Ingredients:

• 3 litre jar
• 2kg green tomatoes
• 2 - 3 onions
• 2 - 3 chilies
• dill
• garlic
• horse radish leaves
• black currant leaves
• cherry leaves
• 3 litre water
• 700ml vinegar 9% - only gets introduced into marinade once it is switched off
• 350g sugar
• 250f salt
• 10 whole cloves
• 10 whole black peppers
• 5 bay leaves

Instructions:

Variety 1:

This variety will be poured over with hot marinade with all spices taken out, all the way to the very top and kept in cool place over winter months. Pour it once, keep for 10 min, empty marinade back in a pan, bring to boil, pour it in your jar again and seal your jar. Turn your jar up-side-down hot to rest overnight under blanket.

Variety 2:

You can half your salt and sugar, chop your tomatoes in circles and pour marinade over night in enameled pan. You can then pasteurize them next day in filled up almost to the brim jars (tomatoes with boiled marinade) and use guide of 10min for a pint jar, 15-20 min for a larger jar with lids on top, screw them on once finish pasteurization.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg sweet pepper
• 1.2 kg red meaty tomatoes
• 2 - 3 table spoons sugar
• 1 table spoon salt
• splash of vinegar to taste

Instructions:

1. Chop them up as you like, small or chunky
2. It looks better when tomatoes have no pips or even totally juiced
3. Make it with onion or without
4. Replace tomatoes with tomato puree
5. Spices and garlic to your taste (parsley, bay leaves, whole black pepper, chili, cloves)
6. It is really that easy! 20-25 min cooking and fill your sterile jars to seal air tight!

Ingredients:

• 2 - 3 fresh zucchinis
• 2 - 3 large carrots
• 2 large onions
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 2 fresh garlic heads
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon oil for cooking
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black ground pepper
• 3 teaspoons vinegar

Instructions: can be done in a big pan on top or inside oven

1. Peel zucchinis, carrots and onions
2. Cut in medium pieces - try making all pieces of the same size
3. In a hot oven with some oil, over high/medium heat, cook onions, until start caramelizing, about 3 minutes
4. Add carrots, cook for additional 3 minutes
5. Then add zucchinis, and cook uncovered until vegetables are tender, for additional 5 minutes. Do not season with salt at this point, so the vegetable do not let their juices out
6. Blend the vegetables in the blender until smooth - you might have to do several batches if you have a smaller blender
7. Transfer blended veggies back in the oven
8. Season with salt and pepper
9. Add tomato sauce, bay leaves, pressed garlic, stir, cover and cook for 1 hour over medium/ low heat
10. You can try it at any point to see if you need more salt
11. While vegetables are cooking, prepare your jars. Wash them in a hot soapy water, and put them to dry in a preheated oven. I usually preheat it to 350 degrees F, turn it off, and then sterilize the jars. You can steam them up-side-down on a veg steamer too.
12. At the very end add vinegar, if you want to preserve Zucchini Spread for winter months. You don’t have to add it if you’re planning to eat it right away. It should be fine for at least a week if stored in the refrigerator.
13. Remove bay leaves. Ladle Zucchini Spread into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace, wipe rims, and seal.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 litre jar
• Ripe firm tomatoes plum variety is the best
• 1.5 litre water
• 100g sugar
• 10 cloves of garlic
• as many chilis as you want
• 10 whole peppercorns
• 100g salt
• 3 bay leaves
• dill seedy heads
• spicy herbal bouquet
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 table spoons of white vinegar 9%

Instructions:

1. Washed tomatoes are soaked in boiled water for 5 min
2. Place tomatoes in jar with peppercorns and garlic
3. Pour over with marinade made of the rest of stuff and filtered. No greens please, unless you will pasteurize! Add vinegar (even midway through pouring to ensure it fits in) and close with sterile lid.  No air, pour it all the way up! Turn your jars up-side-down to rest hot under blanket! 

Just when you are fed up of making jam and freezing the glut of your scrumptious home grown strawberries – try this! It’s full of flavour and versatile too. Keep it is the fridge for up to 3 months – though I have kept it for longer!  

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ripe strawberries
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 7 fl oz (200mls) water
• 1 vanilla pod split with seeds scraped out and reserved (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of citric acid
• 7 – 9oz castor sugar

Instructions:

1. Hull and slice the berries and place in saucepan with 7 floz (200mls) water and the lemon juice. Heat them gently over a low heat until the juices ‘run’. Crush the fruit with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon.
2. When the fruit is really soft and gloopy, strain through a muslin lined sieve. Squeeze or press it to extract the maximum juice.
3. Return juice to the rinsed out pan.  Now add the vanilla pod and seeds to the pan with the sugar. Whisk to distribute the seeds and then heat gently over low heat until the sugar has dissolved without stirring. Bring to the boil for 5 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the citric acid.
5. Pour immediately into warm sterilized bottles using a funnel. Seal, label and leave to cool then store in fridge.

I pour over ice-cream as syrup or add to fizzy water or champagne as a cordial to add a flavour of summer!

Ingredients (makes about  3 lb approx):

• 2 lb beetroot cooked
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 1 lb cooking apples
• 8 oz sugar
• 1 pint malt vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• half teaspoon ground ginger
• half teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Peel and core apples and chop finely
2. Peel and chop onions
3. Mix all ingredients together except the beetroot
4. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 min
5. Finely chop beetroot (when cool enough to handle) into tiny squares and add to mix and simmer for another 15 min until thick
6. Pot into hot sterilized jars
7. Eat after 3 months if you can wait that long!

This is just like ‘granny used to make’ years ago when summers were long and hot and salads from the garden were the norm….now you can make this and eat it at Christmas after using the gluts of onions and cucumbers from the summer. Also perfect for summer BBQs on burgers and accompaniment to sausages

What you need:

• 1 cucumber – sliced thinly
• 1 large onion – sliced thinly
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
• 8oz soft light brown sugar
• 300ml (10 fl oz) cider vinegar

What to do:

1. Put the sliced cucumber and onion in a large bowl and add the salt. Mix thoroughly.
2. Cover the bowl and leave contents to stand for a couple of hours.
3. Rinse the vegetables under cold water and drain well and dry as much as you can.
4. Put them into a large saucepan.
5. Add the cider vinegar and bring to the boil.
6. Turn off the heat!
7. Add the cloves (if using) and sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar.
8. Leave to cool before placing into jars and seal.
9. Leave for a month to mature…….and enjoy!