We have almost finished the main summer preserving season. All the grapes have been picked to produce grape juice, wine or jam; the bulk of the tomatoes are now bottled or made into sauce; basil has been blended into a delicious pesto for pasta or vegetables, plus we have fresh cucumber pickles in the pantry. Although we have no snow here to interrupt the growing season we still like to make the most of summer produce throughout the year.
bottles in the preserver
bottles of tomatoes
one of these giants fills a bottle!
instructions on the Fowlers Vacola preserver
pasta sauce
pickled cucumbers
grape juice for ‘must’
Do you preserve food too? What are your favourites?
dadirridreaming 
It all looks delicious!
it is wonderful in winter to open a jar of tomatoes, or pasta sauce … summer comes flooding back!
I wish I could be in a position again to preserve my own fresh food. When I was younger we always helped my mother to pick and peel and preserve our own fruit and vegetables.
I do such a poor job of growing things. 😦
I so admire those who have a green thumb!
Delicious pics, Christine. I don’t have much of a garden, but I remember my mom was always making jams, pickles and bottled fruit. It was a never-ending task for her, but we did enjoy the results. 😀
That’s a good thing to do! Looks delicious. 🙂
It would be a fine thing if it became more popular to grow & perserve, as was common in times past – looks wonderful – I love the colours. We have little time in the city, but on holidays in the country, I took the produce from the brother in law’s garden and made simple fridge pickles – cucumber and onion, plus my family’s old traditional tomato & onion [cooked in a saucepan] for him to freeze.
Ma always did, when I was a kid – and even after she eventually persuaded Papa to sell the farm and they moved up to Buderim they would do the ‘important’ things – a diminishing list that eventually only contained ‘seville orange marmalade’ which they last made together the winter she turned 90. She was over the moon when I began preserving lemons – the only way to cope with the crop from our old Myer lemon tree since they didn’t really like the ‘sweetness’ of lemon marmalade (their stock of bitter seville marmalade outlived both of them!).
How wonderful it all looks, Christine. Congratulations! It’s inspiring, especially things like the tomatoes/sauce and pesto. Did you ever make tomato jam? It was one of my favourites. I wonder if I’ll find somewhere to live where I can grow something?
i am sure you will, maybe a seville orange tree??? i would have loved your parents! all my ancestors on mother’s side were into jam and preserves, seems i can’t help myself, i have that waste not want not survival instinct instilled by grandparents who suffered through the depression …. and it tastes great 😉
That’s the thing for me – “it tastes so great”!
we have a lot of citrus, but no seville orange … funnily i often find them, someone gives me some, or they turn up in town … you will have lots of recipes from Sri Lanka now, heaps of fabulous flavours!
Looks yummy 🙂
i just made tomato chutney … it tastes yummy too 😀