Walk into Margaret Guy’s kitchen and you’ll see a selection of jars filled with produce.
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She’s always preserving, or pickling, something.
She grew up watching her mother preserve seasonal fruit and vegetables on the farm so the family could enjoy them at other times of the year when those crops wouldn’t grow.
Back then it was a vital step to survive, particularly for families who lived on the land and were a fair hike from town.
It helped them make the most of the food they had.
“These days people just freeze them,” she said. “Although you can’t do that with everything.
“I enjoy the satisfaction of doing it and turning the produce into something else.”
Ms Guy took out Best Exhibitor for Preserving at last weekend’s Maitland Show for the second consecutive year.
Her pickled vegetables in white vinegar was a favourite with the judges, which helped her win the accolade.
She made her winning entry a month ago to give the flavours enough time to intensify and impress the judges.
She said the technique was easy for any cook to follow.
“Some of the vegetables were blanched – put into boiling water – and then drained and put in ice cold water to keep them crisp,” she said.
“Then I dried them well and started on the white wine vinegar with the spices.
“I packed all of the vegetables into the jar and arranged them so they looked as nice as possible and then I added the vinegar and the spices.
“It’s important that you try to remove all the air bubbles because if you don’t it will go bad.”
Ms Guy said the end result was tasty and the vegetables remained crisp.
“It’s sort of similar to pickled onion – the vegetables remain crisp and you could use them for a salad,” she said.
Ms Guy often offloads her preserved goods to family and friends, and at the shop at Grossmann House.
“In my kitchen there’s always lots of different things on the bench that I’ve made and have to be dealt with,” she said.
“My grandson says he’s very interested in it because when he comes over there’s six to seven types of things on the bench.”