What are you preserving?

[Woody girl]

I make a rhubarb, stem ginger and vodka relish, which goes great with cooked meats or cheeses.
It started off as a by-product of making some rhubarb vodka and then wondering what to do with the rhubarb once it had finished steeping in the vodka

Sounds delicious!
I've decided on chutney with dried apricots and lots of spices for the plums, as I had all the ingredients.
Plums are now steeping in white wine vinegar untill tomorrow, and I will make it when a little less worn out, as I've been spring cleaning the kitchen today, and my back is screaming..no more...please!!!!
A whole bar of Cadbury fruit and nut, a pot of tea, and a rest for now.

 

[Woody girl]

Spiced Plum chutney is making the whole house smell like Christmas.
It says leave to mature, so should be stonking by the festive season.
So much in it, apricots lemons, chilli garlic , cinnamon and several other spices.
It's taken an age to chop everything up and prepare, but it will be worth it. The blurb says,
A fruity chutney with a big hot kick. May name it pony chutney.(remember, the little drink with a big kick, in the 70's?) But it might confuse people!!!

 

[Woody girl]

I can't believe it! I've burned the flipping chutney AGAIN!
I did this last year and once again I'll be chipping carbonised sugar off the bottom of my pan for the next several days.
I only went for a wee, took the pan off the heat, and put it on the other ring, thinking it had cooled down enough after boiling some eggs. It hadn't!
In panic I put the pan on the floor as I'd run out of space, and now have plastic all over the bottom of the pan and a ruined floor too!
I've been in a terrible mood all afternoon. I'm going to change my avatar name to grumpy, and the avatar picture will be a burnt preserving pan.
What a waste of hours of chopping and measuring, ingredients, sterilising jars, stirring and electric.
Oh well, compost bin has had a feed, so I'll just roll up the sleeves and start scrubbing!
(And saving for new flooring!)
Grrrrrrrr! Waaaah!

 

[SaraR]

I can't believe it! I've burned the flipping chutney AGAIN!
I did this last year and once again I'll be chipping carbonised sugar off the bottom of my pan for the next several days.
I only went for a wee, took the pan off the heat, and put it on the other ring, thinking it had cooled down enough after boiling some eggs. It hadn't!
In panic I put the pan on the floor as I'd run out of space, and now have plastic all over the bottom of the pan and a ruined floor too!
I've been in a terrible mood all afternoon. I'm going to change my avatar name to grumpy, and the avatar picture will be a burnt preserving pan.
What a waste of hours of chopping and measuring, ingredients, sterilising jars, stirring and electric.
Oh well, compost bin has had a feed, so I'll just roll up the sleeves and start scrubbing!
(And saving for new flooring!)
Grrrrrrrr! Waaaah!

Oh no!

 

[Woody girl]

Oh no!

Oh yes. I'm almost in tears to be honest. I've swopped to stainless steel pan as I realy don't like using aluminium, and they ain't cheap! Seem to hold more heat and things burn so quickly. I rarely burnt stuff with the old aluminium pan. But I've almost ruined this new one. The bottom cleaned up easily, the melted flooring just peeled off, but I have a quater of an inch of carbonised Plum toffee inside the pan. Not easy to remove. Vinegar and bicarb won't touch it, so it's chip away as much as possible with an old teaspoon, then hard scrubbing with wire wool and pink stuff paste.
I'm so cross with myself!
No bars of choccy tonight as punishment.

 

[SaraR]

Oh yes. I'm almost in tears to be honest. I've swopped to stainless steel pan as I realy don't like using aluminium, and they ain't cheap! Seem to hold more heat and things burn so quickly. I rarely burnt stuff with the old aluminium pan. But I've almost ruined this new one. The bottom cleaned up easily, the melted flooring just peeled off, but I have a quater of an inch of carbonised Plum toffee inside the pan. Not easy to remove. Vinegar and bicarb won't touch it, so it's chip away as much as possible with an old teaspoon, then hard scrubbing with wire wool and pink stuff paste.
I'm so cross with myself!
No bars of choccy tonight as punishment.

Glad to hear the plastic came off easily enough. The pan should be salvageable but such a shame on the food, floor and hard work. For burnt on food, the flat end of a large metal ladle handle works great if you have one. And then as you say, wire wool etc. Maybe have some nice tea would make things feel better?

 

[Woody girl]

Glad to hear the plastic came off easily enough. The pan should be salvageable but such a shame on the food, floor and hard work. For burnt on food, the flat end of a large metal ladle handle works great if you have one. And then as you say, wire wool etc. Maybe have some nice tea would make things feel better?

A rare glass of red wine did the feeling better job nicely.
The teaspoon seems to be working OK, but its slow work!
Pure miffedness has gendered violent attacking of the carbonised toffee with said teaspoon fairly effective, and the bottom is already visable in several places .
It's gonna take a day or two in shifts to get back from black....I know from last years experience. Kicking myself for my stupidity, but hey, when you need a wee, you need a wee!!! .

 

[Woody girl]

Finaly, the burned pan is ,as of 10pm tonight, cleaned of all the carbonised chutney, that took 5 days of spare time, one copper pan scrubber, half a packet of bicarb of soda, (household, not baking) several pints of vinegar, three fingernails, and a lot of determination!
Dare I try again?????

 

[gg012]

Go for it!

Sent from underground

 

[SaraR]

Just, maybe have a potty to hand this time

 

[Woody girl]

Just, maybe have a potty to hand this time

Are you extracting the wee?
its a good idea! tho I think it would be a better idea,not to boil eggs at the same time, and forget to turn the hob off and move the pan onto it when leaving the pan for a minute.
Duh!
Gooseberry and elderflower jam underway . Fingers crossed!!!!!

 

[Toddy]

I'm drying herbs. From sage and thyme to mugwort and red clover.

The mesh bags sold for pennies in the supermarkets to bag your own fruit and veggies are excellent for this. Fill loosely and peg out on the washing line in shade/gentle breeze.
Excellent results for totally reuseable outlay of a few pence.

M

 

[SaraR]

I'm drying herbs. From sage and thyme to mugwort and red clover.

The mesh bags sold for pennies in the supermarkets to bag your own fruit and veggies are excellent for this. Fill loosely and peg out on the washing line in shade/gentle breeze.
Excellent results for totally reuseable outlay of a few pence.

M

I got those too, for the same reasons. (I rarely use bags for veg anyway). Should probably also get some sage drying while it's warm. Although I often just pick it fresh even in winter.

 

[Woody girl]

Gooseberry and elderflower jam successfully made. No burnt offerings this time. Yay!
Phew!
Last few elderflower drying outside for teas and other uses.

 

[gg012]

Gooseberry and elderflower jam successfully made. No burnt offerings this time. Yay!
Phew!
Last few elderflower drying outside for teas and other uses.

Congratulations! I have a batch of elderflower liqueur starting off today

Sent from underground

 

[Disabled Preppers]

Well today has been a sort of day of rest pushed the body to hard the other day but today i managed to collect a huge amount of chive , bay and sage and basil for the dehydrator , i know people say use fresh and we do have it in the winter in the tunnel but i want to add some to my dry goods buckets ie packets of say 20g of herbs to add to the rcie and pasta bucket and so small pouches of chive to the breakfast buckets for i nthe scrambled eggs .

 

[Woody girl]

Made some apple and cinnamon fruit leather, and dried it in the sun over the last few hot and sunny days. It finished drying just in time before the predicted weather change.
Saved me having to use the dehydrator or put the oven on.
It was quite thick, so took 3 days, obviously taking it in overnight, and putting it out the next morning, so I estimate total drying time 24 hrs.

 

[Toddy]

I beat the woodpigeons to the wild strawberries and I've made a couple of bottles of syrup
Lovely stuff.

 

[Woody girl]

I beat the woodpigeons to the wild strawberries and I've made a couple of bottles of syrup
Lovely stuff.

Blooming pheasant got all mine this morning!

 

[Woody girl]

Branded fruits on the go now. Some tayberries which are just beginning to ripen, so I got in before the birds did, wild strawberries, some wild raspberries, I found about half a dozen in the hedge, it was a toss up between greedily devouring them at once, or take them home for the jar.
A few black currants, my new bush is still tiny, with a tiny crop, so into the jar as they ripen, and the last handful of gooseberries left on the bush for the birds, made their way in aswell.
Ive put a few small chunks of watermelon from a large slice I bought, Blueberries, or worts to come in a couple of weeks, and of course blackberries very soon along with a few mulberries, damsons and whatever comes my way between now and autumn.
I love doing this, it's always different each year, but oh what a treat at Xmas, to say nothing of the super fruity brandy on the pud, or in brandy butter.