Fresh Fruit Jam

CONTRIBUTED BY: DODIE ANDERSON

EQUIPMENT
Large stock pot

Large slotted spoon

Immersion blender, optional for stirring

INGREDIENTS
Use any fresh, seasonal tropical fruit, peaches, apricots, nectarines or plums 

Pure cane sugar

Purified or filtered water

PREPARATION AND COOKING TIME

Prep time: 15 minutes 

Cooking time: 1-2 hours

METHOD

1. Dissolve a few teaspoons of baking soda into a medium bowl of water to wash fruit. Rinse with water.

2. Select several pieces of ripe fruit. If you want to make a lot of jam, use a dozen or so.

3. Bring to boil several quarts of water (enough to cover the fruit).

4. Slowly place the fruit into the boiling water (being careful not to scald yourself).

5. Boil for 1-2 minutes.

6. Remove fruit with a slotted spoon.

7. Skin fruit and remove core and seeds. 

8. Slice fruit and measure how many cups you have.

9. Place cut-up fruit in a large pot on medium heat. Add a little water to prevent sticking and burning.  

10. Add 1-2 teaspoons of sugar for each cup of fruit. Adjust for sweetness depending on how sweet you like your jam to be.

11. Cook fruit until it is very well cooked for approximately an hour. Keep an eye on it in case you need to add more water to prevent burning. You can use an immersion blender to stir.  If you do not overdo stirring you can leave some chunkiness.  Remove any excess liquid at the end. Mash fruit as it is cooking if you desire.

12. Let mixture cool.

SOME TIPS AND COMMENTS

1. Aim to use fresh, seasonal tropical fruit, preferably organic.

2. Make enough for only a few servings as the fruit may oxidize and brown.

SERVING SUGGESTION:

Pour over vanilla ice cream.

Blend together 1 cup milk and 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream to make a milkshake.

Add as a topping to pancakes

Add to plain, strained Greek yogurt

Add to carbonated water to enjoy a spritzer.

Pour over farmer’s cheese, ricotta, cottage cheese, any neutral tasting cheese or yogurt.

Serve with eggs as a condiment.

Serve on nixtamalized tortillas or buttered sourdough toast. 

If you are eating meat or fish, use it as a salsa.

STORAGE SUGGESTION
Place into glass mason jars and store in the fridge.  Or you may use traditional canning methods to preserve.

SOME TIPS AND COMMENTS

Any fruit can work.

Try to eliminate all the seeds from the syrup.

YIELD

Serves 2

STORAGE SUGGESTION

Pour into storage bottles and keep in the refrigerator.