Preserve / verb

1: to can, pickle, or similarly prepare for future use

2: to keep up and reserve for personal or special use

Preserve / intransitive verb

1: to make preserves

When I was a little girl I had a family friend who taught me how to garden. She would let me dig and potter around her magnificent inner Melbourne Garden, sending me home with a cutting or packet of seeds to try my hand at home. For as long as I can remember I have always had a vegetable garden, and I’ve always made preserves. In fact I avoided nearly an entire architecture degree by devoting more and more of my garden to the production of fruit and vegetables resulting in extravagant homemade Christmas hampers for every family member.

I am constantly collecting preserving recipes to try out, and the Fowlers Vacola preserving kit that I inherited from my grandmother is one of my most treasured possessions.

There is a sense of satisfaction that’s unparalleled by growing, tending, harvesting, preserving and sharing. To be able to grow something chemically free and it at its absolute peak bottle it for a rainy day, gives me an overwhelming sense of achievement and pride. 

My preserves and syrups are about just that; local and home- grown, organic, chemical-free produce, picked at the height of season, and laboriously prepared by hand in small batches with passion, to capture the perfect flavours of the time. 

List of syrups (when seasonally available): 

Apple, Pear and Ginger Syrup

Blackcurrant Syrup

Blueberry and Lime Syrup

Camomile and Lemon Syrup

Elderflower Syrup

Old Fashioned Lemon Syrup

Orange and Cardamom Syrup

Plum, Cardamom and Vanilla Syrup

Rhubarb, Rose and Vanilla Bean Syrup 

Spiced Elderberry Syrup

Spiced Quince Syrup

Strawberry and Vanilla Bean Syrup

Summer Berry Syrup

Wild Blackberry and Vanilla Bean Syrup

Zesty Lime Syrup

Serving suggestions:

~ Add to your favourite cocktail, soda, kombucha or kefir

~ Mix with still or mineral water as you would with cordial

~ Enjoy as a warming hot drink with a slice of ginger, lemon or sprig of mint

~ Pour over ice-cream, yoghurt, porridge, custard or panna cotta

~ Drizzle over a just baked butter or semolina cake

There’s so many ways to enjoy them. Let your imagination run wild!

Syrups are stocked at:

VICTORIA

All About Organics

Apples and Sage (Balwyn)

Daylesford Brewing Co Taphouse (Daylesford)

Daylesford Hamper Company (Daylesford)

Daylesford Gourmet (Daylesford)

ENKI (Daylesford)

Est Australia (Hawthorn)

Glenlyon General Store (Glenlyon)

Harry’s Eatery (Hepburn Springs)

Harvest and Soul (Macedon)

Hepburn Distillery (Daylesford)

Little Cottage on a Hill (Daylesford)

Macedon Ranges Hampers (Kyneton)

Martin Street Coffee Roasters (Blackwood)

Madebox

OAK LANE & Co. (Kyneton)

Oxford Larder (Collingwood)

Spoonful (Prahran)

The Common Good (Hawthorn)

The Fermentary (North Fitzroy)

The Hub General Store (Collingwood)

The Panton Store (Prahran)

The Plant Society (Collingwood)

Tonna’s Fruit & Vegetables (Daylesford)

Wild Things Food (Fitzroy North)

Windflower (Ballarat)

Woodend General (Woodend)

TASMANIA

The Evandale Village Store (Evandale)

Syrups are enjoyed as part of your accommodation experience at:

Acre of Roses (Trentham)

Lake House (Daylesford)

Miner’s Pride (Castlemaine)

Phoebe’s Cottage (Lyonville)

Shop Keepers Quarters (Maldon)

The Church at Lyonville (Lyonville)