Contributed by Votedwithourforks
Grow, forage, cook!
Just in case you've missed it in numerous previous posts I've just about worn out my copy of A Year in Bottle by Sally Wise in the past few months. Lately I've made bottles of Green Tomato Pickles (the 3 kgs of Green tomatoes picked before the frosts struck) and Tomato Sauce (the 3 kgs of red tomatoes ditto the frosts).
Idly flicking through the book the other day I found some recipes for rose petals. As my dark red roses (Mr Lincoln I think) are flowering like the clappers at present I thought I'd try the recipes out. The recipe is dead simple. Take 4 cups of rose petals (no pesticides please), 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 cups of sugar and two cups of water. Whack it all in a saucepan and bring to barely simmering and keep it that way for an hour. After that strain the lot through a sieve and put the syrup back into a clean saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour into sterilised bottles and seal . You can use it straight away. What surprised me most was that less than a minute after putting the petals in the saucepan the syrup was already going pink. By the end of the hour it was a very deep crimson and the smell was divine. I was concerned that the syrup may have proved too cloying so I first tried it with some good quality plain yoghurt and the combination worked well. I've also subsequently had it with vanilla ice cream and sprinkled the bowl with those lovely walnuts I bought at the Kitchen Cabinet last weekend. While Sally Wise recommends using deep red roses for the syrup I think that just about any strongly scented rose would yield a good result. Now I just have to wait for some different roses to flower, perhaps next spring! Not content with that experiment I'm now trying Sally's Sparling Rose Petal which is supposed to make a fizzy drink. Stage one of leaving all the ingredients to work together in a food safe plastic container (read ex-ice cream container) for 48 hours is underway. After that I need to wait another week before I can try it. I'll keep you posted.This post has been submitted for Grow Your Own - May.
Contributed by Votedwithourforks
Mahatma Gandhi said that "You must be the change you wish to see in the world". So we decided to take on the challenge of providing as much of our own food as possible and make our life more sustainable. We are living in Canberra (the real one, not the one the pollies frequent), facing the veggie patch, foraging for food, cooking and preserving our produce and dealing life's other challenges.
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