Green Tomato Marmalade

I've been meaning to put this recipe up for a little while. I'm not a great fan of marmalade normally, but this one is quite lovely. It is extra nice on oat cakes for breakfast - YUM!

Ingredients
1.7kg (3.75lb) green (as in unripe) tomatoes, chopped
200g (7oz) crystallised ginger, chopped
Rind of 2 oranges (no pith), shredded
Rind of 4 lemons (no pith), shredded
Juice of the 2 oranges and 4 lemons
8 cups sugar

Method
Place everything except for the sugar in a large, heavy-based pan. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until it is all soft and pulpy - this may take up to one hour.
Add sugar and stir until dissolved, then boil rapidly until setting point is reached. You may need to stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.
Pour into sterile jars and seal.

Notes
Test if the marmalade is set by placing a small amount of marmalade on a chilled saucer; leave for about 30 seconds and see if it thickens up.
Sterilise jars by placing clean, wet jars and lids on a tray in the oven at 120C for 20 minutes or more. Jars with metal lids are the best.
Fill jars while marmalade is still hot, place lids on, then with knuckle inside a teatowel (to stop you getting burned), press on the centre of the lid and screw down. As the jam cools, you will hear a pop as a vacuum is formed. Jam bottled in this way will keep for years without going mouldy on top.

This recipe will make about 2.7kg (6lb) of lovely golden marmalade.

love and light
naturewitch

Winter Solstice, Calendula, Oat Cakes and Corn Chips

This weekend, yesterday morning in fact, was the Winter Solstice. So good to know that the days will be getting longer now and spring will be here in no time. In celebration, I dug over a new area of the garden in preparation for planting Calendula there soon. It is in a lovely sunny spot and will form a nice little patch of flowers for the bees (when I get them), as well as providing blossoms for ointments and salads.

I've been using oats a lot lately in my cooking and my sister gave me a recipe for Aberdeen Oat Cakes, which I will share with you:
Place 250g fine oatmeal in a heat proof bowl, add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt. Melt 50g butter in another pot or heat proof container and make up to 300ml with boiling water. Stir boiling water and butter into the oatmeal to form a stiff mix. Leave until cool, then roll out, cut into squares and bake in a moderate oven (180C) until crisp. Lovely!

Having had success with the oat cakes, I thought I would apply the same principle to corn meal to make Corn Chips. I mixed corn meal 50/50 with polenta (to get the equivalent of freshly ground whole corn type meal). I used oil instead of butter and needed to make the water/oil mix up to 350ml. The dough was rolled out really thinly and it worked! The only problem with these corn chips is that they went soggy after a couple of days in a container, but a little while back in the oven refreshed them. However, I would recommend eating these on the day they are made - I think they were better then.

love and light
naturewitch