It is interesting how having a surfeit of produce can be described as abundant or bountiful but when it goes much further it becomes a glut. So, as a gardener, when you are living with a profusion of … (fill in the crop of the moment – tomatoes, cucumbers, soft fruits, whatever) it feels wonderfully lavish but when it tips over to an overwhelming amount we enter the zone of glut. But a glut doesn’t have to be a cause of guilt and despair because of our (or is it just my?) ingrained fear of waste.

The first thing I need to say is you don’t have to eat it all. There is something delightful about giving away the excess. Deliver bags of fruit and veg to your neighbours, friends, co-workers, even café proprietors or charity kitchens. Just make sure that you have done preliminary quality control first – no one wants your wrinkled, manky, blotchy, over-ripe produce (that goes to the chooks – still no waste!). Good produce builds relationships and community.

That should reduce the load remarkably – but here are some ideas to ensure that you can eat summer and autumn crops and revel in the flavours of out-of-season produce!

Angela Marshall

Passionfruit

When a passionfruit vine gets going you can easily have over a hundred ripen almost simultaneously.

The quick answer is freeze them. Cut in half, scoop the pulp into a bowl and, when you have reduced the avalanche to a reasonable level, transfer the pulp to ice cube trays. Allow to freeze for a day before transferring to sealed containers with sheets of parchment baking paper between the layers of passionfruit cubes.

Berries

Brambleberries – raspberry, boysenberry, blackberry, loganberry etc, mulberry (more correctly a tree), and blueberry, gooseberry, red, black and white currants (that are shrubs rather than bramble berries) all freeze remarkably well. Not strawberries – they are destined for jam, or freeze as syrup or coulis.

Inspect for damage and insects but do not wash. Put into sealed containers (see above for passionfruit) and use them throughout winter. At the end of winter, if you still have a heap, make jam.

Bananas

The freezer is your friend (again). Once frozen, bananas will never be the same as when they were fresh, but they still make great banana bread, muffins, cakes and smoothies.

Angela Marshall

Figs

So soft, delicate and fragile! Fig Paste is perfect for your cheese board.
500 g ripe figs, cut into quarters
500 g sugar
1½ tbsp agar-agar or gelatin
(2 sachets)
150 ml water

Put figs in a saucepan with a thick bottom, cover them with sugar and leave for a day.
Put the saucepan on heat and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes on low.

Allow to cool slightly, then purée in a blender and rub through a sieve.

In a saucepan heat the water to a boil with agar-agar or gelatin, stir well to dissolve, then pour in the fig purée and bring to a boil. Pour the mixture into a mould and allow to set.

After setting, slice and wrap individually in an airtight container. Store in fridge.

Deb Worgan

Soft fruit – plums, peaches, apricots etc

In summer, when there is the short magical time of stone-fruit like peaches and plums in abundance, I love stewing them after removing the stones and with a small amount of water (to get things going), add sugar to taste, vanilla extract and some mixed spice. Tip the boiling fruit into clean jars and screw the (metal) lid on as soon as possible. The boiling fruit sterilises the jar and creates a vacuum between the fruit and the lid. It’s worth investing the time and money (everything is less expensive when there is abundance) to do this simple task to enjoy the taste of summer throughout the year – if it lasts that long!

Linda Sang