For me ‘harvest day’ conjures an image of neighbouring farmers
wives congregating in a steamy kitchen and cooking, bottling and laughing
whilst preparing for the barren winter months. It hearkens to times of old when
neighbours needed to join forces to ensure that nothing of the summer’s
plentiful harvest would be wasted, to a time when waste was unforgivable… And so it seemed fitting in keeping with our old world sense of communal living, our family of three households lives spread over two hills of forest and fynbos, that my mother, the matriarch, would call for a
harvest day. The idea was to make use of
whatever was plentiful in the garden, to work together as family and neighbours and bottle
as much as we could in one day and then share out the day’s yield. Because as
anyone who has ever grown their own knows, when you have tomatoes, you have
TOMATOES and when you have beans, you have BEANS! My mom also brought in a
whole lot of raw milk, as she no longer keeps a cow or goats, so that she could
make cheese and yoghurt for us all and thereby hand over her cheese-making skills.
It was to be a day of plenty and productivity.
Harvest day dawned and my sister-in-law and I arrived with
recipe books under our arms and grins of expectation on our faces as we literally
dived into the main house kitchen and started chopping, boiling and bottling. We
were perhaps a bit ambitious with all we planned to make to ensure we used all
the garden’s bounty and perhaps we should have researched our recipes beforehand
instead of on the day… but the result was just as I imagined a harvest day to
be. Kindred spirits together in the kitchen. Laughter, chatter and the sharing
of ideas. And the ever-present scents of delectable new flavours bubbling on
the stove and filling the kitchen with the steam I envisioned would envelop and
bind us together in the act of making. Wholegrain mustard infused with allspice and
nutmeg. Carrot and coriander relish with ginger, chilli and lime. Good old South African curried beans. Fresh
basil and oregano imbued bottled tomatoes. The satisfaction of making my own
bottled tomatoes instead of buying tins under the supermarket’s fluorescent
glare is almost indescribable. Not to mention the bliss of knowing the true
ingredients of the food in my pantry!
Suffice to say our grins were even wider when we left the
kitchen later that day with baskets overflowing with bottled goods and a
satisfied sense of exhaustion from productively using our hands and all our
senses. Now we just need to do it all again, with different ingredients, next
month… ~Bounty ~ tomatoes, green beans, coriander, carrots, basil, thyme, oregano, mustard seeds, raw milk
~Produce~ bottled herb tomatoes, curried beans, wholegrain
mustard, carrot and coriander relish, yoghurt, feta and soft cheeses
Happy harvest helpers, also good practice for Easter! |
~RECIPES~
Bottled Tomatoes
4kg tomatoes
4 onions,
finely chopped2 cloves garlic, chopped
2
tablespoons oregano, chopped
3
tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon
sea salt
2
tablespoons sugar
½ cup fresh
basil, chopped
4
tablespoons lemon juice
Wash and dry
the tomatoes, then chop them roughly. Put them in a large pot together with the
rest of the ingredients, except the fresh basil and lemon juice. Bring to the
boil and simmer uncovered for 10 mins, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
Add the fresh basil and lemon juice and stir through until mixed. Fill
sterilised bottles (by baking in the oven) and seal well. (from Jane’s Delicious Kitchen by Jane Griffiths)
Curried beans
2 kg sliced beans
1 kg sliced onions
5 cups water
4 cups
vinegar
1 tablespoon
salt
2
tablespoons curry powder
3
tablespoons cornflour
1 ½ cups
sugar
Cook beans
and onions in water, 3 cups of the vinegar and salt until tender and liquid is
greatly reduced. Mix curry powder, cornflour, remaining vinegar and sugar and
add to beans. Stir well. Cook for 5 mins and then bottle. (from The Old Cape Farmstall Cookbook by Judy
Badenhorst, et al.)
1 cup dry
white wine
1 teaspoon
crushed garlic
1 teaspoon
ground allspice
½ teaspoon
salt
¼ teaspoon
ground nutmeg
1 cup
mustard seeds
¼ cup cider
vinegar
Carrot and Coriander Relish
500g
carrots, coarsely grated
3cm fresh
ginger, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon
mustard seeds
1 red
chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
1 tablespoon
coriander seeds, toasted and crushed
Finely
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
50ml apple
juice
Good pinch
of salt
8 garlic
cloves, chopped
150ml cider
vinegar
175g soft
light brown sugar
10g
coriander leaves, chopped
Mix
everything except the coriander leaves in a saucepan. Slowly bring to the boil,
stirring to help the sugar dissolve, then reduce heat and simmer for 10mins,
until the carrot is soft. Increase the heat a little and cook for 15mins, until
you have a soft mixture in which the carrots look almost candied and the liquid
has really reduced. Stir to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pan. Take off the
heat and stir in coriander. Pot in warm, sterilised jars. (from Salt sugar smoke by Diana Henry)