Fowlers Vacola-d fruits

For my birthday this year I requested and received a Fowlers Vacola kit.

For the uninitiated, Fowlers Vacola is an Australian company that manufactures home canning kits. Canning is the process of preserving foods by packing them into glass jars and then heating the jars to kill the organisms that would create spoilage.

The American equivalent is a Mason Ball system. From what I can gather, the main difference is that the Mason Ball is a pressure canner and capable of processing low acid foods including meat. Conversely, the Fowlers Vacola is a water bath canner and can only process high acid foods such as fruit. I'm not really interested in preserving meat and seafood, so was happy enough to buy a Vacola.

Basically, you fill your jars with whatever you want, put your filled jars in the Fowlers Vacola and turn it on. The Vacola heats up and creates a vacuum seal, thus preserving the contents of the jars.

Vacolas were extremely popular in the 30s - 60s. My grandmother had a Vacola that she used to preserve the excess fruit from her family's orchid. Hers was an older style stove top pot but my Vacola is a new style that you plug in.

I am fortunate enough to have a couple of Aunts who live in Stanthorpe. One of my lovely Aunts brought me down a mixed box of peaches, nectarines, apples and pears for my first attempt at Vacola-ing.

I prepared the fruit by peeling and coring it and then segmenting it. I also prepared a jug of sugar syrup. I made a 'light sugar syrup' which was 3 cups water to 1 cup sugar, but next time I think I will go 2 cups water to 1 cup sugar because I have a sweet tooth.

I poured an inch or two of sugar syrup into the jars, then started packing the fruit. It's pretty time consuming because you need to pack the fruit tightly and ensure there are no air bubbles.

I then clipped the lids on and put the jars in the Vacola. 50 minutes later they were done! The jars can be stored for years.

Pears on the left and peaches on the right

After 7 days I opened a jar of the nectarines. It was very hard to open the jar. I was pretty weak compared to the vacuum seal. The jar had to be prised open with a knife. Quite impressive. I ate nearly a whole jar, with a generous slug of cream. Delicious!

Strawberry Cloud Cake

This cake has turned into my new 'go to' easy dessert. It's very simple to whip up and super yummy. It tastes like a light ice cream. Gorgeous!

I think this recipe is from a TV show called the Free Range Cook.

As far as desserts go, I don't think it's that bad for you. The cake is basically a frozen strawberry meringue made from sugar, egg whites and a punnet of strawberries. I reckon a 23cm springform tin easily yields 12 generous slices and I think each slice has about 215 calories. Not too bad.

I love this cake. I love it so much that when I first discovered the recipe I made a whole cake just for my greedy self and then ate it over a couple of weeks (the cake stores quite well in an air tight container in the freezer).

Strawberry Cloud Cake

For the base

150 gm plain biscuits, crushed to a fine powder (I have used Marie, Granita and Rich Tea and each have worked fine)

1/2 cup coconut (dessicated or flaked is fine)

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp caster sugar

100 gm butter, melted

For the filling

2 egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

250 gm punnet of strawberries

1tbs lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla essence

Combine all the ingredients for the base in a bowl. The mixture should resemble wet sand. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 23cm lined springform pan. Pop the pan in the fridge while you make the filling.

To make the filling, place all ingredients for the filling in the bowl of a mixmaster. Beat on high for about 5 - 10 minutes. The mixture will become lovely and thick and glossy (like a meringue).

Pour the filling over the biscuit base and cover with gladwrap (I like to pop a rubber band around the gladwrap to make it air tight). Pop the tin in the freezer overnight.

That's it! To serve, remove the tin, place the cake on a plate and prepare to swoon. Yum!

(I usually serve this on its own but I have served this with fresh strawberries adorning the top. I have also made an easy strawberry coulis with fresh strawberries and icing sugar and drizzled that over the top of the cake.)