Valerie & David Pearson's

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Please enjoy these great FREE recipes

These "preserving" recipes are suitable for High Acid "Hot Bath" Processing


Pasta Sauce.©2004

This recipe can be made in batches as large or small as you need.

Ingredients

  • 5 kg tomatoes

  • 5 medium onions

  • 4 medium capsicum

  • 1 Tbs Basil

  • 1 Tbs Salt

  • 1 Tbs Oregano

  • 4 Tbs sugar.

Directions

Chop the tomatoes, onions and capsicum and place in a large pot.

Bring to boil, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to low to medium and simmer.

Add the salt, basil and oregano.

Add the sugar one-tablespoon at a time, stirring between each addition and leaving 15 minutes before adding the next tablespoon. Some tomatoes are sweeter than others, so you need to taste between additions and stop when the source is at the right sweetness. I have found that 4 tablespoons is a good average, though I have sometimes used 3 and sometimes 5.

Continue cooking the sauce for 2 and a half to three hours. As you continue to cook the sauce, it will reduce as the excess liquid cooks off and the sauce will become a thicker in consistency.

Fill the clean jars, leaving some "headspace", finger tighten the lids on, and " Boiling Water Bath" them at a rolling boil for 20 minutes.

WARNING: Tomato is a high acid food that can be preserved using this method, but some tomatoes have less acid that others, Therefore, you must place a teaspoon of lemon juice, fresh or bottled, in the top of each jar prior to processing.


Salsa ©2004

Ingredients

  • 5 kg tomatoes

  • 5 medium onions

  • 1 large red capsicum

  • I hot chilli

  • 1 Tbs salt

  • 5 cloves of garlic minced

  • 25 g fresh, chopped coriander

  • ¼ cup vinegar

  • 1 Tbs sugar

Directions

Chop the tomatoes, onions and capsicum and place in a large pot.

Bring to boil, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to low to medium and simmer.

Add the hot chilli, finely chopped, without the seeds.

Add the salt and garlic.

Continue to simmer on low heat for two to two and a half hours. The salsa will reduce to a thicker consistency as the excess liquid cooks off.

Add the vinegar and sugar and cook for 15 minutes more.

Following the " Boiling Water Bath" method, place in jars and process for 20 minutes.


"Russian" Pickled Tomatoes.©2005

This recipe requires absolutely NO cooking skills whatsoever.

This is not actually one of Valerie's recipes but one of David's, handed to him by a close mate Ivan, who is of course, Russian.

This is a two stage recipe, first we must prepare our jars full of fresh ripe tomatoes, and then make the pickling mixture to pour over the top of the tomatoes. OK, so there is a third stage when we process the jars, but that's all that's needed folks for the best pickled tomatoes ever. If you have some pickling onions to throw in there as well, you'll love those too.

Step 1 ..... You'll need:-
Lots of jars, and of course, tomatoes. Wash the jars and your produce, and into each jar place ....

  • Bay leaves.
  • Black Peppers.
  • Garlic, a clove or two.
  • Dill, a sprig or two.
  • Carrot, whole baby carrot or slices.
  • Tomatoes
You may also put
  • Pickling Onions, peeled of course.
  • Chilli(s), to your taste.
    &
  • Cauliflower pieces, for something different.
Step 2 ..... Mix up:-
  • 5 Litres of water, preferably filtered
  • 1 Cup of Sugar
  • 1/2 to 1 Cup of Cooking salt
  • Bay leaves
    &
  • Black Peppers
mix in a big pot on the stove and bring to the boil, add
  • 1/2 to 1 Cup of Vinegar.

Please adjust the salt and vinegar quantities according to your taste and of course health requirements.

Bring back to the boil, turn off the power or gas, and either ladle or pour the "pickling juice" into the prepared jars full of produce. Seal the Jars and " Boiling Water Bath" process them for 30 minutes ... and that is step 3 done too.

You can of course increase or decrease the quantities to make smaller or larger batches.


Dill Pickles.©2004

Ingredients
  • 1.35 kilos, 100mm. pickling cucumbers (about 36)

  • 3 3/4 cups water

  • 3 3/4 cups cider vinegar

  • 1/4 cup pickling salt

  • 12 - 18 heads fresh dill or 6 tbs dill seeds

  • 1 tbs mustard seeds

Directions

  1. Thoroughly rinse cucumbers. Remove stems, cut off a slice from blossom ends. In large stainless steel, enamelled, or nonstick saucepan combine water, vinegar, and salt. Bring to boiling.
  2. Pack cucumbers loosely into hot, sterilized pint canning jars, leaving a 12 mm head space. Add 2 or 3 heads of dill or 1 tbs dill seeds and 1/2 tsp mustard seeds to each jar. Pour hot vinegar mixture over cucumbers, leaving a 12 mm head space. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids.
  3. Process in a boilingwater bath for 10 minutes (start timing when water returns to boil). Remove jars and cool on racks.
  4. Let stand one week.


Bread & Butter Pickles.©2004

Ingredients
  • 7 1/2 litres (16 cups) sliced medium cucumbers

  • 8 medium white onions, sliced

  • 1/3 cup pickling salt

  • 3 cloves garlic, halved

  • cracked ice

  • 4 cups sugar

  • 3 cups cider vinegar

  • 2 tbs mustard seeds

  • 1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

  • 1 1/2 tsp celery seeds

Directions

  1. In a 8-10 litre stainless steel, enamelled or nonstick kettle combine cucumbers, onions, pickling salt, and garlic. Add 50 mm of cracked ice. Cover with lid and refrigerate for 3 to 12 hours. Remove any remaining ice. Drain mixture well in large colander. Remove garlic.
  2. In the kettle combine sugar, vinegar, mustard seeds, turmeric, and celery seeds. Heat to boiling. Add cucumber mixture. Return to boiling.
  3. Pack hot cucumber mixture and liquid into hot, sterilized pint canning jars, leaving a 12 mm head space. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids. Process in a boiling water canner or 10 minutes (start timing when water returns to boil).
  4. Remove jars and cool on racks.

    Preserving Olives

    For black olives, prick olives (You can do this by getting a cork and sticking pins in it so it looks like a porcupine, then use a stabbing motion to prick the olives. The idea is to get pin pricks in the skin of the black olives, so this method works well.)

    For green olives, crack these olives with a mallet (you don’t want to smash them, so don’t hit too hard, but you do want to crack the skins a bit so the bitterness can leach out).

    Ingredients

    • 2 kg black olives, pricked 2 or 3 places with needle or pin

    • filtered or bottled water

    • 200 grams salt

    • 1 bay leaf

    • 2 sprigs fennel

    • 24 coriander seeds

    • half an orange, rind orange, pealed into strips

    Directions

    Place olives in a large cask or jar and cover them with water. Allow them to soak for 10 days, changing the water every day.

    We prefer to use filtered water to avoid the chlorine in our tap water, you can achieve the same result by letting your tap water stand for a day in sunlight, which will kill the chlorine.
    Of course our Durand Water Filter removes a lot more than just the chlorine.

    Place the drained olives in a saucepan with the 2 litres of water, ensuring they are covered. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring this brine solution to boil and boil for 15 minutes. Allow to cool.

    Drain the olives, saving the brine, and put them in sterilized preserving jars. Cover the olives with the cold brine solution you have earlier saved, allowing a head space of 2 -3 cm. Process using the hot water bath processor. Bring to boiling and then process for 45 minutes.