Cumquat Marmalade

I love to make jam, especially fig jam, but they are not in season (March usually) and I had a good friend Donna give me some really huge plump figs from her tree in Mandurah. They were the biggest sweetest ones I have ever had in my life and I crave them constantly. I made two batches of jam and ate the rest fresh, yum.

Cumquat's are also a fantastic fruit to eat, I like them straight off the tree. They are not for everyone as they are quite tart like lemons but their skin is so sweet. You get the sweet and tart at the same time. Because they are tart you can't eat truckloads of them...but you can if you have tons of them and they make the most delicious jam. I have to confess this is the first batch of cumquat mamalade that I have made.

On Monday I dropped Danielle my daughter off where her horse is adjisted in the Swan Valley and "hello" a huge cumquat tree with more quats on it than you could possibly imagine just sitting there. After I picked off 2 kg of them you wouldn't even know that anyone had plucked the delicious fruit. I was thinking jam at that stage.....whilst scoffing a few in the warm sun.

Okay here is the result, last night I did the fruit good and now I have two and a half jars of yummy jam made from 1kg of fruit. I will make the next batch tonight. I did'nt want to cook the whole lot just incase I botched it...

Cumquat Marmalade
(tastes just like regular marmalade but with a orange tang!)

Ingredients:
1kg cumquats
1 & 1/2 lemons (juice them and keep 1/2 of a squeezed lemon rind. I put in the cooking pot & remove it later)
7 cups sugar.
All the pips from the cumquats bundled into a muslin cloth and tied.

Method:
Slice fruit finely; reserve seeds in muslin/fine netting.
Place fruit and any juice into a large heavy saucepan.
Tie the seeds in the muslin and pour in lemon juice and sugar.
Bring the mixture slowly to the boil, cook, uncovered, just bubbling (simmer) for 45 minutes, or until it gels. Give it a stir now an then.
Never leave it unattended.
Pour boiling water over jars and lids on sink, I fill the jars up with the water wait a few mins and tip out the water. I do this just before filling them with the jam.
Stand Jam for 5 minutes before pouring into hot, sterilized jars. Seal when cold.

Delicious and yummy on homemade bread like, Light Rye from "All About Bread" in Greenwood.

My breakfast this morning was the marmalade on hot bread, straight out of the breadmaker!

PS I have been working on some new chipboard items, I will post soon as its off being made and hopefully by next week I will have them for sale....stay tuned!

Winter Solstice

In astronomy, the solstice is either of the two times a year when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that is on the same plane as the earth's equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn; the summer solstice occurs either June 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Cancer. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter and summer solstices are reversed.

Sunset and lighthouse photos taken at Fremantle Harbour, north mole on the 21st June 2008, and it's a fantastic place to catch, garfish, herring, Tailor, southern tuna (if ya lucky) and the odd squid or octopus!