Tuesday 17 January 2017

Some unexpected finds

The last couple of days we have had a reprieve from the heatwave conditions which will return tomorrow. Temperatures of 35/36C are forecast until Sunday here but it will be worse in the west as usual. As it was cool enough to take a leisurely walk around what used to be the garden and is now a mass of weeds I went 'down the back' to check out the fig trees and then remembered that the CEO had fenced off a small area from the chooks and that there were cherry tomatoes growing there. I noticed some plants growing there beside them which I didn't recognise and was going to pull them out as I thought they may have been weeds but it is just as well I didn't as they actually were Rosella plants. I knew he had bought a plant a while back but had no idea where it disappeared to and just presumed it had died from lack of water. Not so.... the bushes are covered in Rosellas.



I just did a bit of reading about the plants on Green Harvest and it says that 'The fleshy calyx is used in salads, jellies, cranberry-like sauces, jam and cordial, syrups and wine. Dried the red calyx is used for tea and it is an important ingredient in the commercial Red Zinger, Hibiscus and Fruit teas. The tea is very similar in flavour to rose-hips and high in vitamin C. Seeds are roasted and ground into flour. Young leaves can be steamed or stir-fried and are known as Red Sorrel in the Pacific.


 


I was wondering what we could use them for as I don't make jam anymore and I have memories of peeling them for Mum when she used to make rosella jam but it sounds like I could dry them or use some in salads. More experimenting by the sounds of it. I think they are liking the hot conditions. 

 

While I was down there I checked out the Jaboticaba tree as it had heaps of flowers on it a couple of days before and would you believe it...the branches were already covered in fruit!




I told the CEO and he thought that was strange as it isn't the time when it should be fruiting but fruiting it is whether it is the 'right' time or not.




The birds are enjoying the grapes of which there are many it seems.




I took the opportunity during the cooler weather to make some sourdough but it was a bit of a fail unfortunately. Firstly I used Griffin but I don't think I fed him enough beforehand. Poor chap! He and Gertrude had been out drinking the night before and I had to tip out hooch from the top of both of them even though they had been fed the week before. Then I had found some wholemeal Spelt flour in the freezer I had forgotten about so I decided to use half Spelt and half Bakers Flour in Celia's Sourdough White Sandwich Loaf recipe instead of using Bakers Flour and 00 flour.





I knew Griffin wasn't happy but went ahead anyway and the loaves only rose three inches or so. Oh well! Live and learn as they say. I had read somewhere that if you don't want a tough crust to wrap up the bread after cooking in a damp towel which I did and I found the end result much better and easier for me to eat...being an oldie and all :-) It was easy to cut on my ALDI food slicer I bought a few months ago.







The slicer is also great for cutting cheese and I am sure we all know it is cheaper to buy cheese in a block than in slices as long as you use it often enough to warrant spending the money for it in the first place of course. 

I feel a soap making experiment coming on but I am not sure what to make as yet. One thing is for certain...I won't have to melt the coconut oil on the stove during the heatwave. LOL!




21 comments:

  1. Dear Nanna Chel,
    I havent faced cooler weather with my starter yet but so far it is just going fantastically. It is so handy. I am trying out sticky buns soon as I have time. It has been hot here and my daughters baby is due in two weeks! I hope to be making bread rolls to go woth soup in wonter I will just have to find a warm spot and use heat packs I think.
    My soap was cheats soap basically but ai loved how it turned out and it smells good! Now I am on to bath products. much love Annabel.xxx

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  2. Annabel, in winter I put my dough in an insulated bag from the supermarket and add a hot water bottle. That works for me. It is so much quicker in the hot weather though I must say. How exciting to have another grandchild arriving soon. They are such a blessing.

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  3. As soon as I read "Rosella" I thought "jam!" I love Rosella Jam. What a wonderful find in your garden. Meg:)

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    Replies
    1. Meg the only problem is I don't use sugar any more plus we rarely eat jam. I will just have to do some research about how to use rosellas.

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  4. I find the no-knead bread method far superior with sough dough. The beauty of it is that you can just leave it for as long as it takes to rise 24 hours or more if necessary. I only ever do one rise for sourdough as it never seems to rise up quite as well the second time. I let it rise in the container I intend to cook it in and I bake it in a Romertopf or dutch oven.

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    1. That method is quicker for me MrHM. I bake two loaves at once and freeze mine and kneading two takes me too long.

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  5. I love how your garden is always full of surprises. If not you, surely some critters must like all the weed cover. :)

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    1. I am sure you would love it here although you would miss the snow I guess :-)

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  6. Nanna Chel,
    It has been hot. Today is supposed to be hotter too, so it is definitely stay indoors in the cool (mostly cool). The rosella's are an interesting plant and of course who hasn't heard of rosella jam.
    -Shiralee.

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    1. Shiralee, I hope your unit is cooler than here. Unusual weather for us eh?

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  7. Nana Chel the dried rosella flowers make a lovely pink tea. It has a slightly acidic taste but is very refreshing. I often mix it with fresh lemon balm and find this tea both calming and quite delicious.
    I made up my Betsy sourdough yesterday and I also ended up with a less than perfect result. I think I had the same problem of not having fed the starter enough. I made cinnamon, sultana scrolls. Whilst tasty enough they are rather tough. I am going back to making simple bread and will work on this till I get it right.
    We didn't get any relief from the heat. Tomorrow is looking like being the worst day. Each day the cool veranda has been between 34 and 36 degrees. My wading pool on the veranda has been getting quite the workout. I usually love summer but this year I'm very much looking forward to cooler weather.

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    1. Thanks for that tip about the tea Jane. Sorry to hear about your Betsy. I should have used Gertrude as she was bubbling away even in the fridge. I must have mistreated Griffin so I will have to keep an eye on him and feed him up a bit. Yes I am also finding this summer to be very taxing.

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  8. I think I am going to break down and buy a sourdough starter when it warms up, right now it is barely warm enough to get yeast bread to rise! You know I love seeing your flowers in the midst of all this white stuff on the ground!!

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    Replies
    1. Now if you lived in Australia I could send you some, Kathy :-)

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  9. Rosellas make lovely tea. I dry them. I tried using the tea in soap making but it turned the lye green. Maybe sprinkled on top would be nice though?

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  10. Liz, I don't even know when they would be ready to pick so I really need to read up about rosellas ASAP as we seem to have so many. I have never seen them growing before. The tea sounds nice.

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  11. Wow at the grapes. In would live a slicer.

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    Replies
    1. Chrissy the slicer is new and it is handy to have.

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  12. If I was a bird, I'd love those grapes too! Not sure if you have one in your garden, but I've heard bird baths can help reduce attacks on grapes. Birds tend to eat them for hydration during hot weather. But I've never experimented, as we don't have grapes ourselves.

    As for Griffin, I find summer is perhaps the worst time for starters. Especially during heat waves, where ovens are the last things we want to turn on. One week turns into two, where starters aren't fed. I've found mine can be successfully revived, once the cooler temps of autumn arrive, and baking becomes a regular deal again. :)

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  13. Maybe your Griffin just needed a little extra feed. My Sally who lives in the fridge never looks bubbly in there but when I get some out and feed her up, she gets quite foamy. A test is to fill a glass with water and gently place a teaspoonful of starter on the water's surface. It should float quite easily. If it sinks, give it another feed and wait a while longer.

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    1. Chris and Joolz, I had fed both Gertrude and Griffin a few days before and put them back in the fridge as they had hooch on them. I usually make a loaf with each starter but this time I had a vague idea that perhaps I could knead double the dough and use that method instead of Celia's so decided to just use Griffin by himself. I had fed him twice but I knew he wasn't looking as bubbly as he should but went ahead anyway but ended up doing the no knead method. Blame the heat...it has pickled my brain and good judgement ;-) I have a feeling I got distracted when I was feeding Griffin once and gave him too much water. I will keep feeding him and make him happy again like he was when I got him from you, Chris.

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