Preserving & Conserving
Posted by Matt Wilkinson on January 28th, 2010
Have we lost the art of preserving? Going back a few decades, preserving was the only way to keep foods fresh. It was a matter of necessity in an era when imported and packaged foods didn’t fill our supermarket shelves. If you wanted to enjoy apricots in winter, you would’ve had to have preserved some from the previous season. And it was also a matter of economy- in times of plenty it makes sense to save for the harder times. Preserving and conserving is cheap and easy. All it takes is a little time, love and care.
It’s something that has always been a passion of mine and since we are in the depths of summer with an abundance of fruit and vegetables it’s great to go back to that time honoured tradition.
The cherry season has been and gone but at Circa we will have home made cherry brandy, pickled cherries and cherry jam for a long time to come. My sous chef Jake has been making cherry brandy for the past three years now and it’s such a delight when the first morello cherries come into the kitchen from Judy Barne’s Cloud End cherries in Daylesford. And I have to take my hat off to Jakey- his cherry jam is awesome!
Myself, I made 3kg of green tomato chutney from my 8 tomato plants at my partner’s Mum’s house in Euroa. I forget how simple but elegant preserving is. If you keep your eyes open for anything that is at the height of its season it will always be plentiful, beautiful and cheap. For example- to take advantage of the relatively short French tarragon season, every year I’ll get in a few extra bunches from our fruit and veg supplier and make a big batch of tarragon vinegar. This is best left to infuse and intensify for quite a while (at least 6 months) but it’s well worth the wait. A little goes a long way and it is a great base for numerous dressing and sauces.
The tomato season is a little late this year but the first of the heirloom varieties have come into the kitchen and are now on the menu. We save any trimmings and make a delightful tomato chutney we use on the breakfast menu.
Below is the recipe I use. Give it a go
Tomato Ketchup (for chutney)
3.5kg tomatoes roughly chopped
1 kg apples, peeled, cored and chopped
6 onions, peeled and chopped
4 cups sugar
1 quart malt vinegar
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
12 black peppercorns
12 whole allspice
12 cloves
Place all the ingredients in a stainless steel pan, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer; you want to cook until the ingredients are a pulp, which should take approx 2 hours. Remove from the heat and press through the sieve. Return the resulting mixture to the pan and heat to reunite it after its pressing experience. Boil for 2 or 3 minutes and then decant into sterilised jars and seal. Allow to rest for a few days to find its feet.
