I do realise that Bite magazine is already a little heavy on Elwins, but another makes a guest appearance this week. Warren (brother) and I decided it was crazy for him to create a set of preserves for his column when our Aunt Dianne was the expert. She's the preserver in our family, been doing it for years. There's no linen in Dianne's hall cupboard, just jars and jars of goodness including a spicy brinjal, green tomato relish, peach and tomato relish and sweet chilli sauce - three recipes using produce from the Autumn garden.
Dianne also makes a cauliflower pickle just like my nana (her mum) used to make when she was a girl. That's the special thing about preserving - the recipes that get handed down through the generations and shared between friends.
This was evident in the entries in this month's reader recipe competition; the stories alone made us want to make them and it was hard to choose just one winner. We narrowed it down to Susan Godinet's zucchini pickle, Maureen Skinner's tomato relish and Jan Agar's cucumber relish. All make lip-smacking good use of Autumn produce but the simplicity of the zucchini pickle saw it take out the top prize.
