cake cooling on the bench as I'm writing this but I doubt that counts as medicine. Ha! Otherwise, I do have some lemon and lime juice in my freezer but will leave the lemon butter for another day. Hope you are feeling better. Meg

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    1. I was considering making lemon butter too, Meg (a firm favourite of days gone by) but alas, I just don't eat much toast nowadays. Still I remember it's zesty flavour! Yum, chocolate cake too. I have some oranges from our trees, I was thinking of making an orange and almond cake, for Father's day.

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    2. I use lemon butter to fill lovely little almond friands (gluten free) from Emma Galloway's cookbook, "My Darling Lemon Thyme". Oh, now I'm thinking about those and I've already made chocolate cake!

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    3. Ooh, friands - I like those. Like little sponge cakes. Do you have a special tray for those - like an oval muffin tray, only in miniature?

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  6. Aw sorry to hear your unwell, chicken broth is as good as medicine often. I hope your all feeling better soon. I need to make some marmalade soon too. My oranges are just getting ripe.

    And chocolate cake is totally medicinal Meg! 😉

    Xx

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    1. Agreed, chocolate is most certainly medicinal, lol. I didn't have chicken broth, but instead some slow-cooked beef bone stew, last night. Love those slow cooked meals when you're not feeling well. Chuck it all in the crock-pot in the morning, then serve in the afternoon.

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  7. You are so lucky to have your own fruiting citrus trees, we have to purchase them from shops, never the same, I have a Lemon tree, only a couple of feet tall in my greenhouse, grown from a pip. We are eating raspberries and blackberries from the garden, not enough for making jams.

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    1. We may have citrus, but you get all those rambling berries, I seem to struggle to grow, lol. Good on you for propagating by seed, and seeing what plants you can grow, out of your normal climate zone. Thank goodness for greenhouses!

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  8. It's a shame your citrus trees are suffering so, but oh, to have all those fruits! I hear you about the inner dilemma of preserving because it must be done, versus the pull of other things. Especially when there's family and illness involved. But good for you for doing it! I think jams and jellies, etc are often finicky anyway, but at least you have them.

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  9. Yes Leigh, I'm really glad I was able to get them into my cupboards, for later. As I'm sure you're well aware too - with your autumn preserving marathon about to start. You'll get to enjoy all those homegrown foods, well into winter! :)

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