Jaci uses her freezer to store homegrown produce such as fruit and vegetables, which are frozen for later use in preserves and cooking.
Photo by
Jaci Hicken
Jaci Hicken, our seasoned journalist and trained chef, shares her wealth of knowledge on growing, cooking and preserving homegrown produce. In this edition, Jaci cleans out her freezer in time for this coming summer’s bounty.
Growing up, Mum only shopped once a month, buying a month’s worth of white sliced bread each time.
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This meant that, given there was also the occasional cow for meat, there was a need for a large chest freezer on the back porch.
To me, this freezer was the ultimate grown-up kitchen utensil, thinking that one day, I might be grown-up enough to need a similar freezer.
Well, that day is here.
As you know, I grow a lot of my own fruit and vegetables, then make preserves such as jam, sauce and relish.
What you didn’t know is that sometimes the fruit and vegetables are cut up and frozen to be cooked later, either for when the other half is hungry and needs cake or for you to use when you visit to preserve.
And like most people with a freezer full of produce, my brain can become a frozen fog and forget what is there.
Now is the time to deep dive into the freezer and see what needs to be cooked before the summer produces more that will need to be stored for later.
In the deep dive, there was:
Blood limes
Beans
Rough puff and lard pastry
Leftover raspberry lemon domes
A bucket of strawberries
The first bucket of raspberries
Meat from the freezer packs we get from the butcher
Zucchini, already grated to make relish
Broad beans
A tub of frozen tomatoes
Another bucket of raspberries
Another bucket of raspberries
Another bucket of raspberries
Another bucket of raspberries
Garlic and shallots
Black peaches
Lard
Pork stock
More zucchini and broad beans
And red currents
The blood limes are currently falling off the tree.
As they are harvested, they are frozen until there is enough to make a high-quality blood lime syrup.
Everything else is from last summer.
As it is only a matter of weeks before the raspberries start producing again and the peach trees get netted, there will be new fruit soon.
With summer approaching, Jaci needs to clear out the freezer to make space for new produce such as blood limes, raspberries and peaches. Any ideas what Jaci can cook with frozen raspberries?
Photo by
Jaci Hicken
The garlic will need to go somewhere once it is pulled and peeled.
Six packets of zucchini seeds went in over the weekend, and soon, zucchini will be sprouting everywhere and will need to be saved for you to make curried zucchini relish later.
So, we’d better use up what we have.
There is already a cupboard full of jam, sauce and relish, so what can we cook with all the fruit and vegetables in the freezer?
I would love to hear your ideas.
If you have any ideas on what Jaci can cook with what in the freezer, share them with her atjaci.hicken@mmg.com.au
