I'm sure I've told you before about my organic vegetable garden, which is my pride and joy. Depending on the season, we grow cherry tomatoes, lettuces, eggplants, radishes, scallions and herbs. On the other side of my organic garden stand the fruit trees – orange, grapefruit, seedless lemon, dwarf lemon, clementine, mango, pomegranate and guava. And I'm lucky to have a very special person who prunes and takes care of this garden with great patience: my talented husband. He makes sure the birds don't eat the fruit and the insects don't infest the trees. He trims, fertilizes and waters where necessary, and even covers each pomegranate individually with a paper bag. I guess these fruits and vegetables benefited from this loving care, for this year a bountiful amount of produce grew in our garden. We had so much that even after making pies, stews and jam, we had plenty to give away to friends and family. I cannot begin to describe how wonderful it feels to go outside and pick a piece of fruit or a vegetable from my own garden, and then immediately prepare a fresh dish with it. However, I must admit that I have a love/hate relationship with the guava. No one can ignore a guava tree. You either love or hate the smell (and let's be honest – most people hate it). So we came to a reasonable compromise in my house: Whoever wants to eat a guava is welcome to go out into the yard, pick a fruit off the tree and eat it outside. The guava season is short. Once, I made jam with it (although I was the only one who would eat it). Another time, I cut one up into slices and added it to a salad with lots of herbs and pomegranate seeds. I recently took a look at a blog called “Fragrance of Kneading,” written by pastry chef Dorit Rozin, and immediately went out into my garden, picked the last few guavas left on the tree and placed them in my fruit basket. I followed her instructions to prepare Pate de Fruit, and below you will find the full recipe. Thank you, Dorit! Guava marmalade The following makes at least 20 bags of marmalade, with 7 or 8 small squares (1.5cm x 1.5cm) of marmalade, which you can distribute to friends. Ingredients: The original recipe calls for 1 kg. of guavas. But since I didn't have that much, I added other types of fruit, too. 700 gr. light guavas, peeled 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and seeded 2 nectarines, peeled and seeded 6 fresh yellow dates (can be peeled, but I decided to leave peel on so as to add yellow color) 27 gr. pectin 130 gr. sugar 15 gr. (1 Tbsp.) citric acid 15 gr. (1 Tbsp.) water 1 drop of yellow food color 1.1 kg. sugar 250 gr. glucose or Karo corn syrup For storage: 1 cup sugar Utensils: Thermometer Large rectangular disposable pan Directions: Peel the guavas, cut them in half and remove all the inside part, including the seeds. Cut the rest of the fruit into small cubes. Put in blender or food processor and process until smooth. Strain fruit mixture and weigh it. If you've not reached 1 kg., prepare more fruit until you do. In a bowl, mix pectin powder with 130 gr. of sugar. In a separate bowl, mix citric acid with water. Place a very wide pot with a thick bottom on the stove top. Pour strained fruit into pot and heat over medium flame while continually stirring with whisk. This is important so that the fruit does not burn or stick to bottom or sides of pot. When the mixture begins to boil, slowly pour in the pectin with the sugar. Carefully stir and then add the food coloring. Continue whisking the fruit mixture and bring back to a boil. Slowly pour in the rest of the sugar and stir and mix well. Heat the glucose or corn syrup in the microwave for 30 seconds. Bring the fruit mixture once again to a boil while whisking. Add the heated glucose/corn syrup. You should be constantly whisking the fruit mixture. Stick the thermometer into the mixture. When it reaches 107°, take the pot off the flame and add the citric acid and water. Mix well and then pour mixture into disposable pan. You need to do all of this quickly before the mixture has time to cool down; otherwise, it will become lumpy. Let marmalade cool down for a few hours or overnight. Sprinkle a layer of powdered sugar on top. Take a cutting board that is at least as wide as the pan and flip the marmalade onto the cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut the marmalade into 1.5-cm. squares or use a serrated roller. On a deep plate, roll pieces of marmalade in sugar so that they are covered on all sides. Store in small bags to distribute to friends or in a sealed container. Sweet and spicy chutney Ingredients: ¼ cup apple cider vinegar ¼ cup dark brown sugar 1 tbsp honey Salt, as desired 1 medium red pepper, cut into small cubes 1 green or red hot pepper, cut into small cubes 1 small scallion, chopped finely 10 sprigs of mint 2 Tbsp. light raisins 4 pieces of sugared ginger, chopped finely 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated finely 5 cloves of garlic, crushed ¼ tsp. turmeric Pinch of nutmeg or cloves About 300 gr. of ripe (but still hard) mango, peeled and cut into cubes 2-3 drops sweet-and-sour chili sauce, optional Directions: Pour the vinegar into a pot. Add the sugar, honey and salt and bring to a boil. Add the pepper cubes, onion, mint, raisins, sugared and fresh ginger, and garlic, and cook over medium flame for 5-7 minutes. Season with turmeric, nutmeg or cloves, and add mango cubes. Cook for 15-20 minutes over medium-low flame. Add chili sauce if desired. Stir and cook until thick. Mango apple chutney Makes one small container Ingredients: 1 unripe mango (or at least not overripe) 2 Granny Smith apples 1 bunch fresh coriander 1 cup fresh mint leaves 1 handful fresh parsley or fresh basil 1-2 tsp. fresh ginger 3 cloves garlic 1 green chili pepper 1 small red chili pepper 1 tsp. salt or according to taste 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice Directions: Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer to a container and store in fridge for up to a week. Translated by Hannah Hochner.
(photo credit: PASCALE PEREZ-RUBIN)