Recipes for the pantry: 3 fruit favourites

Transform your garden harvest or seasonal produce into delicious jams and preserves. Try these easy recipes for marmalade, preserved lemons and brandied cherries and you may never go back to store-bought versions.

With these recipes, you can create flavourful, preservative-free treats that generally cost much less than similar items from the grocery store. They also make wonderful homemade gifts.

Tip: Follow the instructions in these recipes carefully. Altering the amounts may affect the quality and safety of the preserved foods.

This recipe makes enough marmalade to fill three 450 gram (15 ounce) jars.

Ingredients

• skins of 3 navel oranges
• 1 lemon
• 750 millilitres (3 cups) filtered water
• 1 litre (4 cups) sugar

Directions

1. Chop the orange skins very finely.
2. Chop the lemon into small pieces.
3. Put the orange skins and the lemon in a large glass bowl with the filtered water. Leave for 24 hours.
4. Transfer the mixture into a large preserving pan or stockpot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the rind is very tender (about 30 minutes).
5. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to stand for another 24 hours.
6. Put a saucer into the freezer. You'll use this later to test whether the marmalade has set.
7. Measure the mixture and add 250 millilitres (1 cup) of sugar for every 250 millilitres (1 cup) of pulp.
8. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil until the mixture gels.
9. To check whether it has set, put 5 millilitres (1 teaspoon) of marmalade onto the cold saucer, leave for a minute and push it with your finger. If it's ready, it will wrinkle.
10. Pour into warm, sterilized jars, seal and label.

Make several batches of this recipe when lemons are at their peak and they'll last you a year. This recipe will fill a 750 gram (24 ounce) jar.

Ingredients

• 5 lemons
• 80 millilitres (1/3 cup) plus 5 millilitres (1 teaspoon) sea salt
• 4 whole cloves
• 4 cardamom pods, bruised
• 5 millilitres (1 teaspoon) coriander seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 375 millilitres (1.5 cups) olive or canola oil

Directions

1. Wash and dry the lemons, then cut them into quarters lengthways.
2. Put the lemons in a colander that has been placed over a bowl and sprinkle them evenly with 80 millilitres (1/3 cup) of salt.
3. Leave to stand for 24 hours. The skins should soften as the juices run out of the lemons.
4. Pack the lemons into a sterilized jar with the spices – including the remaining 5 millilitres (1 teaspoon) of salt – and bay leaves. Completely cover the lemons with oil.
5. Seal the jar and leave in the fridge for one month before using.
6. Serve the preserved lemons thinly sliced or finely chopped with a Greek salad, Moroccan tajines, sprinkled over fish or in dips.

These cherries are a flavourful addition to cocktails or desserts such as ice cream and crepes.

Ingredients

• 1 litre (4 cups) large, sweet cherries
• 500 millilitres (2 cups) sugar
• 750 millilitre (24 ounce) bottle of brandy

Directions

1. Thoroughly wash and dry the cherries. Stems and pits may be removed or left in.
2. Pack the cherries into a large sterilized jar.
3. Mix together the sugar and brandy and pour the mixture over the cherries.
4. Seal the jar and leave it in a cool, dark place for a month, turning it every day to dissolve the sugar.

With a few jars of these delicious fruit favourites in the pantry, you can enjoy the sweet taste of summer year-round!

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