Preserve / verb
1: to can, pickle, or similarly prepare for future use
2: to keep up and reserve for personal or special use
Preserve / intransitive verb
1: to make preserves
When I was a little girl I had a family friend who taught me how to garden. She would let me dig and potter around her magnificent inner Melbourne Garden, sending me home with a cutting or packet of seeds to try my hand at home. For as long as I can remember I have always had a vegetable garden, and I’ve always made preserves. In fact I avoided nearly an entire architecture degree by devoting more and more of my garden to the production of fruit and vegetables resulting in extravagant homemade Christmas hampers for every family member.
I am constantly collecting preserving recipes to try out, and the Fowlers Vacola preserving kit that I inherited from my grandmother is one of my most treasured possessions. There is a sense of satisfaction that’s unparalleled by growing, tending, harvesting, preserving and sharing. To be able to grow something chemically free and it at its absolute peak bottle it for a rainy day, gives me an overwhelming sense of achievement and pride.
My preserves are about just that; local and home- grown, organic, chemical-free produce, picked at the height of season, and laboriously prepared by hand in small batches with passion, to capture the perfect flavours of the time.
These preserves are stocked at the Oak and Monkey Puzzle farm gate stall, Manteau Noir and Belvedere Social, in Daylesford, The Local cafe, in Ballarat, and The Black Hen, in Deloraine Tasmania.
Seasonal list of preserves by season:
Spring:
Hedgerow Hawthorn Flower Cordial
Rhubarb and Vanilla Bean Cordial
Seville Orange Marmalade
Summer:
Strawberry, Vanilla Bean and Rosewater Jam
Plum and Cardamom Jam
White Peach, Vanilla Bean and Amaretto Jam
Wild Blackberry Cordial 750ml
Elderberry Cordial
Lavender Cordial
Spiced Peach/Nectarine Chutney
Spiced Beetroot and Orange Relish
Autumn-Winter:
Quince, Rhubarb and Vanilla Bean Jam
Roasted Apple Sauce
Crab Apple and Rosemary Jelly
Crab Apple and Mint Jelly
Old Fashioned Lemon Cordial
Wild Rosehip Cordial
Roasted Heirloom Tomato Kasundi
Roasted Pear Chutney
Preserved Lemons
© Copyright Natasha Morgan 2015