AN ABUNDANCE OF APPLES

All my readers who have down loaded the free E-book The Summer of the Morning Star will know that I turn my home Das Helwig Haus B&B into a ‘home away from home’ for Korean backpackers in the summer and autumn months. 2010 is the fifth year that I have done so. As these young people are all on Work/Travel visas and are allowed to work for two years in Australia some return to my home for a second year. Usually they are university graduates aged between 25 and 30 years who have had difficulty getting a job in South Korea. Not only do they earn and save money while in Australia they also study to improve their spoken English.  Some believe the added maturity, proven work ability and additional language skills will enable them to find a job when they return to South Korea.  Others plan to return to Australia for a third year on an educational visa with their saved money to undertake training within Australia to fill gaps amongst our skilled workers.

Korean Backpackers

The above photo shows a group of Koreans enjoying a barbecue meal in out gazebo in 2007.

Again this year I have a full house of backpackers, including a Japanese couple, Daiji and Maddie, who came to me in November as WWOOF members and stayed on to work as backpackers when a job became available picking capsicums and eggplant.

One delightful Korean girl this year is Kerry, who when she had no paid work, helped me in the garden. I took this photo of Kerry with her partner, Willy, again in our gazebo with is a popular summer eating place.

Kerry and Willy

Kerry and Willy are now the only two workers on a small mixed farm at Severnlea. Some days they are picking apples, other days they bend their backs harvesting capsicums.

Every year I have made it a custom to lay out my extra garden produce on the end of my kitchen table to be pounced upon with delight by all the backpackers when they come into the kitchen to prepare their evening meal. Recognizing that they like larger zucchinis than are usually available in the shops I leave mine grow an extra day or two before picking them. The backpackers use them in many ways, but a favourite recipe seems to be to slice them very finely into rounds, dip them in an egg batter and fry. With a serve of Asian style dipping sauce they are delicious. This season the backpackers have enjoyed my excess tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce, sweet corn, beans, rock melons and watermelons. I invited all the backpackers to bring home any second quality fruit and vegetables they are given to be shared by the group. Kerry and Willy have been bringing home an abundance of capsicums and apples.

Apples and capsicums

Confronted with so many fresh apples I offered to value-add and make them into apple jelly for the backpackers to share.

I cut 2 kg of apples into wedges, placed them in the boiler with 3 litres of water.

Sliced apple

The pot was then brought to the boil before I turned down to simmer gently for a couple of hours. Note – Fruit for jam and jelly making should never be boiled hard before the sugar is added as the heat will destroy the pectin.

After the fruit was reduced to mush I strained it through a kitchen strainer to remove the cores, seeds and skins.

Apple pulp

The next step was to shake the strainer vigorously before discarding a small volume of rubbish. Food for the hens.

Discarded apple pulp

Again the pulp had to be strained, but this time through a jelly cloth, a very finely woven, thin cotton fabric.

The jelly cloth retained two freezer boxes of apple puree, which I froze for future use.

Apple puree

I  then measured six cups of liquid.

Apple juice and puree

The final step in the jelly making process was to return the strained apple juice to the boiler, add six cups of sugar, place on the stove and bring to the boil.

The mixture was boiled rapidly until the jelly would drip thickly off my wooden spoon. As is my custom I then poured the jelly into jars, screwed on the airtight lids, and turned the jars upside down for 2 minutes to sterilize the remaining air in the jars and to create a vacuum seal.

As you can see, the various processes involved in making can be more time consuming than when making jam. The resultant jelly should be totally clear of any residue. This 2kg volume of apples produced eight jars of apple jelly. Because I used red skinned apples my apple jelly is a dainty pink colour.

Clear apple jelly

Book cover

Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

This is a region noted for Australian wildflowers, four wilderness National Parks and sixty wineries. In 1997 Eberhard and Fay established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies, a European wildflower.

To obtain Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine send an email to helwig@halenet.com.au The price is $33.00 posted to destinations within AustraIia.

Internationally it is available on

http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

http://books.google.co.uk/