Milk Powder Yoghurt, Chocolate Chia Pudding

 Most of my readers will have probably perfected DIY yoghurt years ago, but this is for the ones like me who have had not-so-good results for years.
For a long time I wouldn't even try making yoghurt, other than from using sachets in the Easiyo maker, because I didn't think there was any point if I had to buy milk in plastic bottles. Since we can now get milk in glass I've tried again, but could not get it like the bought stuff, and ended up making a lot of chocolate chia pudding with the less than perfect results (recipe to follow). 

This recipe makes thick creamy yoghurt - from milk powder! 

Original poster Lisa Rogers says... Super easy! I know there are other ways, but this is how I do it in an esiyo maker (I always see heaps for cheap in op shops).
1. Use the FULL FAT blue milk powder - fill to the 450ml line on side of the esiyo jar (or weigh 200g)
2. Cover with luke warm water, add a dash of water from kettle that you need to boil anyway. Not stone cold, not too warm, just take the chill off. Put lid on and shake to mix.
3. Add 2 Tablespoons of FULL FAT UNSWEETENED GREEK yoghurt as your starter & top to litre line with water.
4. Mix again and place in esiyo maker with boiling water for 6-8 hours, or until set. Put in fridge - any liquid that forms on top can be poured off or mixed in.
You can then sweeten or flavour as you wish.
**Remember to save 2T from your batch to start the next batch.
**If it "cooks" too long it may go a bit lumpy, just whisk together in bowl and re-jar.
Cost: You can get 5 litres of yoghurt from a 1kg bag (Pams is about $8.80 at Pak n Save) === $1.76 per litre of yoghurt Super cheap!

We can buy milk powder packaging free here - so it's perfect. 
My lukewarm water was 35 degrees celsius (I have a thermometer) 
The culture can also be frozen as apparently it will only last for a few times of remaking before the culture becomes too weak.
Also I have read that it shouldn't be left in the fridge for longer than 2 weeks or the culture will die.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

1Tbsp of rice syrup (or 3-4 dates soaked and chopped)
4 Tbsp of chia seeds
1 cup of milk (or failed yoghurt)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all with a food processor or stick blender and put in the fridge for 3 hours or so to set. 

2 Tablespoons of Chia contain:
 64% more potassium than a banana
 2x the antioxidants of blueberries
 41% of your daily fibre
 5x more calcium than milk
100% more omega 3 than salmon
3x more iron than spinach
32% of your daily magnesium
info from www.riseorganics.co.uk

Plastic Free July 2019

I love to read about the plastic-free movement and how many people get switched on to it starting with a pledge to try Plastic Free July.
I've been gradually working towards being as new-plastic-free in my purchases as possible, and I'm still not there. Let's face it - it's hard.

One of my goals this year has been to find a sandwich bread recipe that is virtually no knead, like my other seed bread recipe Busy People's Bread. I have failed to find one, so this week I have bought a new-to-me bread machine. The first loaf was pretty good, and I'm on track to save bringing home 26 bread bags/year. I'll still be making the seed bread, four loaves at a time in the oven. A plus with the bread machine will be easier pizza dough.

My lovely helper holding the container - labels on the underside

A new thing here is being able to take a container to the supermarket and they'll make a bit of a drama about taking it away to clean it, then we can get items from the deli packaging-free.I'm loving buying feta and gouda like this. Just ignoring the drama..("have you got any other shopping to do...I'll be 5 minutes cleaning this" kind of comments). So I got them to put three things in it. It's a bit dearer to buy like this, but the feta's nicer than what I was getting.

My next change for P-F July has been making my own custard powder. Yes, I know you can make it with eggs etc, but it has to be sustainable and I'm not the only cook. The bulk bin custard powder was horrible so we reverted to packaged Edmonds. My challenge was to make something convenient that had to be as nice...success...recipe follows.

DIY Custard Powder

1 cup of icing sugar
1/2 cup of cornflour
1/2 cup of milk powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp of vanilla bean paste

Grind all to a fine powder with a stick blender or similar. Store in an airtight container. 
Use as for regular bought custard powder, but I did find I needed to use more. I'm going to try adding more cornflour to the next mix. You can also add a couple of drops of yellow food colouring if you want it to be more like the bought stuff.

Our last innovation, which isn't a plastic-free one, has been to change most of our light bulbs to LED. They have come way down in price recently (now only around $3-$4/ bulb) and should pay for themselves quickly with energy saving and they'll last longer, plus they don't give off heat. If you haven't done yours yet, look into it. #money-saving 

Mangrove Honey, Little Balls of Energy

Hi All - look what we've got in our backyard!

They are only here while the mangroves are flowering, but maybe it will be an annual event.
Who knew you could get mangrove honey! We're looking forward to trying some, plus we needed a new honey-in-glass supplier - and he found us!

Energy Balls

I made up this recipe when we wanted a little something with our morning coffee to give us some zip to get through the rest of the chores. It's especially good when I don't feel like using the oven - because that usually means that I cook several things to be efficient with heating the oven.
The recipe is fairly flexible - just use what you've got and get it to the right degree of moisture that the balls will hold together.

Into the food processor place:
1 cup of dates
1/2 cup of nuts
1/4 cup of seeds (flax, sesame, pumpkin, sunflower - any of these)
6-8 pieces of crystalized ginger
1/3 cup of dark chocolate buttons, melted

Whiz them up. It should be able to be rolled into small balls - about 1 teaspoonful is a good size, then roll in coconut and store until they're gone in a container in the fridge.
They'd be good for children's lunchboxes too. Heck, the kids could make them.

Well we're off camping this week - that will be the first time in over 10 years for both of us. With our band winding down there should be more opportunities if we enjoy it (and I'm picking we will - fishing, reading, playing guitar, hopefully meeting some new people). I post a pic next time - we're going somewhere local and lovely.

Packaging Free Snack, Upcycled Belt and More

The Packaging Free Snack

What do you grab when you want something with your glass of wine? I've been going for this (see below) lately as it comes packaging free and stops me wanting other wicked things (corn chips). 

Ages ago I posted on how to make no-fail popcorn. Now popcorn can be a little dull, therefore I have discovered that combining it with wasabi peas (which I am able to buy in bulk in my own container) changes the game completely. 
I also add a bit of salt and vinegar flavouring (which I make myself by saturating rocksalt with vinegar and letting it evaporate off in the sun or a warm oven.
If you really want to go all out - try adding snips of nori sheet (sadly not packaging free) and I also throw in some bits of crackers that have broken when I've made my knackebrot crackers. 

The Upcycled Belt

I have felt inspired by the belts and straps that I've seen on Pinterest made by Amy Hanna, as seen on crescendoh.com
I have finally got around to making one myself using my old PU belt that was getting to the end of it's life.
I have also taken the opportunity to make it just a little longer, (ahem, it must have shrunk).

Before

After

It was fun to design as I went along. It probably won't appeal to the straight line brigade, but I like it.

A snap of the witch I made for Katie's Halloween party - using an old black umbrella. It's not as good as the ones I saw on Pinterest, but oh well, it was a quick job and she liked it. 

There's no top half in case you're wondering

I thought I'd leave you with a pic of a bright spot in my garden. I grew these Sweet William flowers from seed. They have been lovely to pick and give. Note to self - grow more flowers. 

A Deodorant Save and DIY Bailey's

Deodorant dilemmas
Last summer my home-made coconut oil/ baking soda deodorant failed. It just stopped working. I suspect this has something to do with the coconut oil remaining melted at room temperature.

I needed another plastic free idea and I stumbled onto the ideal solution, which I have been using ever since. Halved lemon/lime! It works unbelievably well and we grow a supply pretty much all year round. I just keep the halves in the fridge, taking a new slice off the top occasionally.
Squeeze a little juice onto the surface and rub it on. A gap between shaving armpits and citrus application is recommended.
The trouble is - I'm going travelling soon and will need yet another solution - I'm thinking witch hazel.

we have an abundance of limes right now - hooray!

DIY Bailey's Irish Cream

We don't drink a lot of alcohol - a glass of wine here and there and sometimes a liqueur in our coffee in the evening. My choice of liqueur is Bailey's Irish Cream, which we recently ran out of. I decided it was high time to use up some of those bottles of whiskey that we seem to have been given a lot of - so I've made my own Bailey's.

The recipe I used was one that I found here at Smitten Kitchen

It uses 
1 tsp of cocoa powder
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
1 tin of condensed milk
1 cup of cream 
1 cup of whisky

It takes 5 minutes to mix and is seriously nice. The blogger I got it from states that it is supposed to last from 2 weeks to 2 months - and it needs to be kept in the fridge. It would normally take us longer than 2 months to drink this much - we might need to get help.

Eating Local - Marinated Fish

While I was in town today, Derek popped over the road and caught a Kahawai for dinner. Kahawai is also known as Sea Trout - to give you an idea of the type of fish, and the flesh is dense, good for smoking, but it makes a superb Marinated Fish.
This is a well known Pacific Island dish, but it is also a much loved dish in New Zealand. I've had this since I was a youngster.

We realized that the only ingredient that came from further than 300m away was the coconut cream. The rest came out of the garden.
Here's the recipe. Just add as much or little of the ingredients as you wish.

Marinated Fish

1 firm fleshed fish - filleted and cut into small cubes
lemon or lime juice to cover the fish
coconut cream - approx 1 cup
spring onion
capsicum
cucumber, diced small
tomato, diced or quartered cherry tomatoes
optional -mild chilli cut very small

Place the fish and lemon juice into a glass or ceramic dish, cover and place in the fridge for a few hours, turning the fish once or twice during this time.

The fish will be "cooked" after this, and the lemon juice can be drained off. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir to mix and serve.

Jam Drops, Plastic-Reducing Wins

Life here is a flurry of music, bag making, gardening and cooking - not that blogable at the moment but day-filling all the same.

Last week Derek wanted to shout morning tea for his ex workmates (approx 50 people) and was going to buy it all. I said "no, I can do that" (thinking reduced packaging), so whipped up date scones, my favourite cracker recipe with cheeses, cut up rock melon and pineapple and made a batch of Jam Drops. All of these recipes are quick and simple, and are staples in my kitchen.

Jam Drops

This recipe makes 35.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C

1/2 cup of milk (I use 2 Tbsp milk powder and  1/2c boiling water)
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
450g flour
250g butter
jam

Mix the milk and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Add the baking soda, then cool.
Mix the flour and butter until finely mixed. The food processor is your friend here if you have one.
Mix with the sugar/ milk mix and stir to a firm dough.
Roll heaped teaspoonfuls in your hand and place on a baking tray. Poke a well into each one and fill with jam. 
A sprinkle of coconut over each one will stop the jam from boiling over.
Bake for 10 - 15 minutes.
I can tell you that if you forget to put the baking soda in - they will still turn out ok 😄

This recipe came from a lovely book - worth a look if you find it...

Beautiful photography, grandma-style recipes, wonderful garden and country decor.

Our team at Plastic Bag-Free Northland celebrate all plastic-reducing wins, and lately it seems there have been a few. Our local butchery, Omak, have told us that they've had a meeting and have decided to order in their own reusable bags and will be charging people to use plastic bags. They will also be actively encouraging people to bring in their own containers.
This is a result of many of us greenies shopping there, and management having just taken a Pacific Island holiday and being disgusted by the plastic problem they saw there.

Our Kamo Bin Inn now give me all the sacks that their bulk food comes in, and our Boomerang Bags group is turning them into reusable bags. They are woven plastic, but it's better than dumping them and they are strong.

A local food co op has asked if we can provide them with hundreds of these bags to replace the plastic bags they currently send out each week. It's a big undertaking, but worthwhile. I wish we had more people to sew, but we're working on it.

The Food Co-op send out five times this many bags each week

Our thoughts are with everyone around the world struggling to cope with the devastation from the previous storms and now Hurricane Maria, and the earthquake in Mexico. The world is struggling in so many ways. I can only carry on in my own small ways to try to help Mother Earth.💗💗
  

The World's Best Cracker Recipe

Pretty intriguing title huh. My friend Di sold me on this recipe with some she had made - better than anything you can buy.
The recipe comes from The Australian Womans Weekly, a recipe from Wendyl Nissen. It is so simple to make, makes about 3 packets worth of crackers, and they keep, perfectly crisp in an airtight jar for weeks (If you don't eat them all first).

Knackebrot  -  Swedish Crackers

220g wholemeal flour

220g rolled oats -wholegrain if you can

2 tsp salt

150g sunflower seeds

75g sesame seeds

75g linseed/ flaxseed

40g pumpkin seeds

700mls water

1 Tbsp olive oil

1. Heat the oven to 130 degrees C

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the oil and water.

3. Oil a large oven tray (I actually use 3 trays, to get it thin enough), and pour the mixture onto the trays.

4. Spread as thinly as possible. I put a piece of wax paper over it and use my hands to spread the mixture out evenly. Don't leave the paper on there though.

5. Fan bake for 15 mins, then remove from the oven and cut it into pieces. (A pizza wheel works well here)

6. Bake again at 130 degrees until golden and crisp - around 1 -2 hours, depending on the thickness of your crackers, and whether you use fanbake or just bake. 

Oh bliss with blue cheese! Tell me if you make and love them!

How is it that a person can get to their fifties and discover simple things they should have been doing for years?

Please tell me if you have a bunch of things like these, that you think everyone else must surely already know. Maybe one person will not already know these - I'm writing this for you.

1. Lettuces keep way better in the fridge if you wrap them in a clean, damp teatowel.

2. Cucumbers keep crisp if you put them stalk end down in a jar of water.

3. You can wash and reuse silicone baking paper.

#3 is going to raise some comments from my daughter and the step kids about my frugality. I deserve this after making similar comments about my mother washing and reusing clingwrap. At least I don't do that (because I don't use it). I try not to use silicone baking paper much because it's not biodegradable, although I hear there is now a biodegradable one available. Now at least it doesn't have to be single use.

Something to Wake You Up and to Put You To Sleep

We don't drink a lot of plunger coffee here - but our visitors do, so we are often left with opened packets of ground coffee. They don't keep forever, so we have sometimes used them to make a body scrub, which is divine, but a bit wasteful too.

Lately I have started drinking Iced Coffees and find this a great way to finish off packets of coffee. I make a full plunger of strong coffee and let it go cold, then put it in the fridge - where it is good for several days. My iced coffee recipe is a large glass of ice cubes, topped with a scoop of homemade icecream, a little extra sweetener if necessary - pour the coffee over, top with low fat milk, stir and enjoy.
Small quantities of leftover plunger coffee get made into coffee ice cubes to go in the iced coffee too.

I reckon it's better than most ice coffees that I have tried from cafes.
I have some metal straws that I usually use, but this straw is special - more about it in my next blog post.

If I accidentally overdose on the iced coffee then sleep can be elusive.
Derek and I have just had our shared birthday, and as part of his gift, I found this cool little antique pot, then just had to make something to put in it.

Hence...
Sleep Salve

2 Tablespoons of coconut oil
2 Tablespoons of olive (or grapeseed oil)
2 Tablespoons of beeswax
15 drops of lavender essential oil
15 drops of cedarwood essential oil

In the microwave or a double boiler, melt the coconut oil and beeswax then add the olive oil and mix. Remove from the heat and add the essential oils and stir.
Pour into a suitable container and leave to set.
Apply a little to skin somewhere, such as hands or feet, to aid sleep.  

Happy New Year, DIY Healthy Diet Tonic

Happy 2017! I hope it is a good one for all of you. 
For many 2016 was not so good, but personally, I had a great year. It was the year that I got in with some like-minded people to make a difference to our environment - further here about our plastic-free market project. Our band had it's best year ever, and generally, life has been sweet.

If you look at what is going on around the world it is easy to feel alarmed. I find that taking as much action as I can, and seeking out positive news helps to keep a balance mentally.

One little, spontaneous thing we did on Christmas Eve gave us such a buzz of enjoyment.
As Derek and I drove home from town, we came across a straggle of Te Araroa walkers, (more about them on a previous blog here), while they were still 15 minutes walk from our place. We decided to make a surprise Christmas morning tea for them, so as they rounded the bend, they were met with a hurriedly set up table and chairs, Christmas cake, chocolates and chocolate biscuits, stollen, cherries and iced orange drink. 

The looks on their faces were priceless, they were so excited. They were all from countries overseas, and they said they had not felt like it was Christmas (no snow for a start).
After stopping with us for nearly an hour, they trailed off to walk the rest of New Zealand, our Christmas decorations (donated) hung from various parts of their packs. 

So 2017? Well no resolutions, as usual, as I just jump in and do things as they occur to me. But this year my Derek retires (early), and we have a couple of overseas trips planned. I plan to use these trips to look at ways that other people are doing great things and clever ideas, plus have fun and catch up with family.
I plan to continue eating healthier, getting moving more, and doing my utmost personally for a better world - writing letters, being an influencer, not buying new, making as much as I can myself...
So on that note - here's my recipe (thank you Wendyl Nissen) for 

 DIY Diet Tonic

juice of 2 lemons
1/4 tsp stevia powder
1 tsp honey
10 drops of angostura bitters

Mix together and add to 1 litre of soda water (that's where my bargain soda stream machine comes in).

It's low calorie and so much nicer than bought diet tonic - let alone cheaper and more environmentally friendly if you make the soda water yourself.
Needless to say, it goes great with gin.

Cheers - here's to 2017!

The Christmas Edition

How the year whizzes by. It seems that I am doing a slow Christmas this year, partly due to recovering from a backpain episode that left me weeks behind schedule. 
Thank goodness for online Christmas shopping, as I knew that I wouldn't be up to it otherwise (all the packaging gets reused or recycled). 
I'm back on my feet now, but could only watch as the tree was trimmed. Last year I merrily bought a living tree, with great plans to use it every year - clever eh, but no - it's still alive, but not looking good enough to bring inside. So back to the beautiful shaped St John's Ambulance charity trees.

This year we decided to decorate with a marine theme in white and gold. A little gold spray paint brought these shells up beautifully - better than store bought if you ask me! 
The gift wrap followed the theme with gold starfish that I stamped on salvaged white and brown papers, making little gift tags to match, and decorating with decorations that I have bought by the bag from a charity shop, and gold crepe paper - also from a charity shop.

We are having a very quiet Christmas day - mostly just Derek and me - so we're planning a picnic lunch at this spot. The forecast is for sunshine and the Pohutukawa trees are a mass of crimson. This is the estuary - the surf beach is on the other side of the houses.

 

Then Boxing day we are off to see the rest of the family.

I've managed to make some of the Christmas presents to go in their gift hampers - quite safe saying that here - no family will read this.

Christmas Bark with pistachios and cranberries

This White Chocolate, Pistachios and Cranberry Bark is so easy and so festive looking - you can find the recipe here.

I've had a great crop of beetroot already so found a recipe for Beetroot Chutney. I saw it only scored 3 stars out of 5, so I made so many changes to it that I think I can call it my own recipe. It's supposed to sit for 3 weeks to develop, but it tastes great already. 

Beetroot Chutney
6 medium fresh beetroot
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp  ground cardamom
4 large green-skinned apples, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
10g fresh ginger - grated
1 cup of brown sugar
2 cups of malt vinegar (I used half malt, half white vinegar)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp coarse cooking salt
8 peppercorns and 8 cloves in a mesh bag.

Boil, steam or bake the beetroot until tender, cool a little and peel off the skins. Chop, some finely, some a little bigger.

Combine apple, spices, onion, garlic, ginger, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring at times.

Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Add the beetroot and continue to simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes, or until the chutney is thick. Remove the bag of spices.

Spoon into hot sterilized jars, seal.
Refrigerate after opening

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. May 2017 bring a cleaner, greener, more peaceful world.
xx Anne

Teaching Natural Beauty Recipes

 Katie (15) asked me to buy her some Sea Salt Spray for her hair to encourage her hair into ringlet type curls. I felt a bit mean, but I took a photo of the label of the product in the supermarket (@$18) and said I would like her to try one that I make first, and then if she's not happy with it I would buy her one.

I was fairly confident - and she's happy with it. 
It's good to look up all those chemicals so that you know what they do when you are copying a product. Most of these are preservatives and for keeping the solution in suspension. We can just shake the bottle.

Sea Salt Hair Treatment

Sea Salt Hair Treatment
1 cup of warm - hot water
1 tablespoon of sea salt (rock salt)
1 teaspoon of glycerine
6 drops of essential oil (we used ylang ylang)
1 dessert spoon of jojoba oil
Dissolve together, pour into a spray bottle(which we already had), shake before each use.

I want her to think about sustainable ways of achieving what she wants, and with her whole life ahead of her, she will save herself a lot of money if she's not sold on having to pay money for products for them to be successful.
This follows quickly after a nasty rash she developed after using a disposable plastic razor, one that had moisturizing chemicals on it. It was a fine opportunity for me to buy her a reusable one that just requires standard blades. She had tried my Sugaring Wax, but found it too difficult to manage. The reusable razor is a success.

So when Katie was wishing for some Lush Bath Bombs to add to a friend's birthday present I told her she can make those, because I've done it successfully before. She hopped online and found a good recipe, and whipped these up.

Bath Bombs

The large ones sell for $10 in Lush, so she made $50 worth of bath bombs with what we already had in the house - citric acid, baking soda, epsom salts, coconut oil, colouring, essential oil. She tried one out last night - it worked perfectly.

I just wrote a letter to the editor of the Sunday Star Times after reading this article about how to get rid of bumps on the back of your arms. 

They recommended two products costing $79 and $46.99 respectively. I suggested that they could run an article on natural products, such as organic coconut oil that would smooth the whole body for months for about $12. Now that would be a real service to women and the environment.
One of the advantages of making beauty products for yourself is that you know exactly what is in them, and in this day and age we do not need a cocktail of more chemicals.

Sugaring and Kumara Toast

Do Something New Every Week

I have just finished reading "52 New Things" in which author Nick J Thorpe sets out to try one new thing for every week of the year. I love this idea, as I'm always excited by trying or finding something new, but I kind of skim read the book. A lot of what was interesting to Nick Thorpe, I found to be not my thing (buy a motorbike, break a world record, go microlighting) or something I'd already done (get something waxed, grow your own food, volunteer, turn off reality tv).
My new things don't need to be done to a schedule, but here are two that I tried in the last week.

Kumara (Sweet Potato) Toast 

Scrub your kumara and slice it into toast-thickness slices. Put them in the toaster and cook (mine took three times down in our puny toaster)
They are then ready to be topped with whatever you fancy - pesto and camembert... sour cream and chives...avocado slices (avos currently selling for $5.99 each here!) and smoked salmon.
Who would have thought??

Kumara toasts with pesto and camembert

Sugaring wax

This is one of those things that I wondered why I have never done this before.
It is hair removal that is totally plastic-free (If you buy your sugar in bulk and grow your own lemons). 
It's way cheaper than going to a salon to have it done, or buying wax or razors, if that's what you do.
It's less painful than waxing. The sugar "wax" just washes out in water
The main difficulty is getting the sugar "toffee" to exactly the right stage, but even if you make an error, it can still be saved, and spread on and lifted off with cotton strips like wax. 
I found it worked better than wax too.

So here's how you do it...

1 cup of white sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of water

Put all in a large stainless steel saucepan. Cook on medium-low, stirring frequently.
Take it off the heat when the solution turns honey coloured (approx 7 minutes from starting to bubble).
Test a spoonful in cold water - it needs to hold it's shape and be pliable.
Transfer the paste to an airtight glass container that has been warmed (so it doesn't break).
Let it cool to room temperature before using.
If it turns solid try adding a tablespoon of water and heating 10-20 seconds in the microwave.

         Sugaring "wax"        spread it on against the hair direction

Take a blob and roll it into a ball. Drag it over the (clean, dry) skin going against the direction of the hair (this is the opposite of waxing).
Hold the skin tight and flick the paste off in the direction of the hair growth.
You just reuse the same blob until you've finished, then it can be composted.
If it is too runny, you can either cook it some more, or use it like hot wax, spread it on and take it off with cotton strips.
Just don't burn yourself - be careful.
It's better to under cook it than to overcook, so watch it carefully.
I've stored mine in the fridge in case it attracts ants, and just give it 10 seconds in the microwave to make it soft enough to get some out.

Guavas and Guava Jelly

Over a year ago I posted about tropical guavas, but I didn't mention the guavas that are more common here in the north. Other places might know them as a pineapple guava or strawberry guava. 

Guavas ripening

They are a small, tangy tasting fruit with seeds inside that you just swallow. 

Guavas are a fruit loved by our native wood pigeons (Kukupa, Kereru), they can get quite drunk on them. I don't mind sharing anything with woodpigeons.

NZ native wood pigeon Photo credit

This year we are starting to get enough of a crop that I was able to make that old childhood favourite - guava jelly. I wasn't going to bother, remembering how my mother used to make it by hanging a bag of the cooked fruit and letting the liquid drain into a bowl, before adding sugar to it and reboiling - it seemed like a bother. I remember her telling me not to squeeze the bag because it would make the jelly cloudy.
Well I just squashed the pulp in a strainer using a masher - and it turned out perfectly fine. It probably wouldn't win a prize at the Womens' Institute, but it looks good enough.
So this is how I did it:-

Guava Jelly
Trim the guavas and cut them in half. Add enough water to cook them, but not covering them. Cook until stewed and soft, then push the juice out of them using a masher and sieve (or a hanging muslin or calico jelly bag if you want to be correct about it). Discard the pulp.
For each cup of juice add a cup of sugar and boil gently until a blob on a saucer wrinkles when pushed (about 25 minutes).
Bottle into sterilized jam jars.
If you are too snappy and it doesn't set, just reboil it and get to to wrinkle stage (Wrinkles are good here).

Back to the Turmeric Bomb/ Gummy saga
For anyone who read my post on turmeric bombs for inflammation and wants to know how they worked? Well after finding that I was unable to take much of them due to their laxative-like effect, I tried making turmeric gummies, using gelatin, however they still require some coconut oil in the mix to get the turmeric to work efficiently, and I have found they give me the same digestive problem, with no greatly noticeable result. They may work better for other people.

Turmeric gummies