Summer in the Middle of Winter!

After a week of miserable, rainy and freezing cold weather (my car said it was 3 degrees C the other morning)I woke up late to find the most glorious day! Helped a little by the fact that it was after 8 (when I'm normally up at 6), it was warm enough to venture into the garden and feel the soil... Maybe I'm a little soft!



Making the most of the warmth I cleaned up the strawberries - all 60 plants ready to be planted out - and decided to give the carrots, onions and beetroot some seaweed fertilizer. I have to brag a little as I'm so very proud of my carrots :-) In 2 square meters we've had carrots galore... I was overzealous when I planted my seeds so I've had to thin them out substantially. The rabbits and chickens go crazy for the greens and the baby carrots taste amazing raw and in a basic root veggie roast. I have harvested carefully more to thin out the veggie box than clear it so each time we have carrots they're a bit bigger.

Once I finished pottering in the garden (cup of tea in hand!) I tackled the box of guavas I bought on Friday. I've discovered that if I'm brave and have a plan, I can buy large quantities of fruit or vegetables that are in season from the hawkers outside the Epping Market (Cape Town Fresh Produce Market) for less than half of what they cost in any of the commercial shops. I ended up with 8kg of guavas which were ripe enough to stew today.

Stewed Guavas

4kg Guavas, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups sugar
15 whole cloves
10ml ground cinnamon
rind and juice of 1 lemon
3 cups water

Dissolve the sugar in the water along with the cloves and cinnamon before adding the guavas. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. I have messed this step up twice already - the pot boils over in a second, even once it's turned down so be very careful! The mess is super sticky and the syrup burns on my gas hob... Not ideal. Allow the mixture to simmer until the fruit is soft. Pour into hot, sterile jars, clean the rims with a clean cloth and screw the lids on lightly (as the jars cool a strong vacuum will form). It's a good idea to wash the jars under warm/hot water at this point or else the spilled bits dry and you never get rid of the stickiness on the jars. Makes 4 x 750ml jars.

Serve with bulgarian yogurt and honey.

I've added these jars to my preserve collection - I've tried to can fruits and veggies in season rather than buy expensive out of season imports that have lost much of their flavour. The tomatoes from the garden that my Ouma helped me bottle are the tastiest, juiciest addition to so many great meals (and can even be eaten like sweets!). Since the tomatoes I've done truckloads of apples and pears but there's a mouse in my house that eats them with his breakfast as fast as I can make them... Time to visit the Epping Market again I think!