It's that time of the year, if you are lucky, when all the hard work planting your vegetable garden pays off. Hopefully, you will be harvesting some wonderful fare for your table.
If you are thinking about preserving some of your goodies grab a copy of The Australian Women's WeeklyClassic Preserves (jams, chutneys, relishes). It is superb, packed with tasty, simple ways to preserve a taste of summer for the long, cold winter days ahead.
Bottling fruit and making jams and pickles seems to have come back into fashion. After years of grabbing everything off supermarket shelves without much thought of what's in them, people are now going back to basics, for health and financial reasons.
This lovely hard-covered book has everything from no-cook mixed berry jam to onion jam. There are pickles (chow chow and bread and butter), relish (zucchini and green papaya), sauces (plum, tomato) and drinks (passion fruit and rum liqueur).
Although it hasn't been the best of growing seasons, with too much rain and too little sun, with luck you should have some lovely ripe tomatoes by now. Once you have eaten your full and given some to family and friends, I think the most versatile way to use the surplus is relish.
Tomato relish is easy to make and you can have it on crackers with cheese, on home-made burgers, with sausages, quiches, cold meats, add a dash to your spag bol ... the list goes on. Try this simple but delicious tomato and sweet chilli relish. You won't be disappointed.
And if you don't have a garden or haven't got quite enough produce to try any of these recipes, visit a local farmers' market or a roadside stall. Have a go - you'll be surprised how much pleasure you will get from the lovely jars or bottles of delicious food - made by you.
