hmmm back on the bean trail, still getting bucket loads of green beans and some 7 year beans, they can grow to a foot long!. They look and feel furry but once blanched and then cooked they are juicy and as good as the old green bean.

Well as from the photo's I haven't been out to collect any wilds. I have found a few walnut trees the other day. I am still making tomato sauce and tomato puree.

Puree is boiled tomatos, add some fresh basil, salt and garlic, I use the blender to blend the cooked product first then I put the cooked product through my italian strainer. It de-seeds and removes any excess skins. I then put it back on the boil, bring it back up to simmer and add to the already heated jars in the oven. I pour it in and do up the lid, as it cools the vacumn pulls the lid down tight and its done.

Cooking the tomato's

The italian strainer in action- removing skin and seeds

 Pouring tomato puree into hot jars








Finsihed tomato and Sauce in the beer bottles.




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Quinces that someone brought into work, I will add these to some wild apples that I have to make
Apple and Quince crumble

Quince & apple crumble

Ingredients

4 granny smith apples
1/2 cup water
4 cooked quinces* (reserved from jelly recipe)
2 tbsp soft butter for greasing dish
1/2 cup self-raising flour
80g unsalted butter
1 tsp ground ginger (optional)
4 tbsp muscovado sugar
4 tbsp shredded coconut

Method

Preheat oven to 180C.
Peel, quarter and core apples.
Place in small saucepan with water and cook over gentle heat, covered, until softened, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside. If using leftover quinces, remove skin and cores.
Butter a large ovenproof serving dish (or individual dishes) and spoon fruit into dish.
Make crumble topping by rubbing butter into flour in a mixing bowl until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Do not overmix. Add ginger (if using), brown sugar and coconut. Stir to combine.
Scatter crumble topping over fruit mixture, place in oven and cook for 30 minutes until topping is golden brown.
Serve hot with vanilla ice-cream or thick pouring cream.
NOTE If you are not using leftover fruit, prepare the quinces first. Peel, core and quarter. Place in a saucepan with one cup of caster sugar and three-quarters of a cup of water and simmer for 30 minutes until tender. Add apples and continue the recipe, as above.
Hopefully when I get sorted I will be able to add some video footage and some Deer's being dressed.!I have been watching "River Cottage- everday" Hugh is my idle

and look at this- absoloutely delicious!

Happy Hunting

All fruits and vegetables contain enzymes and bacteria that, over time, break down the destroy nutrients and change the color, flavor, and texture of food during frozen storage. green beans requires a brief heat treatment, called blanching, in boiling water or steam, to destroy the enzymes before freezing. Blanching times for beans is 3 minutes (the duration should be just long enough to stop the action of the enzymes and kill the bacteria).



Blanching Beans.

1. First pick fresh beans
2. Cut top & tail off beans and cut into smaller pieces if you desire
3. Bring saucepan of water to the boil
4. Place fresh beans into the hot water
5. Begin counting the blanching time as soon as you place the green beans in the boiling water. Cover the kettle and boil at a high temperature for the required length of time. You may use the same blanching water several times (up to 5). Be sure to add more hot water from the tap from time to time to keep the water level at the required height.
6. Remove blanced beans from hot water and place in icy cold water ( sink filled with ice cubes in it)
7. Once they are cool to the touch ( 5 to 7 minutes) then drain
8. Place onto oven tray, place in freezer for 1 hour.
9. Remove from tray and place into freezer bag. I reuse the bags they come from when you buy them  in the supermarket. This will allow you to get out just the right amount

Fresh Beans

top & Tail, then blanching on stove and cooling on the right hand side

Beans after 1 hour in freezer

Quite a rewarding weekend. Checked on the vegie garden, still harvesting tomato's, pumpkin has gone nuts. Still getting beans, got some spuds. Harvested some roadside peaches. Then I bottled the peaches, frozen the tomato's for use later and blanched and frozen the beans. I am hpoing to create some seperate pages with all the steps to preserving foods. Thatway it will be easier for you folk to find them and use this as a resource.

Roadside Peach tree, between Sale & Rosedale

Peaches from the above tree

Garden being devoured by the pumpkin Plant

Some beauties coming along

My Spuds, about 3 varieties in there

7 Year Beans, will grow up to a foot long!

Top & Tail, Blanching, then cooling

once blanched, place on oven tray put in freezer for an hour then put in bag, this keeps them not turning into a huge frozen lump

First Pumpkin of he season ( Cup in for scale) Queensland Blue ( I think)

An Vola,

Preserved Peaches. Gathered from work collegues. which is still free.

As you can see these jars have been through the preserving process. Once they cool down I will remove the clips and then store them, preferably somewhere with a constant temperature and dark.

Those with food or wine cellars will be ably placed to do this. Else inside storage would be suitable. Now this gives ideas about why old pantry's used to be so big and why our new pantries that are large are not really utilised. Pantry's shoudl have some air flow.

this website has loads of info on this very subject

http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/QandA/storefood/pantry.htm