JAMS & PRESERVES!

WINTER FRUIT COMPOTE JAM

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 c. dried apricots, pitted
1/2 c. dried prunes, pitted
2 tart apples, cored diced, unpeeled
1 lg. pear, cored & diced, unpeeled
2 plums, pitted & diced, unpeeled
1 banana, peeled & diced
1/4 c. white raisins
1/4 c. Jim Beam or other good bourbon
1/4 c. chopped dates
1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp. butter

DIRECTIONS:

Place apricots and prunes with water to cover in saucepan; simmer for 5 minutes and let cool in the liquid. Mix apples, pear, plums and banana. Dice cooled apricots and prunes, reserving liquid. Mix dates, raisins and nuts with sugar and cinnamon, then stir into rest of fruit. Divide fruit in half and put in three quart casserole. Dot with 1 tablespoon butter, sprinkle with lemon zest and 1/2 lime juice. Add remaining fruit, dot with remaining butter; add last of lime juice and lemon zest. Pour over 1/4 cup reserved fruit liquid and 1/4 cup Jim Beam or other bourbon. Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 1 hour or until fruit is very soft. Stir one time during baking. Serve lukewarm with whipped cream or ice cream.
Serves 6

MANGO JAM

INGREDIENTS:

2 mangoes (completely ripe) (resulted in about 4 cups of fruit pulp) (I used frozen Mangoes)
1 cup sugar (increase depending on the tartness of the mango)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp powdered cardamom

DIRECTIONS:

Peel the mangoes and extract the pulp or cut the flesh into small pieces (Toss the pit of course). Do not worry if there are some lumps of the fruits, it will eventually dissolve as the process goes by.
Take a heavy bottom pan; add the mango pulp on medium heat. Mine had good amount of mango juice and I waited for about 7-8 minutes before the water had evaporated.
Add the sugar and then mix well. Stir in between and let the heating continue.
After about 2o minutes when the water content has evaporated, it begins to thicken.
Add the lemon juice and mix well. Continue for about 10 minutes to cook and allow it to thicken.
Please note that the jam thickens after it is cooled, so keep that in mind as well.
Finally add the powdered cardamom, mix well. Allow to cool and store in air tight container.
Recipe by RedChillies

APRICOT & BRANDY JAM

Served as accompaniment.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups dried Apricot halves, halved
2 1/2 cups Water
1 Orange (Juice and grated peel)
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
3 Tablespoons Brandy or Cognac

DIRECTIONS:

Combine apricots and water in a bowl, cover, and let stand overnight, or until soft and well plumped (about 12 hours). Combine apricots and their soaking water in saucepan with the orange peel and juice and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and bring to boil, while stirring. Boil gently, stirring often, until the mixture is thick and shiny and begins to clear the sides of the pan when stirred. While mixture thickens, be sure to stir it continually but gently, so that the fruit does not burn or get squashed (about 30 minutes, but may vary). DO NOT ALLOW THE MIXTURE TO COOK DOWN TO A PUREE; it should retain good-sized bits of apricot. Remove the preserve from heat and stir in almond extract and brandy. Ladle into 3 half-pint canning jars, prepared in usual manner and seal with sterilized 2 piece screw-on lids. Cool and let mellow several weeks or more before serving.

APPLE PIE PRESERVES

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups Water
3 Tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice
1 1/2 lbs firm Apples, preferably pippin,peeled,cored,cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
3 1/2 cups Sugar
4 Tablespoons Calvados or other Apple Brandy
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/8 teaspoon Allspice

DIRECTIONS:

Combine water and lemon juice in heavy medium saucepan. Add apples and stir to coat with liquid. Cover pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer mixture for 3 minutes. Mix sugar, Calvados and spices into apple mixture. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Check the preserves at this point. Drop 1 tablespoon of preserves onto a chilled saucer and put in freezer. If preserve wrinkles when pushed after 2 minutes of cooling, then it's done. Spoon hot preserves into hot, sterilized jars and wipe rim clean. Seal tightly. Cool. Refrigerate up to 3 months.

WATERMELON RIND PRESERVES

Made from the rind of the watermelon, they taste nothing like the red flesh. More of a candy than spreadable jam, Watermelon Rind Preserves take on the spicy, lemony flavorings added to the batch.

INGREDIENTS:

1-1/2 qts. Prepared watermelon rind (about 6 cups)
4 T Salt
8 C Cold water
1 T Ground ginger
4 C Sugar
1/4 C Fresh lemon juice
6 C Water
1/2 C Thinly sliced lemon (about 1 medium lemon)

DIRECTIONS:

To prepare the watermelon rind, trim the green skin and pink flesh from thick watermelon rind. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Dissolve salt in the 8 cups of water and pour over the rind. Let stand 5 to 6 hours. Drain, rinse and drain again. Cover with cold water and let stand 30 minutes. Drain. Sprinkle ginger over rind; cover with water and cook until fork-tender. Drain.

Combine sugar, lemon juice and 6 cups water in a large pot or Dutch oven. Boil 5 minutes; add rind and boil gently for 30 minutes or until syrup thickens. Add sliced lemon and cook until the rind is transparent. Pack hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4" head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust caps. Process 20 minutes in boiling water bath. Makes about 6 half pints.

PEACH CINNAMON PRESERVES

INGREDIENTS:

About 6 lbs. fresh, tree-ripened peaches

3 cups granulated sugar

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 cinnamon stick

DIRECTIONS:

Peel and slice peaches to measure about 10 or 11 cups of fruit (the fruit should be sliced into chunks about 1/4-inch thick, and about 1 inch wide; but some can be larger, some smaller). Toss the fruit with the sugar, cover with plastic wrap (to help prevent browning of the top layer) and let stand for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature. It would be all right to let the fruit stand overnight in the refrigerator.

Wash 7 half-pint jars; keep hot until needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs.

Place a large colander in a large, non-aluminum skillet or wide-mouthed pan. Pour the fruit and juice through the colander and let it drain for 20 minutes. Remove the fruit to a bowl. Add the cinnamon stick, then measure the depth of the juice collected in the pan by standing a chopstick in the juice and marking its surface with a pencil.

Bring the juice to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat enough to keep the juice boiling fairly rapidly (the surface will appear foamy with small bubbles covering the entire surface). Boil until the juice is reduced by half. This will take about 20 minutes. To test the amount of reduction, place the chopstick in the pan and see where the surface hits in relation to your original pencil marking. By this time, the juice has become a light, slightly glistening syrup.

Add the fruit and any additional juice that has accumulated and continue cooking until the peaches begin to take on a translucent, caramelized look around the edges, and the syrup is quite thick. This will take about 15 minutes. There's a great deal of splattering toward the end, so protect your hands and arms to avoid tiny burns.

Remove the mixture from the heat. Remove the cinnamon stick. Ladle the hot jam into one hot jar at a time, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Wipe jar rim with a clean, damp cloth. Attach lid. Fill and close remaining jars. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (15 minutes at 1,001 to 6,000 feet; 20 minutes above 6,000 feet).
Yields 6 or 7 half-pints.