The lemon glut

It is lemon season in Perth with work colleagues bringing bags and bags of lemons to work in the hopes that some generous person will take them off their hands.  But you think..."What could I possibly do with all those lemons?"  Here are an idea I've tried and it has turned out beautifully:

Lemon and Lime Marmalade
I like my marmalade zesty!  This one fits the bill nicely...

Approximately 250g each of lemons and limes (about 2 large lemons and 3 large limes)
1 orange
500g granulated sugar
A square of muslin or an fresh, unused kitchen cloth (I used a disposable & biodegradable kitchen wipe)
A few recycled jam jars
Waxed paper and plastic wrap
An elastic

Remove zest (no white stuff!!) from all fruit and shred it finely with a knife.  Remove all white pith from fruit, and reserve.  Chop the fruit up roughly, remove any thick membranes and place any seeds with the reserved white pith.  Put the white pith and seeds into the middle of your cloth and tie it up to make a small bag.

Place zest into a heavy-bottomed sauce pan (if you have one...I didn't use one and it turned out fine...just stir it) along with 1 L of water and the bag o' pith.  Add the chopped fruit and simmer on low heat for approximately 1 hour to soften the peel.

Yes, yes, you do see a fair amount of pith...which does make me a bit of a hypocrite, but no one's perfect and it was still uber tasty!

Clean and sterilize your jars.  The easiest way I know how to do this is clean with hot soapy water, invert on a cookie sheet to dry and then place in the oven at 140 degrees C or 275 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on your counter top.  Best to do this now, and not way ahead of time to maintain sterility of your jars.

When simmering is done, remove the bag (squeezing to get out all the pithy goodness) and put it into your food scraps bucket (will do nicely in the compost due to the biodegradability of the cloth).  Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved.  Bring back to a boil and boil rapidly for about 20 minutes or until set.  But how do you know when it is set?  Two ways, really.

1.  The back of the spoon test
Place some marmalade in a small bowl.  Dig in with your wooden spoon and scoop some up.  Hold the  spoon above the bowl to cool and then tip it to allow the marmalade to fall off.  Does it stream off the spoon like sugary water?  Not done.  Heat some more.  Or does it flake/dribble off in chunks?  Ready.  Stop boiling!
2.  The plate test
Chill a plate in the fridge.  Place some marmalade on the chilled plate and wait for a minute.  Drag your finger through the marmalade...does it wrinkle up and can you make a path with your finger? It's ready!

I found 20 minutes was sufficient for a set.

Once 'ready', let your marmalade rest so it forms a skin and then ladle into clean and sterilized jars.  Top each with a wax paper square and then some plastic wrap with an elastic band to seal it all in.  You could also use the lid of the jar, just sterilize it as well.

There you go!  A couple jars of beautiful home made marmalade!  Easy eh?  The flavour does improve with time, I've found...but it's hard not to dig in right now :)  Next time, I shall make more!

Next on the agenda is preserved lemons...but that's another post...

Enjoy,
Kat

How it all got started

Our garden has changed the way I think about food, self sufficiency and 'food security'.  I supposed I've recognized how much control we've given over to large supermarket chains, clothing retailers, and China's manufacturing juggernaut.  I'm not fanatical about organic, nor do I necessarily disagree with genetic modification, but I do think we need to slow down a bit and take back control.  How you march with your dollars is THE driving force in the economy and you CAN change things with simply the way you spend your money.  This blog will take you on my journey from 'buy it' to 'make it' and hopefully self-sufficiency.  

It started with our little rented villa in Perth...

I'm a Canadian living in Perth with my partner. When I first arrived we needed to find a place together and stumbled upon a lovely little villa in not quite suburbia but not quite urbania either.  5 km from the city, 10 km from work and 2 minutes from the grocery store...perfect.  But the jewel in the crown was the large back yard and the shed (the former being a requirement of both of us, the latter a necessity for my handyman fiancé).

The back yard was wood chips and a bit of concrete paving.  So, the first thing we did was collect all the chips in a pile, make a few garden beds and get on the phone to "Jim's Mowing".  You see, Perth has - how do I say this - substrate rather than soil.  It's ALL sand...I couldn't quite believe it when I moved her, but it's true.  And plants don't like growing in sand...unless you have a hydroponics operation - which we don't.  Jim's Mowing drops off bags of grass clippings to our doorstep every week, which my partner diligently empties out, piles up and turns regularly.  If you live in a reasonably well to do neighbourhood, your neighbours have just kindly provided you with all the fertilizer you'll ever need in those little grassy clippings.  They make lovely compost - and free at that.

Here's how you do it:  Call up your local mowing company, get them to drop off grass clippings in the bags, empty the bags into a giant pile and turn the pile every week.  This works best in summer for the rotting process to occur - so in a few weeks (depending on the weather) you've got compost.  You know when it's done because it will smell earthy and not sour.  Sure, it may be stinky when you turn the pile, but it doesn't last.  When it's done spread it in the garden and turn it in (turning in is quite important).  About 2.5 cubic meters will be enough for a 4m x 4m garden bed.  Let it sit for a few days and then get planting!  This should last you for about 12 months until you have to compost again.  Here is our pile, all the garden ends we don't use go here too:

We started planting and have already gone through one crop of tomatoes, rockmelons, lettuce and capsicums.  But, that was a few months ago...so I shall start from where we are now - winter.  Coming from Canada I'm amazed that anything grows throughout winter, but the plants seem to be ok - not growing super fast - but ok.  Here are some of our winter veggies and herbs:

Strawberry flowers!

If you want to get gardening in Australia, I highly recommend the book "The Australian Fruit and Vegetable Garden" by the Digger's Club...lots of useful information about planting times for your part of the country, soil types etc...

Be sure to stay tuned for handy information about preserving all those lovely veggies and make use of the cheap seasonal produce in the supermarket.  It's easier than you think and can, make that 'will' save you a load of money.  Preserving is a dying art, among many - but I want to change that.

Until next time,
Kat