Fruit picking and preserving

My dad has an orchid on his 5 acre lot. Most years we get a few bags of fruit when we happen to be back, but normally the fruit falls to the ground and rots as there is just too much for mum and dad to eat. I mentioned to my friend that Dad had a orchid one day and she suggested getting together and picking the fruit so it didn't go to waste. So that's exactly what we did on the weekend - we picked the first lot of fruit - plums, white peaches and apples. We will have another round probably in another month or so, to pick figs, more white peaches and more apples.

It was a lovely day (perhaps a little hot), but great to get together with the family and our friends from Sydney to pick some fruit.

This is the orchid - Dad has completely enclosed it, so birds and other animals can't get to the trees. The orchid contains several types of plum trees, white and yellow peaches, several varieties of apples, as well as some fig and quince trees (I can't wait for these to ripen).

Everyone got stuck into picking the fruit - the little ones got the low hanging fruit - Jassy was tall enough to get some of the higher fruit and fruit in more awkward positions:

The plums are a decent size - and very sweet. We had to get a ladder to get to the higher ones on the tree.

Eliza loves fruit, so she spent most of the day, sampling the produce.

Jassy loved hanging out with all her cousins and generally looking gorgeous!

And Dave was on hand with some muscles to help carry all the bags and boxes down to the house.

We ate so much for lunch, that we all decided to do a lap around the block for exercise (plus Hellie is competing with her hubbie and some friends for the most steps per day - so we thought we would keep her company!)

For lunch we had chicken and rolls, and followed this up with a deconstructed crumble which was cooked with some of the produce we picked.  It was delicious!  I used a recipe from the "Love to Cook" cookbook, and just changed it a bit. The recipe was the Plums and Blackberry Crumble with spiced cream. I obviously changed the fruits to plums, white peaches, a couple of figs, and for the crumble I substituted the walnuts for macadamias.

Everyone just helped themselves to fruit and then added the cooked crumble mix on top, with a dollop of the spiced cream (which was made from equal quantities of greek yoghurt, thickened cream and mascarpone with a Tablespoon of caster sugar, and a dash of vanilla extract and ground cardamom). We also got to enjoy some scones which Michelle had made for us as well!

So - what did we do with all this fruit once we got home?

Well, some of it we just ate:

I made a lot of it into preserves of some description:

From left to right: Fast cooked cherry tomato sauce (recipe found here), Chinese Five Spice Plum Sauce (recipe below), Peach Chutney (recipe also below), Spiced Preserved Plums (also below).

You'll notice I have cherry tomatoes there as well - that was the other thing I did - my boss's wife gave me some cherry tomatoes from her garden so I gave her some plums!

This week it is American food week in the Turner household, so I found a recipe for Apple Brown Betty in a cookbook which was loaned to me by Eliza's best friends mum Rebecca. Apple Brown Betty is essentially a layered crumble, except the crumble is made with breadcrumbs instead of flour. I must admit I cheated on this one, and used the left over crumble from the weekend!

Recipes

Chinese Five Spice Plum  Sauce

Place

1kg halved mixed plums

1 finely chopped red onion

1 Tbs finely grated ginger

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup apple cider vinegar

½ cup water

1 Tbs lemon juice

1 Tsp salt

1 tsp chinese five spice powder

½ tsp chilli flakes

In a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to Medium-Low and cook stirring for 30 minutes or until the plums collapse. Use a stick blender to blend until smooth. Pour into sterilised bottles. Seal and date.

Spiced Preserved Plums

(ingredients for one large bottle)

Combine

            2 Cups dry red wine

            1 Cup caster sugar

            2 cinnamon sticks

            2 star anise

In a saucepan over low heat. Cook stirring for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low.

Add 6 Plums (I found I could only fit 4.5 plums as they were huge, and I halved them to maximise the use of space in each bottle). Cook for 2 minutes until just heated through. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a sterilised jar. Pour over the syrup. Seal while hot, and date. Needs 2 weeks to infuse.

Note: I had a little liquid left over - which I drank of course - it was divine, and would make a lovely Sangria base.

Peach Chutney (from Taste.com.au)

Makes 2 cups

1kg yellow peaches, peeled

1 small red onion finely chopped

2 garlic cloves crushed

5cm piece of fresh ginger peeled and grated

½ cup malt vinegar

½ cup white sugar

2 Tbs sweet chilli sauce

Cut peaches in half. Remove stones and roughly chop flesh

Combine peaches, onion, garlic, ginger, vinegar, sugar and sweet chilli in a 3-litre capacity, microwave-safe jug or bowl. Microwave in Panasonic Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH (100%) power for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, or until chutney is thick.

Spoon hot chutney into hot sterilised jars. Cover with a tea towel and allow to cool. Seal and label. Refrigerate after opening. Serve on Christmas day with ham or turkey. Alternatively, use on sandwiches.

A note on sterilising jars:  The method I have found easiest for sterilising jars, is to heat the oven to 120 degrees and then put jars in for 20 minutes. I sterilise the lids in the dishwasher.

Would you believe that I only have 4 plums and 15 apples left! I think we will just eat those.

I am looking forward to another fruit picking day perhaps in about a month's time when the figs, more apples and more peaches have ripened!

Di :-)