RETIREMENT just isn't an option for microwave guru Isabel Webb, SARAH HUDSON reports

For long-time readers of The Weekly Times, Isabel Webb is a household name.

Across three decades, the Wodonga home economist has appeared in these pages as the creator of the concept of microwave preserving.

Now, with more than 10 books to her name, sales in the hundreds of thousands, copies sold around the world and a devout following, she has released her latest book, 5-minute microwave bottling, which brings together all her best recipes and tips.

The 73-year-old says demand for her books has been constant.

"I have retired three times, the first time was eight years ago," Isabel says.

"I've had to come out of retirement because people would ask me when I was going to write another book and so with this one I thought 'here we go'.

"I decided it was time to add my books together and so I've added a few recipes and taken a few out, there are no lollies or sweet sauces, it's fruits, jams, chutneys, sauces, dried fruit, pickles, cordials and more."

In 223-pages Isabel covers all the basics, with recipes such as mushroom and choko chutney, pineapple marmalade and even alcoholic apple cider.

She says while the book is called 5-minute microwave bottling, most fruits take less than five minutes.

"For me, microwave bottling has revolutionised the process. I used to hate bottling, it was a long and arduous chore. I'd fiddle around and do six bottles in the oven in an hour and a half," she says.

"Now I can do 30 jars in an hour."

Isabel says it is the healthiest way to preserve, as no sugar or liquid is added, while concerns about microwaving metal lids are unfounded.

"It's quite safe to put metal objects in your microwave as long as you don't exceed the ratio of 30 per cent metal to 70 per cent other substances and you leave a space of 2cm between each jar," she says.

Creating the microwave preservation concept was not the only first for Isabel.

Back in the 1950s, she was the first female pastry student at William Angliss cooking school in Melbourne, where she did a four-year pastry course.

She went on to work for the Gas and Fuel Corporation and the State Electricity Commission, answering reader queries about cooking with gas and running demonstrations.

Ironically, at the SEC she even tested the first prototype of a microwave oven: "it took four men to lift and we sent it back to the US and said we were unimpressed because it was just a big metal box with a big door".

Her next stint was at McAlpin's Flour, where she wrote her first cookbook, incorporating the product into her recipes.

In 1969 she married a Wodonga farmer, Kevin, and moved to a 100ha dairy property where she had three children.

But it was in 1984, after buying a box full of apricots, that her microwave concept was born.

"They were ripening while I was standing there looking at them and I thought I'd better bottle them, except it was 105 degrees in the old language.

"I looked at the microwave and it just clicked and I thought 'would you do it for me?'."

She released her first book, Microwave Bottling: jams, pickles and sauces in 1988. This was followed soon after by Low Sugar Microwave Preserving.

"Microwaving is so quick and easy - I even still have my first bottle of microwaved preserves, plums, in my kitchen cupboard, which I bottled in 1984. I would eat it too, but I'll probably take it to the grave with me."

  • 5-minute microwave bottling, by Isabel Webb. Five Mile Press, rrp $22.99

CHECKLIST

  • Make sure fruit is of good, sound quality and at room temperature.
  • Clean fruit well in cold water before placing in sterilised jars. Soak apricots, apples, peaches and pears to prevent discolouration.
  • It's OK if jars are not quite dry, as a little moisture helps the fruit slide into position.
  • Don't use rusty, damaged or pitted lids.
  • Make sure lids and clips are firmly secured.
  • Check that your microwave is on the correct setting.