Keeping busy

With all the devastating flooding and aftermath that has been going on around me, it has been a struggle to keep busy and stop thinking about things I can't change. The effect on me was minor, the road at the bottom of my street was cut for about 24 hours and the power was also cut for around 36 hours. I feel bad about doing "normal" stuff, when lots of people are putting their lives on the footpath.

I was forced into doing something with a container of lilly-pilly berries that was in my freezer. They were gathered from trees near Wolston House (see previous post) before Christmas and I froze them as I was too busy to make jam. I make a lot of jams and preserves but had never tried lilly-pillies before. I went on the internet and adapted a couple of recipes I found.

First, I covered the berries with water and cooked them at a simmer for about half an hour.

Then I strained off the liquid and pushed the cooked berries through a sieve to extract all the juice, then discarded the pulp and seeds.

I measured the liquid and added sugar, cup for cup, plus the juice of one lemon.

I then boiled the liquid until it was at jell point.

Isn't it a gorgeous colour! Tastes nice too.