Preserving with Tomatoes

Tomato Preserves

Well, it is that time of year again when I am spending a lot of very satisfying time making pickles, relishes, chutneys, etc along with other interesting ways of preserving my glut of vegetables for the winter. Of course, this year the crops are ripening late and some are struggling to ripen. Although, we have had a few sunny days among the torrential rain and fortunately some of those were during our Olympics.

I have been picking tomatoes for two or three weeks, I am only now harvesting in sufficient quantities to think of preserving.

I haven't planted any tomatoes outdoors this year but, planted several each of Alicante, F1 Fantasio and Sultana [all from Dobies] as well as my very precious Heritage tomato Broad Ripple Yellow Currant, which was given to me [see a previous Blog]. Sultana is a heavy cropping, tasty, crisp and reliable salad tomato. I grew it last year and loved it. My three plants this year are providing more fruits than I can eat so my neighbours are also getting lots. Alicante and F1 Fantasio are medium to large tomatoes which are excellent for all dishes demanding tomatoes. They freeze well and are excellent for preserves.

This home-made tomato ketchup is a favourite with my family. My first batch this year is perhaps a little hot for children but is very delicious - perhaps it was just my heavy hand with the chillies, they can be a bit unpredictable and the heat can be influenced by the amount of sunshine when ripening [if you are making the ketchup for children leaving the seeds out of the chillies might be a good idea]. I am still using the last of my 2011 dried chillies as this year's are not yet ripe.

Home made Tomato Ketchup

2Kg ripe tomatoes ( 4½ lbs)                            2 – 3 fresh bay leaves – crushed

568ml white vinegar( 1 pt)                              piece of cinnamon bark

190g white granulated sugar ( 6oz)                2 – 3 cloves garlic - crushed

1 Tblsp. salt                                                     2 – 3 red chillies ( dried or fresh)

¼ - ½ tsp ground allspice                                ¼ - ½ tsp ground cloves

Large pinch coarsely ground black pepper                                                                

Method

1.      Wash and roughly cut the tomatoes and put in a preserving pan or large saucepan with the salt, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, crushed garlic cloves and vinegar (be fairly sparing with the salt at this stage – add more in the final stages as necessary).

2.      Add the chopped chillies. Take care with these, especially if the ketchup is for children ( I have used dried  Joe’s Long, grown indoors - which are of medium heat and usually reliable)

3.      Bring to the boil then simmer gently until the tomatoes are thoroughly softened.

4.      In the meantime, sterilise the bottles or jars – keep hot in low oven.

5.    Remove the cinnamon bark and bay leaves then, sieve the tomato mixture through a coarse sieve – preferable nylon. Return the juice and pulp to a clean saucepan.

6.      Add sugar then ground allspice, ground cloves and black pepper gradually, tasting frequently to ensure the flavour is not too strong. Remember, when the ketchup is cold, the flavour will be somewhat milder. You may also want to add more salt if needed.

7.      Simmer the mixture until it starts to thicken. Don’t make it too thick at this stage as it thickens as it cools.

8.      Put the heated sterilised bottles/jars on a wooden surface and fill them with the ketchup while it is still very hot. Seal the jars immediately. This ketchup should keep safely for several months.

If your preference is for relish or chutney I have found my Hot Spicy Roasted Pepper and Tomato Chutney to be particularly popular:

Hot Spicy Roasted Pepper and Tomato Chutney

2 kg ripe tomatoes - peeled

4 large ripe sweet peppers – any shape will be good but use only red or yellow peppers

3 large onions – peeled and finely chopped

4 good sized garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed

3-4 hot red peppers (remove the seeds if you don’t want your chutney to be too hot)

1 tsp ground cinnamon,        1 tsp ground cloves,       ½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

850 ml vinegar (1½pt) – white vinegar is best but malt vinegar will also do

700g (1½lb) sugar

Method

·         Skin the tomatoes and chop – (skinning tomatoes can be done in several ways:

* – on a fork over a gas flame – great for a couple of tomatoes!

* - in a bowl with boiling water poured over – great for a handful or so.

* - For a large amount – cut out the core and put in the largest bowl which will fit in the micro wave. Microwave on full for 20 minutes, then, just lift off the skins. Chop roughly.

·         Put the peppers into a roasting tin in a hot oven 200°C or No 6 Gas for 30 mins or so. They should just start to brown or char. Leave them to cool.

·         Remove the skins and the seeds as far as possible then chop roughly.

·         Put the chopped tomatoes, chopped peppers, chopped onions, chopped garlic, vinegar and sugar into a preserving pan with the spices and seasonings.

·         Simmer slowly until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit/vegetables have softened.

·         Bring to the boil and cook, stirring frequently to ensure it does not stick and burn until it starts to turn thick.

·         Pot up in hot, sterilised jars. Cover and label.

Of course, don’t forget about that invaluable method of freezing tomatoes. I find that the tubs of frozen tomato pulp are used in casseroles, pasta dishes, Mexican and Indian dishes and I am always disappointed when my supply has finished and I must buy tins of prepared tomato pulp instead

Freezing Tomatoes

Use normal-sized or large tomatoes.

Wash them and cut out the central cores.

Put them into the largest micro-wave proof bowl you have which will fit into your micro-wave oven.

Microwave on full power for 20 minutes.

Remove, allow to cool slightly and lift off the skins. Pour off the excess juice.

( my friend Philip, who gave me this method does not remove the juice. There is merit to both methods. For his – where the juice is included – the resultant pulp is less strong, is suitable for lots of recipes, including soup.

With my dryer method – it is more concentrated, the flavoursome juice has been lost, it is really too sharp and concentrated for soup but, is excellent for Italian dishes, it takes up less space in the freezer.

Put the skinned tomatoes back into the bowl and microwave on full power for a further 20  minutes.

I

Beetroots, Beans and Courgettes

Well, I had been hoping for a title of 3 x C’s [ courgettes, cucumbers and cauliflowers] but, although my cucumbers have exceeded my expectations – so, more in my next blog – this blog is about those late summer and into autumn crops.

Beetroots, this year, have been brilliant. I sowed the seed in small pots in my poly-tunnel then transplanted out in late April – no thinning necessary and I have had a great crop of medium to large roots. It has to be said that the roots systems of these plants has been shallow – perhaps this system of planting and growing would not have been so successful in a dryer year. But, do I need long roots which could break in harvesting and allow the roots to ‘bleed’ during cooking? More experiments next year.

Now what do I do with all of these vegetables? For me, I have always steamed or boiled them, then pickled – of course, as a vegetable, they should not be ignored though the cooking time somewhat puts me off -2 - 3 hours boiling or steaming or 30 minutes in a pressure cooker.

Of course there are other ways of cooking beetroot. One of the wonderful aspects of having children who are also interested in food - growing and cooking is that they now give me recipes, ideas and methods of cooking vegetables I would never have dreamed of. My younger daughter tells me that she roasts her beetroot before using in dishes like soup or casseroles – she thinks it develops the flavour better than just steaming or boiling. She allows 2 – 3 hours in a low oven depending on the size of the roots. Of course, you could make more of this process and wash, trim, peel and cut the roots into wedges. Add similar sized carrots, garlic and potatoes to a medium roasting tin. Sprinkle generously with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, rosemary, salt and pepper and roast in a medium oven for 50 to 60 mins – brilliant!

Well beans! What can I say this year? Although my broad beans, both autumn and spring sown were good – not brilliant but acceptable. I’ve had several goes at trying to establish the different types I’ve been used to growing successfully. At last, my runner beans [Moonlight from Dobies – chitted in late April] have started to produce harvestable bean pods. This was not the fault of the beans though might have been my fault as I chatted them and was unable to plant out due to the very dry conditions – the ground was like rock. I guess I could have potted them on but, had too many other plants to deal with- they were not my priority in my limited space. Some of my allotment neighbours have been harvesting runner beans for a couple of weeks now.

My Purple Teepee French beans, normally so very productive, have been slow, but then again, they have been eaten off by both slugs and pigeons and only a second sowing in pots in my polytunnel, then planted out under netting has eventually started to provide me with a crop.

I don’t think we should measure the potential for this vegetable on this season’s results. This is an unusual year. As one of my neighbours said – a gardener in his eighties who has seen many years, both good and bad - these are the kind of conditions which we must accept. I have never seen a year like this before.

Courgettes – well! it has taken me several goes this year to establish three productive courgette plants. Many of my seeds failed to germinate. Some of those failed to grow on successfully and, of those which ‘stayed the course’, I now have three plants producing more fruits than I can cope with. My plants are Orelia F1 from Dobies. As I have said in a previous blog, I am not a big fan of the Zucchini type of courgette. I find them wet and tasteless. However, these wonderful plants, my Orelia, are slower growing and produce beautiful, golden, dry courgettes which don’t gallop towards huge tasteless and wet marrows overnight. The Orelia can be used in so many dishes – add as a vegetable to curries; as an onion and courgette quiche [try with a blue cheese topping – my favourite is with Blue Stilton]; use with chicken in a cheesy sauce with pasta – add lots of garlic, lemon thyme and marjoram. I love envelopes of sliced vegetables, especially courgettes or squashes, with chicken breast or thigh joints – add a little fruit if you have it – a sliced apple or peach though do experiment with more exotic fruits. Allow a generous seasoning and wrap up in tin foil or greaseproof paper –then bake for 1 hour in a medium oven.

But do try this recipe – my elder daughter thinks this is so tasty:

Aine’s Courgette and Potato Pie

Ingredients:
500-750g courgettes – green or gold
4 large potatoes
1  onion, sliced or diced

2 eggs
250g grated cheddar cheese – or similar cheese which will melt during cooking
1 Tblsp olive oil
a sprig of  lemon thyme

1 portion of puff, flaky or rough puff pastry [use frozen or make your own]
seasoning to taste

Method

·         Grate the courgettes (no need to peel) and then pat dry to remove excess water, especially if you are using green courgettes.

·         Peal and then grate the potatoes. Combine the courgettes, potatoes, onions, herbs, eggs, cheese with some salt and pepper in a large bowl and ensure thoroughly mixed.

• Again drain off any excess water – allow a little water for the potatoes to cook.
• Grease a pie dish and place the mixture in the dish.
• Roll out the pastry and place over the top, trim off any excess.
• Bake for 50mins-1hour in  a moderately hot oven until the pastry is golden.
• Serve.  Great with a crisp salad with a sharp lemony dressing.

Raspberries & Tomatoes, Tomatoes and Raspberries - Yum!

Well, at last we are having some dry, sunny weather. It’s not hot, not summer hot, not even for England but, maybe that is good as we have not been used to summertime hot temperatures and it takes a few days to acclimatise. Today, I believe, it is somewhere around 20 - 22ºC, which is pleasant. More to the point, it is sunny.

I was at my plot early this morning as I was picking raspberries for a friend. I was aware that I was no longer picking from last year’s canes – that most of the fruits were coming from this year’s and I decided that today was the day to start cutting out the old [last year’s canes].

I know I have talked about this before and I haven’t yet had a convincing argument about cutting back the canes in the autumn/winter.

Some say that cutting back the old canes allows the new canes to develop properly and produce a good crop – well my new canes are already  4 – 6 tall and are already cropping.

Some say that keeping the old canes stops the new canes developing – I have spent most of today cutting out the old canes on some of my rows of raspberries. Each plant seems to be producing multiple new canes – I have reduced the numbers to 4 – 5 on each plant to allow these to become strong. I have also cut away any spindly and out-of-line canes so that the base plants are strong and productive.

One friend did say to me that my method produced too much fruit for him to want to deal with but, really it does provide cropping from early June until October [depending on the weather and the year – sometimes it is earlier and sometimes later].

What I have noticed is that I have not been careful enough to keep my rows of raspberries properly weeded and it has allowed fairly rampant growth of bindweed over my raspberry canes. This has prevented good leaf growth on the new canes further down the stems. The variety I have is Hedge Bindweed or Bellbind – Calystegia sepium, not the more timid variety Convolvulus arvensis. This one is a monster and I also have lots of it in my garden at home. It doesn’t have to be a problem if you keep weeding it out but in this constantly wet year, there have been more pressing problems every time it stopped raining.

Of course, what do I do with all of this fruit – I make jam, I’m not a jam fan and I don’t really like preserves which are seedy – and raspberries are seedy: I can make puddings but, I’m not a ‘sweet’ person, I only make desserts when I have guests; I can freeze the fruit, which I do and I can give it away which I do. This year I needed room in my freezer for this year’s stuff so I went through what was left over from last year.

A few tubs of blackcurrants made blackcurrant jelly. Some tubs of tomato pulp are being recycled into lots of pasta and chilli con carne recipes, but that left me with about ten tubs of raspberries. I made raspberry jelly [yes I mentioned this in my last blog but, here is a recipe]:

Raspberry Jelly

Ingredients

Raspberries (the amount is, up-to-a point irrelevant, they must fit easily into your preserving pan)

Sugar – depending on the amount of juice

A knob of butter

Method

1.      Pick over the fruit to remove any leaves, twigs, etc.

2.      Put in the preserving and over a very low heat, simmer gently until the fruit has broken down and is totally tender,

3.      Strain though a jelly strainer.

4.      Measure the amount of juice.

5.      Allow 1 kilo (lb) sugar for each litre of juice (pt) – don’t mix up the quantities from metric and  imperial measurement.

6.      Put the fruit juice and the sugar into the preserving  pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

7.      Bring to the boil in a preserving pan or a large saucepan to allow the preserve to come to a rolling boil.

8.      When setting point has been reached, add the knob of butter and mix in well to reduce the amount of foam on the top of the preserve.

9.      Pot, cover and label.

A plot neighbour, Christine, gave me a few tomato plants earlier this year. I thought they were all Alicante. However, one had a growth habit which was obviously a bit different from all the others - very rampant and straggly.  It became apparent fairly early on that it wasn't Alicante and that it had small salad/cherry-type fruits. A couple of them looked as though they were ripe yesterday so I picked them. Yellow fruits, [as Christine described them 'acid yellow']. Amazing flavour and very juicy. Like little sweeties. I can’t imagine any of these making it home. They will be eaten while I’m at the plot.
‘Broad Ripple Yellow Currant’ - they are a Heritage Variety and hard to get hold of seeds though I will explore this.
It is easy to save the seed as they are not a hybrid.
The Garden Organic website has them available for adoption [ I'm not sure what this means - does it mean when you pay your £15 to adopt a heritage plant then you get a packet of seeds, or a plant or do you just get adoption papers and an annual newsletter on its progress - like adopting a tiger!]
Garden organic gives them the following write-up:

‘Indeterminate. Cordon . Originally discovered growing in a pavement crack in downtown Indianapolis, this variety can produce masses of sweet-tasting, tiny yellow fruit right up until mid November! This variety will need rigorous pruning and plenty of space as it is a very vigourous grower. Noted by many as being only mildly affected by the dreaded blight, and very hardy. Seed Guardian Loppy Garrard says "kids love them as they are 'sweetie' sized". The Bell and Bird Table pub, Wellington, voted this tomato joint first at their annual tomato tasting day.’

The picture on the Garden Organic Website didn’t really match the colour of my fruits but, perhaps I harvested them too early. I will post my own photo on a future blog when I have enough to photograph and hopefully, before I eat them all.

The Joys of a cool wet summer

A Cool Wet Summer – the positives!

I think I’ve been whinging on for the last few blogs on our miserable, cold wet summer, or lack of summer even. Yes, everything is true and the problems I’ve talked about do continue but, as always, there is a plus side.

When I go to my allotment or gaze out into my garden, I don’t see drowned devastation. While many crops have been disappointing or even failed completely because of the weather, there really are many crops which are just loving it. Let’s face it, if the weeds on our plots are thriving so will lots of other stuff.

Slugs and snails are having a field day [no pun intended] and I have been ranting on incessantly about red ants in my poly-tunnel but, apart from in March when it was very dry and I was trying to establish my brassicas, I haven’t seen any flea beetle and, I believe I’ve seen one – only one - white fly since early spring. Similarly, although I saw a few aphids on my roses early in the year, they have also been noticeably absent. During the last few years all of these pests have caused immeasurable damage to my crops and have weakened them to allow in further damage from mildew and scale bugs. Not so this year.

In my poly-tunnel, while I’m complaining about red ants and caterpillars on my tomatoes – there have been only a few of the caterpillars and I hope I’ve managed to remove most of them. Since they only appeared a couple of years ago for the first time when we were having a series of long dry summers, perhaps this cold wet one will remove the moths these caterpillars have come from. The red spider mite which was  a significant pest in my tunnel a couple of years ago has not appeared at all this year – something of a surprise as I always believed it was impossible to eradicate.

I have almost finished harvesting my 2nd pea crop – Hurst Green Shaft – and it has been more than satisfactory. These peas are sweet and tasty. If not left to become too big they are delicious eaten raw. In spite of suggestions from neighbours that they were likely to have maggots this year, these have not been apparent. I have already filled a drawer in my freezer with bags of shelled peas and might just get another half bucketful before I compost the vines. I have wondered about the possibility of growing a late crop of peas. The seed company [Dobies] have stated on the pack that they can be planted up to [and I’m assuming that means, ‘including’] July. Since I had the seed, I have, in any case, sown 4 more heavy rows in a couple of cleared raised beds. There should be time for them to grow and crop and I will report back on the success of the strategy.

After a difficult start in early spring, all of my brassicas look very healthy and promise good crops. After complete failure of my Brussels Sprouts last year, I have tried a variety I bought from The Real Seed Catalogue – Seven Hills [suitable for exposed sites, and I know that, compared with many areas of the UK, my site is definitely not exposed but, I am on top of a low hill]. I sowed the first round of these at the end of February in  my poly tunnel and from these, planted out some weeks later, I now have three rows of strong healthy plants where already I can see the nubs of the developing sprouts. Two further sowings have now been planted out and will hopefully provide me with sprouts to see me through the autumn and into spring. While the earlier transplanting of All Year Round Cauliflower suffered from the exceptionally dry early spring and bolted, those plants which were later or smaller, might yet provide me with good heads and will, no doubt, have me wondering what to do with twenty or thirty large heads all coming to maturity at once. I live in hope!

My sweetcorn, F1 Earlibird, sown on 10^th April in my propagator and then grown on in my poly-tunnel has now produced its male flowers and the silk of the females is just beginning to appear. I have planted them much closer together this year – 20cm or 10” apart – as in previous years I’ve some problems with the pollination of the female flowers. A later sowing of Rising Sun [both from Dobies]– sown on 2^nd May in the same conditions, is already as tall as the Earlibird but, hasn’t yet produced any flowers. Like peas, sweetcorn freezes well when cut off the cob and provides a welcome addition to the fresh winter vegetables.

Potatoes have been disappointing so far. The First Earlies [Vale’s Emerald], I tried for the first time and found them very disappointing – flavour, texture and cropping. I won’t grow them again.

I grew Red Duke of York as a Second Early – the cropping was disappointing but, as everyone is complaining of poor crops, I will put that down to the weather. The texture and flavour of these potatoes is excellent and I will be happy to grow them again next year.

The Purple Majesty [Early Main crop] are just beginning to bulk up and, of course, provide an interesting, healthy and tasty alternative to the usual white potatoes – try them boiled in their skins or mashed – I have tried them as baked potato but, was not really impressed. The colour is wonderful.

Different varieties of squashes and pumpkins are developing well and look very healthy though, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, they have had an uncertain start. I think I may have too many, not really a complaint - they store well and are always welcome  to my family. [or maybe I'll have too few, I find this difficult to judge]

My gladiolas have been astounding this year, For the last two to three weeks I have been bringing home white and purple heads by the armful. They don’t last long as cut flowers, 3 – 4 days, but they just seem to keep on producing. The brighter colours are just beginning to send up their flower stalks and hopefully will be just as prolific.

While fruit this year has been disappointing, I still find that I have so much produce to turn into preserves. I have frozen many of my early crop of raspberries and made Strawberry Conserve with the much-reduced crop of strawberries. see last blog for recipe.

I found that I still had quite a few tubs of raspberries in my freezer from last year so have made raspberry jelly from those – very intense flavour but, delicious.

However, the star of the season so far, is my Gooseberry and Chilli Jelly. My neighbour, Christine, gave me the recipe for using windfall apples and as I have no apples ready yet and no crab apples at all [one of my complete failures this year!] I decided to try it with gooseberries which also give a good, sharp, flavoursome and reliable set – last year I made Mint Jelly and Rosemary Jelly with my crop. Do give this a try.

Christine’s Chilli Jelly

4lb fruit [ cooking apples or slightly unripe gooseberries]

2 pints [ 1200ml] water - a little of this, perhaps half pint could be replace by cider vinegar for sharpness

3 chillies whole [These can be fresh or dried. The season will affect the heat so  you might like to add seeds or not according to how hot you would like your jelly. The variety of the chillies will also affect the heat of the product]

1 cube [2cm – or 1 inch] ginger root - I used twice this amount and felt I could have added a little more - M.

1 garlic – whole, crushed

Method

·         Wash the fruit and remove any leaves or stalks – no need to remove cores.

·         Put the fruit and the water into a preserving pan and gradually bring to the boil.

·         Simmer gently until all the fruit is well soft.

·         Allow it to cool slightly then, put through a scalded jelly bag and leave overnight to allow the juice to strain.

·         Next morning, carefully measure the juice and return it to a clean preserving pan – allow 450gm [1 lb] sugar to each 570ml [1pint] juice.

·         Add the sugar to the juice in the pan and bring it to the boil stirring frequently to ensure all the sugar has dissolved. Add the chopped chillies [I added 1 at a time and tasted between each - M].

·         Boil rapidly until setting point is reached [use a sugar thermometer or when you feel you are getting close to the setting point, put a spoonful of the juice onto a saucer and place in a cool place – in a fairly short time, 1 min or so, when pushed by a finger, the jelly should wrinkle obviously].

·         Remove from the heat. If you wish, at this time you can add well washed and dried herbs [finely chopped mint, rosemary, ginger, or thyme. You can also add the chopped chilli at this time].

·         Freshly chopped herbs have a tendency to rise to the surface. You might want to wait a short time before the jelly sets and stir it to ensure the herbs are mixed in well.

·         Allow to cool slightly the pour into sterilised, warmed pots and seal immediately. Label.