The season’s best offerings thankfully are still around. However, for some time, I thought the Kinnow had successfully managed to erase lovely Indian oranges from the market. Kinnow to me is the perfect example of everything that glitters is not gold. These perfect-looking even-toned citrus fruits are tempting for their ‘beautiful’ outer appearance. But the same cannot be said about what one gets inside.
Every time I passed a fruit cart, I’d stop to ask the vendor about oranges and he’d hold out a Kinnow for me. It was weeks before I finally sighted an entire cart heaped with greenish-yellow small oranges. When I managed to snag a bunch of perfectly green oranges, the first thing that came to mind was making some sort of preserve or marmalade.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA, 19/02/2017: There is nothing like fresh and juicy Nagpur oranges to beat the heat on a sunny day. A fruit vendor awaits customers on the Airport Road in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. Photo: S. Mahinsha
This season, almost every home chef and food designer’s social media post is about seasonal preserves. From figs and strawberries to gooseberries, every fruit is being bottled and saved for later. Personally, I feel it is a very good practice; even though it involves a certain amount of sugar, it’s definitely better than spreading an artificially coloured and flavoured, preservative-laden blob on your slice of bread or paratha .
As a child, I don’t remember ever eating a store-bought jam. We might have desperately craved for that brilliant ruby-hued bottled jam that peeped out of friends’ tiffins, but our mother would have none of it.
When I moved to a different city for work, I didn’t have the luxury of home-made fruit spreads. My childhood fantasy of the red jam turned into a nightmare, as I had no other option. It was just not the same as the nuanced home-made jams and preserves of my childhood.
Although I knew how to make marmalade, the actual task is something I always associated with only mothers. However, eventually tired of the bottled variety, I finally decided to get my hands dirty and make myself a batch of home-made jam.
A phone call to my mother, who enthusiastically walked me through the process, led me to make my first jar of pineapple jam.
Pineapple jam with pieces. On a wooden table.
I was asked to use equal amounts of fresh fruit pulp and sugar, along with a cup of fresh lemon juice, which acts as a preservative and also brings down the sweetness. The sugar and lemon, apart from acting as preservatives, also change the colour of the fruit as it cooks.
Despite a fair bit of trepidation, I attempted my first marmalade next, and passed the test.
The next jam on my list was guava, and I came out with flying colours; of course, I instantly took to Instagram to boast.
Orange is still a challenge though. I will attempt it nevertheless, and garnish it with apple slivers to make it look attractive. Next on the list: strawberries and figs. I bet they’ll look great on Instagram, even without filters.
