September is…..Picking, Pickling and Preserving.

Luckily it is still warm and sunny here with plenty more barbecue days to come. The main summer guests have left La Maison Verte and our family visitors have deserted us too. The pool is free for us to use when we want but the grass is still growing and needs to be cut every four days!

More importantly, it is harvest time.We have been regularly picking tomatoes, cucumbers, melon, and chillies, among others, but now we have a glut of everything and instead of having a rest we are manically picking and deciding what to do with everything.

The chillies are easy. The green ones and some of the red are just washed and go straight into bags in the freezer. I can just chop them frozen to add to dishes as I need them. You might be asking why I bother but I can’t buy chillies in the supermarkets or anywhere near where I live. The rest of the red ones are being tied to string so they can dry out ready to be used in some curries or added to oils which makes a great gift.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon freezing marrows for soups and stews. I just peeled and deseeded and chopped into 1 inch chunks and threw them into boiling water for 2 minutes then iced water for 2 minutes before putting into freezer bags. They can be used from frozen.

With the tomatoes I have pickled the tiny cherry tomatoes in jars with vinegar, made a tomato sauce to freeze ready for the winter, and made home-dried tomatoes, the recipe is coming up.

One thing is for sure…there is still plenty to do!

I’ve been working hard on my photography. Please tell me if I’m getting better!