3450 Bottling and preserving

Seems like it will be a bumper year for fruit and veg around here. Any advise or recommened books about preserving? Its all new to me! We also have a strawberry tree which had a huge crop last year. I am told that the only thing one can do with them is to make some type of Portugese liqueur, but no one has the recipe. Perhaps this should be in the gardening section!

Category
Food & Drink

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 04/29/2006 - 09:52

Hi Tanny,

Welcome to the forum!!! :)

I would suggest you get a copy of " Clearly Delicious: An Illustrated Guide to Preserving, Pickling & Bottling" by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz and Judy Ridgway.
Good instuctions, easy to follow.

Here's a link to Amazon where you can get a used copy at a good price:

[url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789437511/qid=1146318245/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_0_6/203-2814398-5811129[/url]

Have fun!

Dee

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 04/29/2006 - 11:41

Here's a recipe for the strawberries:

Fragole Cello (Strawberry Liqueur)

Ingredients:

*450 grams (2 cups) strawberries

*360 milliliters (1 1/2 cups) grain alcohol or vodka

*480 milliliters (2 cups) water

*450 grams (2 cups) granulated sugar

Directions:

Wash the strawberries. If you use large strawberries, cut them in half or quarters. Place them in a clean glass jar, add grain alcohol or vodka, and let stand 24 hours, shaking it periodically. The strawberries will begin to pale as the alcohol leaches the color (and taste and fragrance) out of the strawberries.

After 24 hours or so, Use a fine strainer to strain the strawberries and seeds from the alcohol into a 2-quart glass container. Discard the remains of the strawberries.

Combine two cups of water and up to two cups of sugar in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Allow to cool completely and add to the alcohol.

It is now ready to drink, but your best bet is to put the Fragole Cello into a decanter in the freezer for a week to mellow and become ice cold.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 04/30/2006 - 01:49

Thanks. But does this use the fruit from the strawberry tree whose fruits are not particularly good to eat raw and dont really taste of strawberries? They look rounder and a brighter red.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 04/30/2006 - 06:00

Strange, this.

Having done a quick google, I first came across sites saying that the fruit was edible (i.e. not toxic) but not very nice. "Insipid" and "bitter" were words used.

I then found [URL="http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/straw_tree.php"]this site[/URL] which talks about the tree and possible uses of its fruits at some length. On the one hand, the main article points out that the botanical name of the tree is Arbutus unedo and "unedo" means "I eat (only) one", but it then goes on to say that the authors have eaten the fruit and enjoyed it.

Then, in the visitor comments sections, you have everything from people saying they think the fruit is "delicate and delicious" and tastes something like a guava crossed with a nectarine to people suggesting that eating a few of them made their dog extremely ill.

Someone else says that a writer they clearly believe is an authority states that the fruit is a narcotic if eaten in large quantities and others pass on the information of dubious value that they "have been told" that the fruit is poisonous.

Just to add to the confusion, it's suggested by various contributors that the problems with the fruit might be due to the tree growing well but the fruit not being able to fully ripen in northern climes and that the quality of the fruit might vary from tree to tree.

Sounds to me like a "suck it and see" situation. The consensus seems to be that the fruit is definitely not going to cause any problems if eaten in small quantities when fully ripe. But it looks like what you actually do with the things is down to how determined you are to eat the fruit rather than let the birds have them, your culinary ingenuity and the time you have to experiment.

But if you have a dog, probably wise to keep him well clear of the fallen fruits.

Al

EDIT: One of the contributors to the site translated a recipe for Corsican Strawberry Tree Jam:

"Rinse the fruits, put them into a preserving pan and almost cover them with cold water. Cook for 15 minutes on low heat then pass through muslin or cheesecloth, squeezing well to extract all the juice. Weigh this juice and mix it with the same weight of sugar. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, skimming it occasionally as necessary. It is ready when it forms little beads or droplets. Let it cool before putting into pots."

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 04/30/2006 - 09:02

Thanks Al, I did not find this site when researching. Very helpful. When do you move to Italy? Hope all goes well.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 04/30/2006 - 09:21

Hi Tanny,

Glad I went through the trouble to let you know about the book, and took the time to find this recipe (which has the fruit soak in grain alcohol or vodka, which I'm sure helps to kill anything bad off).

If you need any other help, please let me know.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/01/2006 - 11:55

Hi Becky,

If you use grain alcohol it's not as sweet, more like a sloe gin. Vodka and ripe strawberries make a sweeter liqueur. You can play around with the sugar syrup in the final stage by putting in a smaller amount and tasting it, and then judging for yourself how much sweeter you would like it. You could also add more strawberries (for a more intense strawberry flavor) in the first stage with the grain alcohol or Vodka.