Back in Aldinga

Day 161

I have been catching up with a backlog of tasks after being away for 3 weeks.

Processing the last of the olive harvest

The dried olives were only supposed to take 15 days, but mine took about double that time. I was not exactly sure how they were supposed to look, feel, and smell, but they tasted good, so I jarred them up in rock salt and rosemary from the garden.

Dried Olives

This is the easiest method yet, no waste water or salt, a cheap, easy & environmentally friendly method.

Looks great in the jar too

The end result - salt dried olive.

Olives in Brine 

These olives are from the Ecovillage orchard, we decided to try the washing (de- bittering) process without using salt water this time. We still washed the olives daily, but only used water. This proved to be very easy as I could fill the bucket with the hose, and strain the water directly onto the garden without concerns about the effect on my plants. The only problem with this method was that it took a lot longer than the brine method. At the end the olives still tasted slightly bitter, but soft.

First I put the iloves into clean jars.

Then I made up the brine at a ratio of 1 part salt to 10 parts rainwater. The instructions on the internet said to heat the water to facillitate dissolving the salt, but I found that it was not neccessary. The salt dissolved well in cold water.

Adding the brine to the jar - I was supposed to let the water cool, but I did not.

I added extra virgin organic olive oil from the farmer's market to keep the air out and prevent spoiling.

In two jars I added crushed organic garlic from the farmer's market,

and Monk's pepper from the food co-op.

 

I will keep you posted about the results when we open our first jar!

Shopping at the Singing Cricket Food Co-op. The mandarins are from a backyard grower.

Green Tomato Chutney 

I found heaps of green tomatoes in the garden when I feturned from Byron and I assumed that they would not ripen. So I found a recipie for green tomato chutney in my trusty Reader's Digest Farmhouse Cookery cookbook! If you ever come accross this book in a book sale/ Charity shop - BUY IT - it's excellent!

 

"THE TOMATO, a native of tropical America, made its European debut in the middle of the 16th century when, like many novel foods, it was erroneously hailed as an aphrodisiac - hence it's early name of 'love apple' or 'pomme d' amour'.

By the time this notion was abandoned, the tomato was widely grown in Europe and Britain. Our summers are not always sunny enough to permit the fruit to ripen, and this chutney is the best way of utilising green tomatoes. It goes well with cold meats and cheeses, and can be served with or added to curries."

Reader's Digest Farmhouse Cookery 1980

Preparation Time: about 30 mins.

Cooking Time: about 2 hours. (mine took longer)

Ingredients to yield about 2.7-3.2 kg.

1.8kg green tomatoes, washed & chopped.

700g shallots/onions, peeled & chopped.

450g cooking apples, peeled cored, & chopped.

600ml vinegar.

8 red chillies.

25g dried root ginger. (ginger cordial)

225g seedless raisins or dates, chopped. (jujubes)

2 teaspoons salt.

450g sugar. (honey)

Method

Put the chopped tomatoes, shallots or onions and the apples in a large, heavy based saucepan with half the vinegar. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for about 30 mins. until tender.

Tie the chillies and root ginger in a muslin bag, bruise with a hammer, and add to the pan with the raisins or chopped dates. Cook, stirring from time to time until the mixture thickens, after about an hour.

Add the sugar, salt, and the rest of the vinegar, stirring well until the sugar dissolves. Continue cooking, pressing the bag of spices occaisionally (or jiggling the tea ball)  with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thick. Remove the muslin bag before potting and sealing. Leave to mature for 6 weeks.

(Michael has already started eating ours, and says it is delicious).

 

Chillies from the garden

The last of the cinnamon from the pantry (sob)

The recipie called for chopped dates, so I substituted chopped Jujubes.

The recipie also directed me to add the spices and chillies in a muslin bag.

I improvised with my trusty tea ball

It worked well, I will keep that trick up my sleeve for future recipies.

  

This cordial is still lingering on from last year (obviously not a favourite). I used a glug of this as a substitute for ginger.

 

The chutney ready for the pantry.

  

A welcome home local breakfast

Our own free range eggs, Michael's toast, Farmer's market mushrooms, garden parsley and basil (yes there is some still growing ), Finniss River Romano cheese and Paris Creek BD. butter. Yum. It is so very good to be home!

"Here is the place of much Warmth and Comfort, for long the Heart of the Home; where Plain but Wholesome dishes of Homegrown produce and Dairy Foods are Cooked with Diligence by the Housewife; where Nourishing meals make a splendid Welcome for her Husband and his Helpers at the end of a long day's Labouring"

Post Byron Musings

Just wanted to share my thoughts about food in Byron Bay.

What struck me first as I entered the IGA store was how weird it is that I can buy practically everything here that I buy at home. Even the Paris Creek Biodynamic butter, yoghurt, & cheeses. It was a bit sobering to think that I could travel all around Australia, and probably eat exactly the same foods that I eat at home. I was keen to try foods that I could only get in Byron Bay, and it involved a bit of hunting and gathering, and much label reading (without my glasses, sigh). So I ask myself, is this a consumer driven state of affairs? Do most people like eating the same familiar foods no matter where they are? I find this a bit hard to believe. I ventured in to the Woolworths supermarket in the main street and they had all of the usual foods that they have here, with additional dairy products from Queensland. What they did have though was their own brand of organic chicken, beef, and lamb, in steaks fillets and sausages, and .... they were local. There was a stall there giving out cooked samples, and the woman on the stall assured me that the meat was farmed locally - the lamb and rosemary sausages were lovely - not too fatty either.

Byron Bay boasts at least two eateries that claim to source their food locally, one greengrocer, and the farmer's markets -which (the man at the Davidson's Plum and Macadamia stall told me), are all from within 160km of Byron - (except for the visitor stalls- one selling apples - they were not well sign posted so it would be easy to assume that they were local).

The Why Not Cafe'
My beloved flew over to spend the evening with me, and the cafe' of choice for our dinner was the Why Not Cafe' in Johnson Street. We chose the venue because the local paper advertised a farmer's market special 3 course menu for $40. This is what we ate:

(My apologies for the quality of the pics. They were taken with Michael's  Phone).

Above is the Apertiff of house made olive tapanade with local water cress & local olive oil

Entree' of beetroot salad with more cress & macadamias

Mains of Local fish (I forget what it was) on wilted baby spinach with parsnip mash and salsa.

Somewhere between the apertiff and the salad, we realised that it was going to be super-model sized portions, so we ordered a side of wedges to beef it up a bit. They were disappointing, under cooked and not crispy or flavoursome.

Ahh.....the local beer....it's been a while, and althought the hops and yeast are likely to have been shipped in from Tasmania or Victoria, we drank it anyway....research you know.....someone has to do it...!

A very nice drop, similar to a heineken in it's mildness, smooth and slightly creamy - yum. We only had one bottle between us.

Panacotta with macadamias and strawberries, very good, except that the strawberries were chopped so small, it was possibly only 2 in all, spread about to look like more.....hmm.

All in all the meal did actually fill us up, even though the serves were tiny works of art. The overall quality was excellent, very fresh, superb fish, great dessert, but nothing made me go WOW!

3 Weeks in Byron Bay

Byron Bay Food 

My first night in Byron, I needed to get supplies for meals for the next week. I had no idea what was local or whether there was a local farmer's market. I had done some research before my arrival, and found a shop called the Green Garage that claimed to have 200 local suppliers and to have a preference for local produce. However, it was 4.30pm, and I did not have transport, so I went off to the local IGA store in Sunrise. There I found the following:

This I later found out was taboo because no wheat is grown locally!

This was very good but of course, the spices with which it is packed, are all imported, I overlooked this in my excitement to buy something local, and felt guilty later.

This was local, delicious and had many health benefits, Yay!

This was interesting, sweet, local....

These were made locally, with probably some imported ingredients, but I did not have the resources to check.

Later I found out about the local farmer's market that happens on a Thursday morning (I am sure there is a very good reason for this....)

Byron Bay Farmer's Market 

So in order to get my weekly local food before my course started at 8 am. I rode my bike to the market at 7am. (My delightful host Cathy at the house where I was renting a room, did drive me there the first week).

Check out the citrus! I did not expect to find citrus growing up there.  I also found a lovely bitter sweet cumquat that had edible skin!

This is my first introduction to a Custard Apple!

It looks so unappealing, but the taste is fabulous! Sweet, good texture, almost like  a honey taste.... Bliss.

A very healthy selection of meats

Fresh squeezed sugar cane juice.

Mushrooms grown in a shipping container - really.

Davidson's Plum jam - local bush tucker

Bitter sweet, tart flavour similar to regular plum jam but a bit less sweet.

Pineapples - a bit big for one person, and I was not sure of the location of the farm. I totally forgot to bring a 160 km radius map, which would have been very handy, as my geography of the area is pretty sketchy.

So sweet, delicious and fresh.

Bananas still on the bunch, such a beautiful sight. I ate a lot.

Most of the stalls were very local, although, like our farmer's market in Willunga, there were a few "guest" stalls from further afield, including one selling apples.

I bought this organic Paw Paw, not realising how unripe it was.

 After a few days, it looked and smelled riper, but it tasted disappointing. My host suggested wrapping it in newspaper to help it ripen more.

She offered me a taste of hers, a different variety of Paw Paw. It looked a much more appealing colour -redder. But alas, to my palate, it was bland and unexciting. Which is unfortunate as Paw Paw grows like a weed in Byron.

I also discovered after speaking with the locals, a store called SANTOS - Organic and natural foods.

I went for a visit and asked what was local. The staff member - to his credit, knew exactly what was local - alas only the rice, honey, and macadamias.

On the second weekend my beloved came up for a visit and we stayed the night in a local B&B. I would not recommend the place - Aaron's luxury Apartments - (squeaky bed & hard mattress with springs palpable through the minimal padding) But I did pick up some sort of local treats - Madura tea - my favourite! and Byron Bay cookies - delish chocolate truffle flavour - made in the industrial estate in Sunrise, but the ingredients were not local.