Allotment neighbour Bernice and I had a grand group of folk turn up for the jam workshop at Beelarong on Saturday. This was a free workshop as part of Brisbane City Council’s GOLD program.
It was a hands-on workshop, the best way to learn I believe is to get involved and join in with the preparation, cooking and bottling. Although I hand out an information sheet it’s easier to remember if you’ve actually done it. You get the feel of the mixture as you stir, and the smell, and the look of it.
The pineapples I bought for the workshop were so wonderful and juicy that I straight away cut back on the amount of water in the recipe we were using. Seems I could have cut back even more. We ended up with the most delicious pineapple jam – but it could also be used as a sauce over ice cream, or a spread to go over your baked ham before you roast it.
Here are the happy band of jam makers. (Don’t you just love my preserving pots, the pot you can just about see sitting behind the bbq to the right of the picture is just as big and shiny as the one on the table in the foreground.)
Pineapple jam workshop
We are lucky to have this kitchen area at our community garden. Tables, chairs, and that big bbq have all been gifted one way or another. Beat’s the stuff going into landfill. Win, win as they say.
We make our own electricity using solar power at Beelarong as we are not on the grid. The bbq is run on bottles of calor gas, and that’s what we used to cook the jam.
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We had a fantastic downpour of rain in Brisbane yesterday, can hardly wait to get over to the allotment – my poor little rain starved seedlings will (hopefully) be growing like Topsy.
Happy Gardening
Allotment Adventures with Jean 