Medlar Jelly
To make the strongest, ruby-coloured and most flavoursome jelly, pick medlars when they are just beginning to ripen, but are still firm and a warm rusty green. 

Makes about 1.3kg Jelly

You need 
1.8kg Medlars
3.6Lt cold water
900g Granulated Sugar
Juice from 2 lemons

Cut the Medlars in two; put them in a large stainless steel pan and cover them with 2.4Lt water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, to break down the fruit. Strain the fruit through a Jelly bag.

Because Medlars are a rather dry fruit you will only achieve a small, but intesely flavoured amount of juice from the first cooking, I like to process the pulp a second time to extract the utmost flavour and some more volume before throughing it away. To do this, return the strained pulp to the saucepan and add the remaining 1.3Lt of water. Simmer for at least 20 minutes. Strain this through the jelly bag to join the first batch of juice.

You should now have about 1.2Lt of strained juice. Do not worry if this is a slightly brown colour. Put this into a deep stainless steel pan or special preserving pan, and add the sugar and lemon juice. The pectin content of the Medlars is quite high and the Jelly will probably set well without the addition of Lemon juice, but it will help guarantee a good result.

Warm the liquid to disolve the sugar completely and then boil until setting point is reached. This is about 110 deg C. Tip the jelly into small, warm, clean jars before it starts to thicken, filling them well. Seal with circles of waxed paper or baking paper, screw on the lids tightly and store in a cold, dark place.

 

 

 

Moeraki Blueberry Salsa to complement Fish

This is a very easy recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup / 250 ml blueberries juiced,
1 tbsp / 5 ml cream honey,
15 ml squeezed lime,
a finely chopped
½ large pink grapefruit
/1 tsp,
2 tbsp / 30 ml red onion,
1 tbsp / 15 ml jalapeno pepper finely chopped [or pepper of your choice].

Instructions:
Section out the pink grapefruit and discard pithy membrane bits. Dice
the grapefruit and mix with the chopped onion, jalapeno pepper, honey
and lime juice. Add in the  blueberries last and stir. Serve with
salmon, trout, snapper, and  flatfish such as flounder, sole.

If some fruits are hard to get you can substitute the grapefruit for
an orange or lemon for example and a mango or similar can replace the
grapefruit

Substitute a sectioned orange or ½ cup diced ripe mango for the pink
grapefruit. Experiment with quantities and the pepper to get the
flavour you prefer.

 

Nut and Seed Slab

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

3/4 cup skim milk powder

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup water

1 cup coconut

Toast the sesame and sunflower seeds in the oven until golden brown.   Place the milk powder, peanut butter, walnuts, apricots, toasted seeds, honey, water and coconut in a bowl and mix together.   Press into an 18cm x 20cm tin, chill then cut into pieces.   I keep mine in the fridge.

Tip:   Melt the honey, water, peanut butter in a jug in the microwave and it is quite easy to incorporate with the dry ingredients.