Tararua: Totara College teacher shows students how to make the most of seasonal produce

Ranier Arnold teaches rural studies and food tech at Totara College.

A Tararua woman who learned as a teen to preserve seasonal produce while living in a foster home now teaches high school students in Dannevirke to do the same.

As a teenager, Ranier Arnold lived in a foster home on a dry-stock farm, where she hand-milked cows, made butter, processed meat and did everything on horseback.

Ranier Arnold teaches rural studies and food tech at Totara College.

The rural lifestyle gave her skills that later became useful when she faced life as a single mother.

“If I didn’t have those skills, I would have struggled.”

The 52-year-old now passes on her knowledge through her rural studies and food tech classes at Totara College in Dannevirke, teaching the importance of food production and preservation.

She said it was the crossover between the “all-encompassing” classes that made her excited.

Arnold’s “seed-to-table philosophy” includes involving students in creating gardens, planting seeds, and making the most of the produce in the kitchen - all at school.

“It doesn’t have to be onerous or tedious.”

In a recent class, students had learnt different ways to utilise feijoas, which included making jam, muffins and even dehydrating.

Totara College students learning how to turn seasonal produce into yummy food.

Arnold wanted students to look beyond the confines of the supermarket.

“It’s not just about putting fruit in a jar.

“It’s not just researching about these things, it’s going and visiting these places for these kids to have some hands-on experience.”

She said the skills taught to the students could open up opportunities and “spark ideas” for when they left school.

“There are ways and means around things if you apply a bit of thought.”

Arnold is now planning for a butcher to come to class, to teach students about making sausages.

Feijoa jam recipe

By Rainer Arnold

Ingredients

⦁ 560g feijoas chopped and skinned

⦁ ¼ cup water

⦁ 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar

⦁ 2 Tbsp lemon juice

Instructions:

Sterilising the jars:

• Sterilise the jar or jars you’ll be using to store the jam, choose glass jars with an airtight, metal lid and ensure they have been washed by hand in hot, soapy water then rinse well.

For the Feijoa Jam:

• Place a small plate in the fridge
• Wash and dry your fruit, remove the stem, trim the base from the fruit and peel the feijoas.
• Cut the fruit in half and then half again, remove any blemishes, and roughly chop the fruit into half centimetre cubes.
• Add the feijoa cubes and water to a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir frequently for 10 minutes using a long-handled wooden spoon, to ensure the fruit doesn’t stick.
• Add the sugar and lemon juice to the saucepan. Stir until the sugar dissolves - this will take 3-5 minutes. If sugar crystals get caught on the side of the saucepan, scrape down with a spatula.
• Once the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat to a rolling boil.
• Boil for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. After 10 minutes, begin to check for the setting point. Your jam will likely take between 10-12 minutes, but it will depend on the width of your saucepan and how rapidly the jam is boiling.
• Turn off the heat and spoon a little of the jam onto one of your chilled saucers, let it stand for 30 seconds to cool, and then run your finger through it. If it wrinkles, even slightly, it is ready. If it is still liquid, put it back on the heat and boil for a further 1-2 minutes, and retest until ready.
• Alternatively, you could use a candy thermometer. The setting point is reached when the thermometer reaches 105C.
• Skim any scum off the top of the jam with a spoon.
• Either leave the jam to stand for five minutes to allow the fruit to disperse evenly, or use an immersion blender to carefully blend the fruit to your desired consistency.
• Carefully ladle your jam into your hot jars and put the lids on immediately. Allow the jam to cool completely. Wipe the jars to remove any spills, and store the jam in a cool, dark place.

The recipe makes two 300ml jars.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.