When the garden is overflowing, we turn to the kitchen. From fig jam to pickled cucumbers, preserving is one of our favourite farm traditions.
Why we preserve
Living on a farm means feast or famine when it comes to fresh produce. One week you've got more tomatoes than you know what to do with, the next week the possums have cleaned you out. Preserving lets us capture those moments of abundance and stretch them across the whole year.
Our favourite recipes
Fig jam
Our fig tree produces an absurd amount of fruit every December. We make big batches of jam — sticky, sweet, and perfect on toast with a slab of good cheese.
Pickled cucumbers
Crunchy, tangy, and ridiculously easy to make. We do a quick fridge pickle with white vinegar, sugar, dill, and mustard seeds. They're ready in 24 hours and gone in 48.
Slow-roasted tomato sauce
When the tomatoes come in, they really come in. We halve them, toss them with garlic and olive oil, and roast them low and slow until they're collapsed and sweet. Blitzed into sauce and frozen in batches, they become the base for pasta, pizza, and everything in between.
Herb salt
At the end of the growing season, we strip whatever herbs are left — rosemary, thyme, oregano — and blitz them with flaky sea salt. Packed into jars, it keeps for months and adds a hit of summer to winter cooking.
Getting started at home
You don't need a farm to start preserving. A punnet of strawberries from the farmers' market, a bag of sugar, and a lemon is all it takes to make your first batch of jam. Start small, keep it simple, and before you know it you'll have a pantry full of things you made yourself.
There's something deeply satisfying about opening a jar of jam you made six months ago and tasting summer in the middle of winter. That's the magic of preserving.