My previous blog about Kiwi fruit has been by far the most visited of my blog posts. The other day I even had a visitor from the North Pole Alaska looking at that page! Didn't know you could grow kiwi fruit at the North Pole...
So last weekend I thought I had better come up with some other ways of dealing with a kiwi fruit glut. It is that time again when I have lots ready to harvest and any time soon they will start getting really soft. I thought I would have a go at bottling /canning them to see how they turned out.
I didn't much enjoy the peeling process, having knicked 2 knuckles in the process but they looked a very pretty green when packed into the bottles. The fruit I chose was quite firm and acidic almost sour taste. This photo doesn't do them justice.
So into the preserving pan they went and came out an hour later, a paler shade of green but still holding their shape. I let them cool overnight before I removed the clips and as one bottle didn't seal properly, we got to have taste.
The verdict: They lost a lot of flavour and colour in the bottling process. The texture was like a bottled plum. They tasted ok ...just , better mixed with some other fruit I think rather than served on their own. But still, if you have a glut, it is one way of putting some aside for a later date. I think I prefer frozen slices as they keep both their colour and flavour. It is just the texture that is different from the fresh version.
8 comments:
Did you bottle them with a syrup or what? I too have a lot of kiwifruit to preserve (and in my case, before next Saturday!)
No I don't ever bottle fruit with syrup, just plain old water. The result though lacked any zing so perhaps it would be worth experimenting with syrup or adding lemon juice or citric acid even. If you heard Sally Wise this morning on ABC radio, someone was asking if you could make cordial/syrup with kiwi fruit and she suggested that citric acid gives it more flavour. I have made just straight cordial before with kiwi fruit and again it lacked zing so maybe the citric acid idea would be a good one. I have just picked a basket of kiwi fruit today but this lot is going to be sliced up and put in the freezer to add to fruit salads. At least it keeps its flavour that way.
Hmm. I thought the North Pole was in Canada, not Alaska. That being said we here on Vancouver Island will soon have a glut of kiwi & are looking forward to preserving them. Would they go well with blackberries which we will also have a glut of shortly.
I don't think the North Pole belongs to any country but Feedjit seems to think otherwise. I have bottled blackberries and raspberries in the past but have been disappointed with the results so don't think they would combine very well with kiwi fruit. Probably best way to preserve would be to freeze both and use in fruit salads.
Kiwi fruit is wonderful when bottled in 100% pineapple juice. We peeled and then sliced ours in nice rounds, and the jars were beautiful. there was no color loss what-so-ever and the flavor was really good too. Our only complaint was that the pineapple juice/kiwi combination was sooooo sweet! Next time we are going to do a water/pineapple mix. But they are ooh so good!
I have a Kiwi vine about to be ready for picking. I was thinking of trying to bottle them this year but normally I candy and dry them then dip them in Chocolate to gift at xmas. The left over syrup I bottle it and keep it in the fridge and use it in fizzy water for zingy drink, or a drizzle over apple crumple or icecream. I will try to bottle a batch with citric acid and lemon juice but think they will fair better in a light syrup.
I dehydrate kiwi fruit as a snack food. Fantastic.
So do I Kathy. It makes a great hiking snack. Kiwi fruit leather is pretty good too.
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