I mentioned on a previous post that I was lucky enough last week to be given a bag of chokos by John at the farm, together with a lovely supply of fresh limes from the food forrest.
I have used them both with gay abandon during the past week but decided I needed to put the surplus to good use while they were still nice and fresh.
They say if life give you lemons “make lemonade”.
In my case, if life gives you chokos and limes “make marmalade”
Here is the result.
On the left is the choko. lime and ginger jam but it tastes more like marmalade due to the lime and ginger. I’ll make sure John gets a jar of choko jam when I go over to the farm this morning. John’s wife Heather is a big choko pickle maker – she might like to try this jam and add it to her repertoire.
Here is the link to the recipe from Lisa Loveday’s website. When I first found this recipe there was a photo too but it looks like she just has a print friendly recipe now.
On the right is the orange and lime marmalade I made using my friend Wendy’s recipe, just tweaking the choice of fruit. So thank you Wendy. Here is the recipe.
WENDY’S MARMALADE
4 oranges
2 lemons (I used two limes instead)
1.25 litres (5 cups) water
1.5 kg (3lb) sugar
Wash fruit and cut in half lengthwise. Cut each half into thin slices. Remove seeds. Put fruit into bowl and add water, let stand overnight. Next day put fruit and water into large saucepan, Bring to boil, reduce heat. Cover and simmer 40 minutes. Put sugar into baking dish and warm in moderate oven for 7 minutes. Add to fruit mixture and stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and boil, uncovered, for 45 to 55 minutes. Stir frequently. After 40 minutes start testing for set. Makes approx. 1.75 litres.
(Wendy says it isn’t essential for the fruit to be exactly as specified. You can substitute other citrus, such as grapefruit, cumquats or mandarins for part of the fruit if you wish, so long as the approximate volume of fruit is about the same. The fruit for the best marmalade is cut into fine strips and you’ll need patience. As a lot of juice is produced, a chopping board with grooves around the edge is useful to catch it.)
Happy preserving.
Jul 03, 2013 @ 07:55:22
It all sounds delicious, Jean!
Jul 03, 2013 @ 19:25:45
Thank you Maria. I have already passed on a few jars for friends to try.
Jul 03, 2013 @ 08:03:23
I honestly didn’t know what a choko was. I had to look it up. Very interesting! I always like learning about different fruits and veggies around the world.
Jul 03, 2013 @ 19:23:08
I find it interesting too, to find out what other gardeners are doing. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Jul 03, 2013 @ 14:25:58
They must be delicious.
I’m afraid that I can’t use citruses with the crust. Citruses don’t grow in my country. In the market they are sold sprayed chemically.
Jul 03, 2013 @ 19:28:03
I was lucky that the limes are grown organically at the farm so no problem there. The oranges just needed to be scrubbed before use. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Jul 04, 2013 @ 04:30:20
Well done for spreading the word Jean :). I missed the broadcast, Steve and I were animating coffee cups and Babooshka dolls and time got away from us. Today we animate windmills. I might even try animating my sprouting choko! Marmalade is a great way to use the “carrying” capabilities of chokos. Mum did that a lot. She would use them all up in the back of recipes where they could fill the bulk “benign” part and carry the flavour of the star of the recipe. Hopefully my choko baby will produce a copious quantity of offspring and I can use them in this wonderful recipe 🙂
Jul 04, 2013 @ 16:10:11
Hi Fran. The interview can be heard via a podcast on the Radio 4BC site. I’ll see if I can link to it.
Every girl needs a ‘Steve’ – where is he when I need him! (If my son Steve reads this he might think I mean him but I mean Frannie’s Steve who seems to be a computer whizz.)
Since I have been trying to whip up a choko lovers movement these past few weeks I have got people chatting about it at the farm and on the blog and it seems that everybody had a Nanna or a Mum who ‘hid’ chokos in just about everything.
I love my blog because I can rabbit on and get as excited about vegetables as I like, ad infinitum, and there always seems to be a like-minded soul out there who is on my wave length.
Non-gardening friends, lovely though they are, can go a bit glassy eyed especially as I go through my ‘choko phase’ a bit like Picasso’s Blue Period but without the angst.
Jul 04, 2013 @ 21:35:09
I am laughing Jean. I can see you waxing lyrical about choko’s and your friends glazing over and starting to snore :). I promise you I wouldn’t glaze over unless it was glazing some of those choko slices. I wonder if they would candy well? Might be an interesting approach to too many chokos although with all of your recipes I don’t think the world has enough chokos :). Steve is a genius. He has been guiding me through animating windmills today and yesterday we animated Babooshka dolls. Lots of fun (when we aren’t hopping about yelling because something isn’t working 😉 )
Jul 05, 2013 @ 05:46:18
Your animations are so clever. Hope you post more of them on your blog.
Jul 05, 2013 @ 06:03:26
They are getting more technical now so they are getting bigger and WordPress are funny about letting we “free bloggers” do ANYTHING fun. Steve can post them to Youtube now as we have an account so we might do it that way :).
Jul 05, 2013 @ 06:12:45
Oh I see. I mentioned the animation because Steve had posted one while you were at your daughter’s and it was great fun. Don’t want to upset wordpress. Maybe Youtube is the go.
Jul 05, 2013 @ 06:14:43
I think he posted it via the youtube link Jean so maybe we have found an out! 😉
Jul 05, 2013 @ 06:16:20
Ah. Now that would make sense Fran. I remember I had to click on it.
Jul 05, 2013 @ 06:16:55
🙂 Technology isn’t ALL terrifying 🙂
Jul 04, 2013 @ 10:25:22
I wish my cutting boards had grooves 😦 I’m always VURRYY sticky at the end of making anything fruity, lol!
Jul 04, 2013 @ 15:46:49
Mrs Yub, my cutting board doesn’t have grooves either. so I know what you mean. I still managed to save most of the juice.