NZ Gardener Magazine

Christchurch gardener Lorna Garden sent us this old family recipe. She makes it with cauliflower, onions, cucumbers, beans and tomatoes but you could also make a winter pickle using celery, brassicas, onions and carrots.
Ingredients
2.7 kg mixed vegetables * 2 handfuls of salt * 2 tbsp mustard * 450g white sugar
* 900g golden syrup * 3 litres vinegar * 1 tsp dried cayenne pepper * 2 tbsp curry powder * a little flour
Cut up vegetables, sprinkle with salt and let it stand overnight in a large bowl. Drain and place in a large pot with the rest of the ingredients, apart from curry powder and flour. Bring to boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Boil for 20 minutes, then add the curry powder and a little flour to thicken. Simmer until it reaches the desired consistency. Bottle.

"This recipe for preserved beetroot is our family's favourite," says Lois Jones of Omokoroa in the Bay of Plenty. "I cut the beetroot into cubes as well as slices and it keeps well in jars for up to two years. Just give the jars a shake before you open them as the pickling mix tends to settle at the bottom."
Ingredients
2 kg beetroot * 3 cups white sugar * 3 3/4 cups malt vinegar * 1 1/2 tbsp salt * 4 1/2 tsp celery seeds * 4 1/2 tsp turmeric * 4 tsp mustard seeds
Cook the beetroot, unpeeled, until tender. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel by rubbing the skins off. Slice or cut the beetroot into small cubes and pack carefully into clean jars. In a pot, combine the sugar, vinegar, salt, celery seeds, turmeric and mustard seeds and bring to the boil. Stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and pour the hot pickling solution over the beetroot to fill up the jars. Screw on the lids to seal while hot.

Janet Smith has made this drink on and off for 40 years. The first time I made it in the baby bath as we were farming and I couldn't find a more suitable container!"

Ingredients
1kg rhubarb, washed and chopped * 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar * 700g white sugar * 3 1/2 litres of water * zest and juice of 5 lemons

Put all ingredients in a large non-metal container. Stand for 48 hours, then strain and bottle liquid. Leave for 3 weeks before opening.

Before WWII, New Zealand Gardener advertising manager Angela Moon-Jones' grandad worked as a sugar boiler in a confectionery factory, making fruit jubes and spearmint chews. During the war he was assistant cook in an army camp, but Angela says he was most famous for his chutneys and pickled onions. "He grew his own tamarillos to make this chutney and Nana always had to clean up the splatters off the stove and walls."
Ingredients
1kg tamarillos * 500g onions * 500g cooking apples * 12 whole allspice berries
* 3 slices of root ginger * 170g seedless raisins * 2 cups vinegar * 1 tbsp salt * 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper * 750g brown sugar

Blanch, peel and chop tamarillos into small pieces. Peel and chop onions and apples. Tie allspice berries and ginger in a piece of muslin cloth, then place all ingredients into a large saucepan and simmer for 2 hours, stirring. Pour into hot jars and seal.

Ingredients
1 kg limes * 2 onions * 3 apples * 400ml cider vinegar * 1 tbsp salt * 1 tsp ground ginger * 1 cup raisins * 2 1/4 cups white sugar * 8 kaffir lime leaves

Cut ends off limes and slice thinly. Peel and chop apples and onions. Put in a large pot with vinegar, salt, ginger and raisins. Simmer for an hour.
De-vein kaffir lime leaves and slice into thin strips. Add lime leaves and sugar to pot. Simmer for 30 minutes until thick. Pour into hot jars and seal.

Rotorua gardener Julie Crook makes her marmalade with a twist: she adds slivers of grated carrot. "When I was running my B&B in Tasmania, this recipe was extremely popular when guests sampled it in the morning on their toast. It can be made year-round as it doesn't use 'Seville' oranges. I also like to add a dash of Cointreau before pouring it into jars."
Ingredients
1 large orange * 1 medium lemon * 1 medium carrot * 3 3/4 cups boiling water
* 3 cups white sugar
Cut the orange and lemon into quarters and slice thinly. Scrape and grate the carrot. Place the fruit and carrot into a large bowl and cover with the boiling water. Leave overnight.
The next day, pour the fruit and water into a large saucepan and bring to boiling point. Cook gently until the rinds are soft and the liquid has reduced by half.
Add the sugar and stir constantly until it has dissolved. Boil rapidly until setting point is reached, then remove from heat and leave for 10 minutes.
Stir gently, pour into hot jars and seal.

Carol Lee of Half Moon Bay always keeps her pantry stocked with rhubarb chutney (her grandmother's old recipe) and red onion jam. The onion jam, she says, is delicious served with cold meats.
Ingredients
3 large red onions * 1 tbsp salt * 2 red capsicums * 1 cup cider vinegar * 1 cup dark cane sugar * 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Peel and finely slice the onions into a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and let stand for one hour, then rinse in cold water and drain well.
Cut the capsicums in half, remove the seeds and stalks, and cut into thin slices (similar in size to the onions).
Heat the cider vinegar and sugar in a large saucepan, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Then add the onion and capsicum and bring to boil.
Reduce heat and simmer slowly for 45 minutes until most of liquid has reduced.
Finally, add the chilli sauce and stir until the mixture is thick and syrupy.
Spoon into hot, clean jars and seal.

Pickled onion recipes are a matter of personal taste, according to NZ Gardener editor Lynda Hallinan. You can use white or malt vinegar. You can make a clear or cloudy sauce. You can soak the onions overnight in brine to soften them, or steep them for a few hours for a crunchier result. "I like mine crisp and I think they're prettier in a jar of golden liquid, but I'm biased: that's how my mum makes them!"

Ingredients
2kg pickling onions, peeled * 1 cup soft brown sugar * 2 litres of malt vinegar * 2 tbsp pickling spice

Peel the onions – do this outdoors – and soak in a bowl of cold salted water for a few hours. Boil the vinegar, sugar and pickling spice for 15 minutes. Cool.
Drain the onions and stack neatly into a large glass jar. Cover with the vinegar solution. Leave for 2 weeks.

If you've got a fig surplus, or a source of free fruit, make chutney – and turn it into a family tradition. One of our colleagues, Aileen Keery, has made fig chutney since she was a child. "There was an old fig tree next door to the Wellington kindergarten where my mother taught. My brother and I would pick figs to take home and, at the weekend, Mum would make fig chutney. We all loved it on our roasts, in casseroles and with cold meats. Once, when I was eight and my brother was seven, we were in the long grass picking figs for Mum when we scared a couple of hedgehogs. We both had bare feet and my brother ended up in hospital getting the prickles taken out. Mum wasn't too impressed and banned us from picking figs. But of course we still did, although we kept our shoes on."
Ingredients
1 1/2 kg apples * 250g figs * 700g onions * 250g sultanas * 1 tablespoon of salt
* 1kg brown sugar * 1.2 litres vinegar * 2 dspn ground ginger * 1 tsp dried chillies

Chop the apples, figs and onions. Put in a pot with the rest of the ingredients. Boil for 30 minutes. Bottle when cold.

"This is the tomato relish recipe my mother and my grandmother, and probably the rest of New Zealand as well, have used forever," says Kapiti Coast gardener Maggie Smith.

Ingredients
2kg ripe tomatoes * 6 onions, peeled and chopped * 600ml malt vinegar * 500g white sugar * 6 dried chillies * 1 1/2 tbsp dry mustard powder * 1 tbsp curry powder * 1 tbsp salt
Skin tomatoes by placing in hot water for a few minutes. Roughly chop and put in a large pot. Add onions and remaining ingredients. Bring to boil, then simmer until thick (about an hour). Bottle and seal.