Rosella Jam

Welcome to my blog! I’m so happy to be finally writing my very first post!! I feel like there is still a great deal to learn, but like most things in life I will learn in the doing or trying. My vege garden is the perfect example of this, you can read and listen and gather so much information, which is so important in itself, but the process of success and failures, trial and error are some of the most valuable lessons I have learnt. Growing food for our family has always been important to me, the simple act of going out and picking food for our table has never lost it’s appeal! I know exactly where it has come from and not a single chemical has touched it. The addition of a reliable water source and an irrigation system ( thanks to my husband) has made life in the vege patch a whole lot brighter! We struggled through heat and drought and now 8 years on from when we first arrived here on our farm we have reached a milestone in our food garden.

We’ve had some lovely light rain through the night and for all of today. It seems like so long inbetween rain days around here. We are hoping this Summer will bring good falls that will fill all our stock dams and replenish the water table for everyone.

Thankfully I managed to get all of my Rosella seedlings into the garden in time for the beautiful rain to help them grow, there is just nothing like rain to make stuff grow!

I don’t know about you, but I just love Rosella Jam. Once again I know I’m eating jam with fruit that has not been sprayed with any chemicals and it tastes delicious! I have a beautiful Rosella Jam recipe I would love to share with you.

Rosella Jam Recipe

Ingredients

• Rosella’s, Sugar, Water, 1tsp Butter, Juice of one Lemon
• Seperate red calyxes from the seedpods
• Wash and drain calyxes/seedpods separately
• In a saucepan add seeds and enough water so seeds are just covered
• Bring to the boil and cook covered for 30 minutes
• Strain and reserve juice, seeds can now be discarded
• With juice returned to saucepan add red calyxes, which have been washed and drained
• Boil for 20 minutes or until a pulp is formed
• Measure the volume of cooked pulp and return to pan
• Add one good tsp of butter and the juice of one Lemon
• Measure sugar to the same amount as the pulp weighed
• For example add one cup of sugar to each cup of pulp
• Warm the sugar and add to saucepan
• Sugar can be warmed by placing on a tray on a low heat in the oven
• Stir well until sugar is completely dissolved
• Boil quickly uncovered for 20 minutes or until jam falls thickly from a spoon when tested
• Fill sterilised jars with jam while the jars and jam are still warm

I hope this becomes a favourite in your home too.

Tomorrow I will be removing a clucky hen from the main chook house to a quieter area on her own. The loveliness of walking around the garden after rain or hopefully in the rain! Pulling out unwanted weeds, dreaming about what other things I should grow, and enjoying a good cup of tea. Plus all the other household chores that come with family, school holidays and farm life! I hope this finds you well, and I hope as the year draws to an end and a new one begins you are able to find little things throughout your day that bring you moments of joy.