Everyone has their favourite flavour of jams — strawberry, apricot, apple, pineapple or as sophisticated marmalades, such as orange. Think of jam beyond toast and muffins. There are many ways to eat delicious jams and marmalades.
With yogurt and muesli blackberry jam, add a new character to yogurt; try fried chicken with lemon marmalade on the side; on grilled cheese, spread tomato jam; cranberry and plum jams work perfectly with oatmeal for breakfast.
As with many edible items, homemade jams and marmalades taste much better than those store-bought. And, you don’t need special culinary skills to prepare these. Here are the recipes for a few flavours of jams.
Pear and Ginger Jam
Ingredients
Half kg pears
100 gm ginger, finely grated
100 gm raisins
Half kg sugar
Juice of two lemons
1 tbsp pectin (optional)
Method
Grate pears coarsely. Combine grated pears with ginger, raisins, sugar and lemon juice in a large vessel. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 35 to 40 minutes or until it reaches a jam consistency. If desired, stir pectin into three-fourth cup of jam liquid and cook for three minutes more. Cool and store in a sterilised bottle.
Tomato Jam
Ingredients
4 red tomatoes
Half cup sugar
Quarter cup water
Method
Boil tomatoes in water until they are soft. Mash and pass through a sieve. Measure the pulp. If it is half a cup, add half a cup of sugar and boil until it reaches a jam consistency. Cool and store in a sterilised bottle.
Mango Marmalade
Ingredients
1 cup pulp of green mangoes
2 cups of white sugar
Method
Pare and grate the mangoes. For one cup of pulp, add two cups of sugar and boil on slow fire. Remove the dirt that gathers on top. When the pulp thickens to a marmalade consistency, cool to room temperature, store in a sterilised jar.
Pineapple Marmalade
Ingredients
4 cups of chopped pineapple
1 large orange
1 large grapefruit
1 cup of sugar
4 cups of water
Method
Wash orange and grapefruits, wipe dry and thinly pare the rind, and slice them into fine shreds. Remove the pith and seeds and tie them in a muslin bag. Chop the fruits. In a large pan, combine pineapple, the chopped fruits, shredded rind, the bag of pith and four cups of water. Bring to boil and simmer until the rinds are tender. Remove the bag of pith. Measure the pulp with liquid, and use one cup of sugar to one cup of pulp. Boil the pulp, add sugar, and stir till it thickens. Remove from fire and pour into a sterilised jar.
Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
1 kg oranges
1 kg sugar
2 lemons
Method
Peel the oranges and remove the pith, the inner skin, etc. and take the pulp. Shred half of the total peel and boil it in water. Strain. Repeat it three times and add this peel to the pulp and boil with sugar. When it is ready, add lemon juice and cool. Store in a sterilised jar.
