Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Out of the bottle easy and delicious recipes for making and using homemade preserves

This book is dedicated to my family who have endured my passion
for cookery over so very many years.

In this book if a recipe states an oven temperature, it is for a fan-forced oven. If your oven is not fan-assisted or fan-forced, increase the temperature by 20C (70F).

It has been observed for many years that there appeared to be a lull in the time-honoured practice of preserving. Perhaps we became confident about living in a time of plenty, in a world where fresh produce of any description could be accessed at almost any time of year. Jams, pickles and tins of fruit abound on supermarket shelves, so why would we bother to make our own? Preserving continued mainly for stalwarts like me, who truly valued the flavours of home preserves and knew of their superiority over the store-bought equivalents.

In more recent times, however, there has been a rekindling of interest in preserving. Perhaps this relates to the fact that we are looking more closely at our food and raising questions about where and how the produce was grown; how far it has travelled before reaching our table; if and which chemicals were used to promote growth, deter pests and lengthen shelf life; and more importantly, what is the effect of all these factors on our health?

Many people express concern over the additives that are included in commercial products and are alarmed at their representative numbers listed on labels. We hear reports that such additives may detrimentally affect childrens behaviour, and ponder the potential ramifications on our long-term health.

We are encouraged wherever possible to grow our own produce and ensure maximum nutrition through organic gardening to reduce the number of additives seeping into our diets. Yet we may not have the time, space or circumstance to grow our own. In this case, it is relatively easy to purchase good quality produce quite inexpensively when fruit and vegetables are in local seasonal abundance. It is here that preserving sits very comfortably. Through the simple process of preserving, artificial additives can be almost, if not entirely, eliminated. The produce is preserved merely by the balance of ingredients in the bottle and the methods you use to preserve them.

Having said that, preserving is about so much more than just the preparation of foodit is also easy and so much fun. It is a catalyst to communication between generations and cultures. Children love being involved, and there is the admirable side benefit that they absorb the principles of science, maths and language while they help. In turn, they come to have an appreciation for food and how it works. Best of all, they have something to share with others.

A sense of community surrounds preserving more than almost any other type of cooking. In times of large fruit and vegetable harvests, it is customary in many cultures for people to get together to jam, pickle and preserve. Even within our own society, almost every family would have its recollections of grandmothers kitchens being filled with the aroma of jams and pickles cooking on the stove. Although the work seemed to be intensive, the memories are invariably connected to good times with family and fun with food; a sense of pride and achievement as glistening bottles were lifted from the preserver; an assurance of plenty over the months ahead.

But where can we find the time in our busy lives nowadays? Preserving today does not need to be as labour intensive and time consuming as it was for our forebears. At our disposal we have a whole range of labour-saving devicesdishwashers, freezers, food processors, microwaves, electric preservers and dehydrators to name but a few. How our grandmothers would have envied us! These alone make preserving a far easier process. For instance, if I receive a huge amount of tomatoes, I will usually bottle some immediately, but may well choose to freeze most of them until I have the time, need or inclination to make them into a sauce or chutney.

Family size is generally smaller these days, too. In my case, as our six children gradually left home and I returned to the workforce, my time at home was much reduced. So I decided Id make up smaller batches of preserves. Quite by accident I found that the time necessary to make jams, jellies and even chutneys and relishes was correspondingly much reduced, with the unexpected benefit of having flavours that remained sharper and more intense through the shorter boiling times. This caused a mini revolution in our householdI was able to continue preserving, to which I had become seriously addicted, and the recipes developed at this time formed the foundation for A Year in a Bottle.

I have increasingly come to realise that while preserves are sensational as stand-alone products, this is merely tapping into the surface of their potentiala jam can be far more than an accompaniment to scones and cream, and a pickle is far more than a mere friend to meats or cheese. A simple dish can be turned into something exceptional by the addition of a spoonful or two of the home-preserved product. It is this hidden quality that often goes unrecognised. Yet this is the major reason why my pantry shelves are lined with dozens of bottles of preserves each yeara veritable storehouse and toolbox from which to create sensational dishes.

This was the motivation for compiling Out of the Bottle. It contains excerpts from A Year in a Bottle regarding basic methods for the novice home preserver; however, its primary focus is on how to use your home preserves. It also includes a collection of over twenty-five of my favourite preserving recipes and the dishes in which they play an integral part.

For each preserve there is a minimum of four recipes. These recipes have been developed over a lifetime of experimentation. They range from the nostalgic to the more nouveau, and can be used in the home or extended into the entertaining context. A focus on flavour, ease of preparation and natural ingredients, as well as economy of cost, time and effort remains.

For my part, working and playing with food in the kitchen alongside my children has undoubtedly been the best time of my life. To this day, my family is bound together by our cooking culture, exchanging recipes almost daily and sharing our discoveries with food. It is about more than mere sustenance and nutritionit is a force that binds us together and leaves a legacy for the future in an appreciation for food, its preservation and beyond.

It is essential that preserving jars and bottles are sterilised before any products are poured into them. A simple method for doing this is as follows:

• Wash the bottles and lids in hot soapy water, rinse and place upside down on a clean cloth or dish drainer to drain.

• Place on a tray in a cold oven.

• Turn the oven to 110C (225F/gas ). When the oven reaches this temperature, turn off the heat and leave the bottles for 10 minutes.

• When cooled to warm, they are ready to pour in your jam, jelly, cordial or pickles.

• Simmer lids in boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain. Dry the lids by turning them inside up on a clean towel. (If necessary, dry off any remaining water with a hairdryer.)