To the rich and healthy homemade jam!

Fresh fruits mark the cycle of the year. Although today we are used to finding them of all kinds and seasons, in each place they mark a seasonality.

Unlike vegetables, their cultivation cannot be forced, each tree takes one year to grow. elaborate its fruit, which ripens at the right time. In an ideal ecological context, each fruit is picked at the optimum point of ripeness, when it has transformed the tree’s energy into sweet carbohydrates endowed with a unique flavour.

In practice it happens that many fruits ripen at once and it seems impossible to encompass the entire harvest. After so many months of waiting, these precious treasures cannot be let go to waste.

For this reason, over the centuries the most diverse forms of fruit preservation.

Since leaving them as is in cool and dark placesas is done with winter pears and apples, until dry them outsuch as plums, figs and grapes, taking advantage of the strong heat of the summer sun, or make wines and juicesthanks to the transformation of its sugars into alcohol, or by the lactic fermentation process.

These systems were very effective until the advent of the heat sterilization, in hermetically closed glass jars, with the water bath method. Different modalities were developed.

Thus, peaches, pears, medlars and pineapple are preserved almost whole or in large pieces. in syrup. The compotes, which are made with almost no sugar, are made with apples and pears, which are meatier, or some types of plum. The jellies are made with a juice base, while forest fruits are ideal for jams.

This was the system that most triumphed. The pity is that heat sterilization was developed in the 19th century at the same time that the use of refined sugar. Jams were associated with sugar that denatured the rich properties of fruits and many people banished them from their diets. Now we know that it doesn’t always have to be that way.

Making healthy homemade jam

A good one homemade jam uses as a conservation method the healthy sugars that fruits possess by themselves, and only other healthy sweeteners are added on occasions.

The healthier sweeteners that you can use are raisins, agave, stevia or a small portion of panela or whole cane sugar (white sugar has been extracted from the nutrients that make it more assimilable, such as group B vitamins, which must be taken from the body itself consumes it).

Fruit is the essential element

To obtain all the flavor and properties of the fruit, it is important that it be Ecological cultivation and that it has been able to do all its development in the tree or in the bush. In other words, it is not intensively cultivated and has been caught early and artificially matured in chambers.

For people who live in a Rural environment it’s easier to plant some fruit trees or meet people who have them and can give away or sell their surplus harvest.

But in a urban environment It is not impossible. A good option are the stores where organic products are sold. In addition, if we want to be conscious agents of our diet, we can participate in urban and community garden projects, or start planting fruit trees in garden areas, or suggest it to our town hall.

Another option is the direct sales networks between producers and consumers, in addition to consumer cooperatives. It is worth exploring these possibilities to provide us with good quality fruit.

The best fruit is the one very maturealthough it may have some stains that are discarded when cleaning it.

brewing method

Consists of the slow cooking of the fruit, to evaporate the water and condense its sugars, so that it is thick and its aromas are concentrated. For the genuine jam, it is first cooked on its own, and when it is softened, the sugar or sweetener is added, it is brought to a strong boil and then it is kept over medium heat.

Some fruits, such as strawberries, are put in sugar the night before to soften them and form a juice that will serve as a base. And if we want the fruit to be firm, with chunks, first make a syrup by boiling the sugar with water to the point of a fine pearl, and then add it and cook it together.

The fruit must be very clean, without deteriorated portions, or tails, petioles or hard parts. If it is not organic fruit, it is preferable to peel it, to avoid chemical elements.

But if it is organically grown, we can cook it with its skin since it will provide aroma, nutrients and pectin. If we do not like the texture of the skin, it can be sieved with a potato mill or with a Chinese strainer at the end of the preparation.

He ideal container It is a wide pot, to facilitate the evaporation of the liquid, preferably with a thick bottom. Fill only halfway so it doesn’t overflow when it starts to boil.

to remove Traditional wooden spoons work well. Foam is usually produced, which is removed with a slotted spoon.

Store in jars, enjoy until the next harvest

Once prepared, it can be consumed in a few days or packaged in hermetic jars sterilized in a water bath.

They have to be sanitized in the dishwasher or boiled, and with the lids tightly closed. are preferable of small size because they cool before and are better preserved.

They are packaged with the very hot jam, since the heat destroys the germs. It is covered and they are turned around so that the vacuum is made, thus the pressure eliminates the air from the container.

Tricks to get a special and perfect jam

He natural aroma of fruits is delicious in itself. But with small contributions from spices we obtain a great variety of flavors that flavor and enhance the original. Many jams succeed with vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, juniper, cloves or even cardamom.

they also marry well some herbs and flowers like mint, rosemary, jasmine or orange blossom. Others are traditionally added wine or spirits to accentuate their flavor and color, although the alcohol evaporates with cooking.

They are appreciated for originals fruit mixes apparently very different.

Dare with these combinations!

Not only You can make fruit jams, as well as vegetables, and they all improve their flavor and aroma if we add spices, other fruits, some herbs…

Below we propose some combinations:

apricotsvanilla and cinnamon.Eggplantginger and cloves.Pumpkinorange, lemon and carrot.cherriesprunes and vanilla.Plumbay leaf and juniper berries.Strawberriespineapple and passion fruit.Figpeach and ginger.Appleelderberry raisins and cinnamon.Grapevinegar and lemon.Pearcinnamon, vanilla and grape.Orangeapple, cinnamon and passion fruit.Beet and lemon zest.

There is also the option of making raw jams. The chia and flax seeds They are an excellent option for making raw and instant jams. Cover the crushed seeds with warm water and let them rest for half an hour.

Then add the desired fruitsuch as strawberries, raspberries, persimmons, or blueberries. Crush it all in the blender. You can add agave, stevia or cinnamon syrup to the mix.

Is a instant jam And it lasts a week in the fridge.

Tips to thicken homemade jam

Prolonged cooking darkens the fruit, so it is convenient to add lemon juice as an antioxidant that better maintains the original color. In addition, the acidity of the lemon helps to release the pectin from the fruit.

This Soluble fiber It is what makes some fruits thicken naturally with the heat of cooking. It is present in the skin and in the seeds of apples, citrus fruits, plums, currants and quinces. But other varieties of fruits hardly contain pectin. In those cases we can resort to other tricks to thicken.

the longer cook over low heat, the thicker it will be. It is the basic technique when sweeteners are barely used.

Add more sugar it means thickening more, but the flavor is lost and the nutrients are denatured. It should not exceed 60% of the weight of the fruit.

if we add apple the mixture of other fruits becomes more stable.

A widely used resource is agar agar powder. This transparent, neutral-tasting algae becomes jelly-like when cooled. Use a level teaspoon of coffee per kilo of fruit, so that it is not totally solid.

Another possibility is the pectin powderadd a teaspoon of coffee per kilo of fruit.

If you opt for kuzuit is added dissolved in cold water at the end of cooking and left to cook for a couple of minutes.

To know how it will be when cool, pour a few drops on a very cold plate: it is done if the drop is collected as a ball. If it spreads a lot, it means that it still maintains too much moisture and has to cook longer.

Another option is to put a teaspoon in the fridge and see how thick it is. Or drop drops, count to three and if the third sticks to the spatula, it’s perfect.