Ever wondered what we do with the empty honey jars we get given back? The local Rural Women of NZ group I am involved in has a 'Share the Surplus' project. We often see fruit trees laden with fruit and not picked and it seems such a shame when there are so many people struggling to put food on the table. Our project turns that surplus into preserves! We collect fruit from people who have surplus fruit on their trees, make preserves and give it to those in need.
We've recently made strawberry jam (from strawberries we had frozen from summer) and marmalade from citrus that was donated to us. We then got busy washing and sterilising our jars, cutting and blending fruit, measuring ingredients, stirring pots and filling jars! Here are some photos of our process:
It was fun and we love that we are helping people in our community. The jars have gone to Ngaurawahia Community Care Centre to be included in their food bank parcels. We are going to meet regularly and carry this on, so if you have or know of any surplus fruit or would like to help please contact us.
