By Diana
Ever since I discovered that I can make my own
jam I stopped buying it at the supermarket. In this opportunity I decided to
get rid of some plums that I had in the fridge and what a best way of doing
that than with lovely jam. I checked for some recipes online and ended up
mixing up and experimenting a little bit. The rose water and the spices give
the jam a magnificent and almost exotic flavor that I hope you like as much as I do. If
you don´t like it spicy please feel free to cut off the cayenne pepper from the
recipe. Enjoy!
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| © Diana Chaccour |
6 plums (preferably red)
1Bramley Apple (just a green Apple will do)
The zest of one orange
180 g caster sugar
2 limes (juice only)
4 tablespoons rose water
1 cinnamon stick
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 sterilized glass jars for storage
For sterilizing the jars:
preheat the oven at 180C/350F. Put water in a deep tray and place the cleaned
jars upside down. The water should reach half of the jars. Place in the oven
for 20 minutes. Always wear gloves or a piece of clothe so you won´t burn
yourself.
Alternatively
click the link bellow for other sterilizing options:
Preparation
method
Firstly
peel the apple, discard the pips and the stalk, cut into squares and place them
into a saucepan with the cinnamon stick. Cover with 400ml water. Bring to the
boil and cook for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, cut the plums in
halves and discard the stones. When the apples are soft (after the 15 minutes),
add the plums to the water with the juice of one of the lemons. Bring to the
boil again and cook for 15 more minutes. The fruit will soften and some of the
water will evaporate. Add now the sugar and the juice of the other lemon, the
rose water, ground ginger, cayenne pepper and vanilla extract. Mix the
ingredients up with a wooden spoon. Cook for 30 more minutes, stirring frequently,
otherwise the mix could stick to the bottom of the saucepan.
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| © Diana Chaccour |
If you have a sugar thermometer, the
jam will be ready when it reaches 104C/219F. When the mix is closer to this
temperature what will happen is that the jam will start bubbling and plopping,
differently than the previous boiling. Be careful not to burn yourself when
stirring it with the wooden spoon.
Now carefully discard the cinnamon
stick and with a spoon pour the jam into the sterilized jars and seal right
away. Wait at least 24 hours for the jam to set and then please enjoy it.
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| © Diana Chaccour |
When I was little I remember my big
brother used to eat jam for snack in the afternoons, spreading it on toasts
with butter. Of course this happened once I already had my snack (usually a
rubbish kind of snack) and I always regretted not waiting for him to prepare
our snacks together… This explains the image below a little bit.
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| © Diana Chaccour |
just made this- delicious! Thanks.
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