Nectarine-Coffee Jam

© All rights reserved, Thorsten Kraska, 2010

The combination in this jam is really addictive. The fruity sweetness of teh nectarines is completed by the delicate touch of coffee beans. As I don't like my jams overly sweet I use for most of my jams a commercial gelling sugar. For the Nectarine-Coffee Jam I have used "Dr. Oetker's Super Gelling Sugar 3:1" (German Brand). It already contains pectin and you can reduce sugar to 1/3 of fruit weight.

Nectarine-Coffee Jam
(3 to 4 jars à 400ml )

900g nectarines (weighted after pitting)
300g super gelling sugar (Dr. Oetker's, read note)
7 tablespoons lime juice
5 tablespoons coffee beans (use your favorite coffee blend)
1 vanilla pod

After pitting the nectarines weight them to make 900g fruit. Puree half of the nectarines (I use the food processor). Cut the other half into small pieces. Put fruit into suited pot. Add 6 tablespoons of lime juice and the super gelling sugar and mix.
In a mortar pound the coffee beans and put into a suited cooking bag (I used tea bags). Close bag and put into fruit mixture. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise and scrap out the vanilla seeds. Put seeds aside and add the vanilla pod halves to the fruit mixture. Let stand the fruit mixture for 2 hours.
After two hours bring mixture to a boil over high heat stirring all the time. Let cook for 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Then remove from heat and remove the vanilla pods and the coffee bag. Add the last 1 tablespoon lime juice, vanilla seeds and mix.
Fill into prepared twist off preserving jars and close jars. Let stand for 1 minute and then turn up side down. Let stand for 10 minutes and turn over again. Let cool completely.

Note
"Dr. Oetker's Super Gelling Sugar 3:1". Dr. Oetker is a well known brand in Germany. There are several gelling sugars available. The "3:1" super gelling sugar already contains pectin and you only need 1/3 of sugar. If you can't get it, make the jam as you know it or find in cook books.

Peach Jam

© All rights reserved, Thorsten Kraska, 2009

Last week I could get some real good peaches, fruity and full of flavor. Isn't there anything better than to make jam out of them? Because these peaches were very ripe and full of flavor, I choose a very simple jam, just peaches and sugar. To support the fruity notes I added some lemon juice (which also supports the gelling process). Again I'm using a commercial gelling sugar which combines all necessary things for the jam. I used a 1:1 ratio gelling sugar for a real sweet jam. Beside for breakfast, this jam is great for any other sweet stuff, like cakes.

Peach Jam

1000 g peaches (weigth after you have pitted them)
1000 g 1:1 gelling sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Note on Gelling Sugar: I'm using a commercial gelling sugar which contains the neccessary acidifier, pectin, gelling ingredients. It is foolproof. And I'm just too lazy to do this completely from scratch.

Cut pitted peaches into pieces. In a large pot puree half of the peaches, then add rest of peaches, sugar and lemon juice. Let stand for 1 hour and stir from time to time.

Meanwhile sterilze your jars. I fill them onece or twice with boiling water and pour out the boiling water immediately before I fill in the jam. This would 1500 mL of jam. So have enough jars at hand and prepared.

Bring the peach mixture to a boil stirring all the time. Let cook for 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Fill into prepared twist off preserving jars and close jars. Let stand for 1 minute and then turn up side down. Let stand for 10 minutes and turn over again. Let cool completely.



© All rights reserved, Thorsten Kraska, 2009

Have strawberry jam all year around

Strawberries are my favorite fruit for making jam. I always have strawwberry jam in the house all year around. From a simple strawberry jam, over different varieties with vanilla, basil, lime & bay leaf and others. You can combine strawberry with other fruit like rhurbarb too.

Making jam the lazy man's way is to use commercial gelling sugar containing all required ingredients from sugar, acidifier, gelling ingredients. It is making jam easy and some products are giving you the chance to cut down sugar to 1/2 or 1/3. If you like your jam real sweet you can use the "classic" 1-to-1-ratio (like I did it here).

Here is a very basic strawberry jam recipe.




© All rights reserved, Thorsten Kraska, 2009

Ingredients:
1000 g hulled strawberries
1000 g 1:1 Gelling Sugar* (lazy man's way making jam)
2 tablespoons lime juice

* I'm using a commercial gelling sugar which contains the neccessary acidifier, pectin, gelling ingredients.

Directions:

1. In a large pot mix half of the hulled strawberries and Gelling Sugar. Add lime juice. Mix until you have a smooth puree.
   
2. Cut the rest of the strawberries into pieces (as large as you like them) and add them to the strawberry puree. Set aside.
   
3. Meanwhile sterilze your jars. I fill them once or twice with boiling water and pour out the boiling water immediately before I fill in the jam. Have enough jars at hand and prepared.
   
4. Bring the strawberries mixture to a boil stirring all the time. Let cook for 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Then remove from heat.
   
5. Fill into prepared twist off preserving jars and close jars. Let stand for 1 minute and then turn up side down. Let stand for 10 minutes and turn over again. Let cool completely.
   

Strawberry Jam ideas
In my photo set Jams, Bread, Rolls & Breakfast you will find more photos for strawberry jams like this one for strawberry-basil jam



© All rights reserved, Thorsten Kraska, 2009

Add 3-4 tablespoons fresh basil (chopped) immediatley before cooking to the strawberry mixture.

Blueberry Jam

Summer Time is jam making time. For a few years I make my own jams now. One of my favorite is blueberry jam flavored with fresh grated ginger and fresh sage leaves. The ginger adds a nice fresh taste to the jam while the sage leaves are emphasizing the herbal notes of the blueberry well.




© All rights reserved, Thorsten Kraska, 2009


Ingredients:
1000 g blueberries
1000 g 1:1 Gelling Sugar
30 medium sized sage leaves
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
4 tablespoons lime juice

Note on Gelling Sugar: I'm using a commercial gelling sugar which contains the neccessary acidifier, pectin, gelling ingredients. It is foolproof. And I'm just too lazy to do this completely from scratch.

You can half the ingredients if you like and actually I often made this with just 500 g blueberries, because they can be expensive.



Directions:

1. In a large pot mix blueberries and Gelling Sugar. Add lime juice and the freshly grated ginger. Prick the berries with a fork, but don't mash them. Let stand this mixture for 1 hour, mixing from time to time and pricking more berries if needed. The sugar will not dissolved completely during that time.
   
2. Meanwhile sterilze your jars. I fill them onece or twice with boiling water and pour out the boiling water immediately before I fill in the jam. This would 1500 mL of jam. So have enough jars at hand and prepared.
   
3. Add the fresh sage leaves to the blueberries and bring to a boil stirring all the time. Let cook for 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Then remove from heat and remove sage leaves.
   
4. Fill into prepared twist off preserving jars and close jars. Let stand for 1 minute and then turn up side down. Let stand for 10 minutes and turn over again. Let cool completely.
   

present and past
Because blueberry jam is one of my favorite jams, you won't be surprised that I have already photographed the jam in the past. The photo at the beginning was done very recently. I browsed through my older shots and this one was done in 2007.



© All rights reserved, Thorsten Kraska, 2009