Home Produce

One thing that I absolutely LOVE is making use of what we have growing in abundance in our gardens, in our communities and then sharing it........pesto, lemon butter, tomato kasundi or tomato passata....the list is endless isn't it really?

I'm seriously thinking about putting together some kind of organisation that enables people to share the excesses they have growing in their gardens.

Don't you hate buying lemons imported from America when you see the lemons rotting on the trees in your neighbourhood??

I make cumquat marmalade regularly, and lemon meringue pie, and truthfully,what's nicer than homemade lemon cordial in summer?
I often need more than my small trees can provide....thankfully I have friends who sometimes donate their excess fruit to me, but I also often have to buy lemons.
So what about others who love making jams and don't have the fruit available.....or those who have the fruit but just don't use any of it??

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to put that fruit that's not used to good use?
I'm going to have to think a bit more about how exactly to do this, but the seed of an idea is germinating!!

A community produce swap?

Yesterday I opened a bottle of amazing pickled onions that I made a couple of months ago to share with friends.......they were so incredibly good, I wonder why I ever buy them!
 I'm definitely going to keep a batch maturing in my pantry!

I am lucky to be part of a group of 'foodie' friends who get together seasonally, with kids, dogs & babies. We have a go at making something with what's growing in our back yards, or something we've always wanted to try......as well as sharing a few glasses of wine, a communal lunch thrown together and a good laugh....last year we cured some olives from a friends ancient and gnarly Fremantle olive tree. We preserved lemons,  we even salted some pork from a recipe handed down from a Dutch butcher to a friend who was keeping himself afloat financially working  whilst studying music composition in La Hague,........it was a great way to get together!

Salting the pork belly-

 We used a ratio of 23g of salt per kg of pork belly, we added fennel seeds, chilli and  chopped garlic, which we rubbed well into the meat.
Once this was done we placed the meat onto a layer of rock salt and then covered well with another layer of salt.

The meat was then left in containers in a cool place for a week or two, (fridge) and then hung in a cellar to cure for a month, prior to using.

Or hang in the fridge of course, for those of us who don't have cellars!

The final cured/salted pork belly.