Recipes

The ratios shown here will work for any of the bramble varieties. e.g. thornless blackberry, silvanberry, boysenberry, loganberry, marionberry, raspberry. To ensure a good set unripe fruit is essential as it contains higher levels of pectin. By picking your own you can be certain of getting a mix of ripe and unripe fruit.

I cook 3 kg batches as they fit nicely in a stove top stock pot.

NB: Blackberries DO NOT need lemon juice.

Put berries and lemon juice in pan and bring to boil, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Simmer on a moderate heat for about 1 hour until berries are broken down and some of the liquid has evaporated. Add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved. Bring back to boil and cook over medium heat for about another hour. Stir occasionally. Check for setting point by putting a spoon of jam onto a saucer and placing in fridge. If you can draw a line through the jam and the halves stay apart the jam is ready. If you have a sugar thermometer boil until jam reaches 105 degrees. Let stand 15 minutes. ( This stops fruit rising to the surface). Pour into clean warm jars and seal immediately.

If you don't want to PYO try our 3 kg jam packs, available in either silvanberry & blackberry. Available at the farm gate only.

3 kg berries of your choice

3 kg sugar

3 tspn lemon juice

Use a 1 litre pudding basin. Line the inside with glad wrap and leave it hanging over the edge.

Slice the jam roll into rounds about 1 cm thick. Line the basin neatly with the jam roll. Make sure you have enough slices left to cover the top of the pudding. The way you place the slices will determine how your pudding will look as the whole outer surface will be visible.

Make the syrup: put water and sugar in saucepan and heat gently until sugar dissolved. Bring to boil. Add berries and just heat through, then turn off. Strain fruit and keep juice. Spoon in the berries and push in firmly. Pour in some syrup. Lay the remaining cake slices on top and pour over more syrup to cover. Pull the glad wrap over the pudding and twist to secure. Put a sheet of baking paper on top and then weigh down with a heavy can or similar. Leave overnight.

To serve, remove the can and baking paper and undo glad wrap. Expose the pudding and put a serving plate upside down on top. Up end the pudding. It should slide out easily. Remove glad wrap. Use remaining syrup to cover any cake that hasn't already soaked it up. Serve with pure cream or ice-cream and put any remaining syrup in a jug for guests to add as they wish.

1 jam roll

1 cup water

250 g white sugar

250 g red currants, stalks removed

1 kg red berries e.g. raspberries, loganberries, marionberries, boysenberries

NB: The traditional red colour of summer pudding is achieved using red currants, raspberries and loganberries, but a darker purple colour can be achieved by using boysenberries, marionberries or silvanberries and they all taste delicious!

We served our trout with fat chips baked with whole garlic, salt & pepper and steamed broccolini.

Aussie Ocean Trout with Strawberry Salsa

4 Ocean trout fillets

splash of Macadamia nut cooking oil

freshly ground pepper and rock salt

250g strawberries, quartered

2 fresh red chillies, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime

2 fresh shallots, thinly sliced

1 Tblspn roughly chopped fresh coriander

Combine strawberries, chillies, shallots, coriander and lime juice in bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste and a dash of balsamic (optional).

Set to one side.

Cook ocean trout fillet to taste, skin side first, over a low to moderate heat. Around 3 to 5 minutes a side should be plenty.

To serve, place a ocean trout fillet on each plate. Put a quarter of the salsa beside fillet. Add your choice of salad or vegies

Content 4

From John of Wembley Ave, Yarraville

When cooking red currants make sure you haven't got any leaves mixed in with your fruit. The pectin in the currants becomes inactive if cooked with leaves and you'll have trouble setting your preserve.