Friday on the Farm



Rosellas on the bush



Rosella Jam

Today I made Rosella Jam and I'm rather pleased with myself. 

I've recently had an operation. Hence the lack of blog entries for the past couple of weeks. Now I'm facing four weeks of restricted duties. 

My rosella bushes were loaded in fruit and rain over the last week had brought on a new crop of flowers and the promise of more pickings to come.  So yesterday I picked the first crop and prepared the fruit.  Didn't find those tasks too challenging.



Seed pods covered in boiling water and soaked overnight



Husks washed and prepared

This morning I placed the husks in a saucepan and poured in the water from the bowl of seed pods.  To this I should have added some lemon juice but I didn't have any lemon.  However I did have some little bush limes a friend had given me so they came to the rescue.  

Add water from the seed pods to the husks

Little Bush Limes

I popped the sauspan on the stove and prepared my bottles while the fruit softened and reduced.  This took about twenty minutes. 

This much fruit...

Reduces to this much pulp after 20 minutes

Then I measured the fruit plup and found I had three and a half cups of fruit.  This indicated how much sugar needed to be added.  

1 cup of sugar for each cup of fruit pulp

I popped the jars in the oven to warm while the pulp and sugar boiled for another 20 minutes and began to jelly.

 The pink froth that forms on top needs to be spooned off

At this point I added a teaspoon of butter to help reduce the pink froth that forms on top of the mixture.  After removing this it was time to take the hot jars from the oven and to fill them with the jam. 

Voila!  This was the result.

That's why I'm feeling quite happy with myself tonight. 

To join more farm friends visit Verde Farm and Dandelion House