Rosella Sauce

Rosella’s, they’re as pretty as their namesakes, both do well in our garden. The birds we already have, now I desperately need to plant some as well. A small bag of rosellas from a local grower just got turned into Rosella Sauce. It’s absolutely delicious, very aromatic and colourful.
There are many ways to use rosella fruit. Cordials, jams and jellies the obvious ones, but we only very rarely use those, so I don’t find them worth the trouble. On one site I saw them be called the tropical version of cranberries. So I made it into a sauce. If I could get my hands on more I would dry some of the “petals” for my tea blends.

Rosella Sauce:
Roughly cut up your rosellas (seed and all) stick them in a thick bottomed pot with 2 large table spoons of sugar (for roughly 500grams of rosellas). 
Cook for 20 minutes, by then it should be very syrupy. The seeds have plenty pectin to thicken it up. 
Taste, I like mine a little tart, add more sugar if you like. Stir until the additional sugar has dissolved.
Run through a food mill to sieve out the seeds and rougher bits 
Pour into clean jars, I had enough for two smallish jars. 
Keep in the fridge, this recipe doesn’t use enough sugar to make it reliable for canning.

The taste and scent is very close to rhubarb. This would make a lovely crumble pie.
I’ve used it through yoghurt, with roasts or like jam on toast. 

Or a rainy Sunday brownie...

Busy(ness)

Sorry if you have felt neglected, I’ve been thinking about you.
I’ve been busy with my new business, pretty flat out actually. I’ve launched a couple of new items, the testing, labelling and presenting take up a lot of time. Such great fun to do!
One of them is a curry paste, using mostly locally grown produce. What I don’t grown myself (or got plowed over by my chooks, long story), I get from other local home growers.
I use this curry paste a lot in cooking myself, a spoonful with roasted pumpkin and a coconut milk, makes a beautiful pumpkin soup. Curries, stir-fry, marinade or salad dressings become very quick and easy. And it keeps very well.

Another one that got launched last week is the Paleo Granola. It’s highly addictive, a huge hit with our family and friends. A delight to make too. I mill my own (winter) spices for it, making it a lot more pungent. A batch takes up a couple of hours in the oven, by then the whole house is perfumed.

Lots of nuts, organic seeds, spices slowly baked with organic coconut oil and a little local (raw) honey, with a finishing touch of dried cranberries and shredded coconut. A quick snack or dessert with some fruit, or a lovely start of the day with yoghurt. And Paleo means it’s grain and gluten free, I can barely keep up with the demand.

I’m still using the repurposed bottles, lots of lovely people are keeping them for me. I did find a supplier of lids. The white just looks so much fresher then the bright red. The refill bags are doing great too.

My application for a local boutique market got accepted. Although I’m a bit nervous about it, I’m very much looking forward to my first market. Since then I’ve been asked for several other (weekend) markets, lets see how I survive this one first... I still have a lot of products to develop further and ready to sell. And I’m still working on my Amongst Gum Trees Facebook page, to stay in contact with my clients.
Things you feel passionate about don’t take energy, they give you more.
And I’ve been asked for a local gym to do their after-workout snacks. Playing around with lots of ideas and recipes to work out a plan. So much fun!

With all these plans in the pipeline I’ve invested in a Thermomix. I’ve been ogling them for a long time, I love their power and their diversity (cooking, chopping, blending, stirring, whipping, steaming,...), but I could never justify the hefty outlay to myself.
With the launch of a new model last year, a lot of people are wanting to upgrade. The new one looks fantastic and has a build in recipe book, but I happily bought the older model, second hand, for a price I could afford. I absolutely love it and am using it all the time. I’m cooking and creating with it a lot, I’ve always loved cooking from scratch. But now so much quicker and with a lot less washing up, sounds like heaven to me...

Thanks for visiting!