Friday 10 January 2014

organic apricot preserving


on thursday a friend of mine and i drove to harcourt, 121 kms from melbourne, to pick up 5 kgs of organic apricots that i'd ordered from mt alexander's fruit garden..now that might seem a long way to go for a few apricots but i just love a country drive especially when it involves buying produce..even when i go with no buying plan i nearly always manage to find something for sale either at a road side stall or at a farm or house..for instance in the past i've bought strawberries, free range eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, apples, honey and flowers just to name a few..the other day i saw horse poo for sale by the side of the road at $0.50/bag but i resisted buying any because i didn't want to risk contaminating the 10 kgs of organic flour i was planning on buying from red beard bakery in trentham on the way home..i usually manage to find something free too..depending on the season it might be apples, chestnuts, banana passionfruit, blackberries or pinecones..

i ended up buying 10 kgs of apricots instead of just the 5 kgs because i couldn't resist and i got carried away..some people are like that with handbags..not me..i don't even own one..i also bought two different varieties..rival and goldrich..now they weren't cheap at $5/kilo for seconds but i didn't even consider the cost..i just felt grateful and happy to be able to buy such beautiful organic fruit straight from the grower..

it was 33 deg c yesterday and just in case i wasn't hot enough in my unairconditioned house, with the rival variety, i made 5 jars of apricot jam and i bottled eight jars of apricots using my fowler's vacola..i took the box of goldrich apricots out of the fridge this morning and stared at them blankly..in the end i began the process of making three and a half kilos of them into glace apricots and with the remainder i made another 6 jars of jam..i've made plenty of apricot jam before but this time i used stephanie alexander's apricot jam recipe from a cook's companion and the jam is just how i like it with a nice balance of sweet and tart..i'd never bottled apricots before and nor had i ever attempted making glace apricots..i can't tell you how either of them turned out though because i haven't tried the bottled apricots yet, although they look fine, and the glace apricots won't be ready for another 10 days..

organic rival apricots

glace goldrich apricots in process

rival bottled apricots

rival apricot jam

semolina kaiser roll, unsalted myrtleford butter and goldrich apricot jam

have you been doing any preserving recently? if so, what have you been making? and i hope you're having an enjoyable weekend..x

14 comments:

  1. I fear I need a recipe for how to preserve organic apricot stuffed possums Jane :(

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    1. i needed the same recipe in my former house..the possums destroyed my whole garden that i'd slavishly established and nurtured..they ate their way through all of the fruit trees i planted (almond, apricot, pear, damson, fig, 2 cherry trees and others i've probably forgotten about ), 2 mature trees (a huge liquidamber and a copper beech), several climbing roses and all of my perennial borders..and the fox that took my 15 hens and our pet rooster needed the preserved apricot treatment too!

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  2. Looks mouthwateringly good. So golden, divine. I have acquired some plums yesterday evening and I am now contemplating what to do with them...plum sauce I think.

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    1. thanks tanya..i'd love some home grown plums to make jam..it's another jam that i like because it's not too sweet..all the best with your plum sauce making..what do you use it for?

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  3. Hello Jane. The colour in your photos is magnificent...pure summer! Your jam and bottled apricots are absolutely gleaming! I can almost taste that little roll with butter and jam, I can imagine it was delicious.

    Did you buy the flour? We are off to Adelaide soon and I plan to stop of at our nearest organic flour supplier...which happens to be about 5 hrs away!? Like you, I never miss an opportunity to buy decent produce. Happy Sunday! x

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    1. thanks jane..the roll, butter and jam were good..the jam has thickened up today so it's not as runny now..i did buy the flour..in fact i bought 10 kgs of organic white and 5 kgs of biodynamic wholemeal..where do you buy your flour in adelaide?

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    2. Hi Jane, Four Leaf Milling in Tarlee. They are also online...naturally :)

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    3. thanks jane..i've seen this flour in the shops in melbourne but only in small bags..x

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  4. Yes indeed to pretty much everything Jane. Love a tarty apricot jam and we've been known to drive quite a distance for 'our food'. Here, I need to make more jam, quick sticks. I was hoping for some plums, but nothing has come up and I don't think our apricot jam stash will tide us over for the year.

    And no handbag here either :-)

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  5. i think the apricots have been really good this year compared with the last few years..it might be because we've had decent winter rain here in victoria for a change..they taste amazing..as i said to tanya i'd like to make plum jam too..it's an equal favourite along with apricot..although raspberry jam is pretty good too!

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  6. Replies
    1. thanks wcd..i hope the winter isn't too harsh where you are!

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  7. How lovely to see your preserves in your Fowlers bottles :) I just adore FV bottles!

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  8. thanks ods..it's great to see them having a renaissance..

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