It’s summer & it’s jam season … (There are years … I missed this somehow!)
So for jam season I tried a mix of strawberries w/ raspberries & lemon (zest & juice!). It turned out to be a very, very red jam w/ a sharp edge of lemon flavour!
I started like:
- many, many ripe & juicy strawberries
- some soft & flavorful raspberries
- a tough & tart lemon …
… & afterwards I tried a slightly other mix which led to a more orange-red jam:
- lots of ripe & juicy strawberries
- a ripe pineapple
- a lemon – also tough & tart.
So let’s prepare some summer jam …
The process doesn’t change much for both jams.
We start w/ the lemon:
- grate the zest
- press the juice.
Put all the raspberries & the lemon juice in a blender & blend until puréed (only some seconds!).
Sieve the raspberry purrée to identify all these nasty little pits – discard them.
Otherwise … we trim & dice the pineapple. Most of the pineapple & the lemon juice marche in the electric blender … (I reserved some pineapple bits for the jam, but you may also blend all of it.)
In each case of jam: add the lemon zest & the cleaned strawberries to the purée.
Attention:
The fruit mix shall be exactly 1000 g – because we’ll add 1000 g preserving sugar (type 1:1).
After having let the fruit mess rest for 2-3 hours there will be a lot of juicy liquid. (It doesn’t matter if the sugar isn’t dissolved completely – it will do when cooking …)
… & then: during the rest session you’ll have enough time to gather jam jars, clean them thoroughly w/ hot-hot water & a clean tea towel.
So put now the pot on the hot plate & bring it to a boil … Take care to take a big enough pot because the fruit mess tends to bubble when cooking …
When the mess starts bubbling let it cook for at least 4 min. Then hurry up to fill the hot mess in the waiting jam jars …
For each type of jam I managed to produce 7 jars w/ jam – each jar of 250 g.
- 250 g raspberries
- 1 organic lemon
- about 1000 g strawberries raw material – not cleaned nor trimmed
- 1000 g preserving sugar 1:1
- 350 g pineapple trimmed & diced
- 1 organic lemon
- about 1000 g strawberries raw material – not cleaned or trimmed
- 1000 g preserving sugar 1:1
- a pot of 6-7 l
- a blender
- Gather enough jam jars & clean them thoroughly w/ hot/boiling water & wipe them w/ a fresh & clean tea towel.
- Grate the lemon zest & press out the lemon juice.
- Combine raspberries & lemon juice in a blender & blend for some seconds until all is pureed.
- Sieve the puree to filter the pits; discard the pits.
- Add lemon zest to the puree.
- Combine 250 g of the pineapple pieces & the lemon juice in a blender & blend for some seconds until all is pureed. (You may also puree all of the pineapple.)
- Add remaining pineapple pieces (if there are any…) & lemon zest to the puree.
- Clean & trim the strawberries; cut them into halves or quarters.
- Add strawberries to the puree: you need 1000 g fruit mix. (It’s about 750 g resp. 650 g processed strawberries.)
- Add the preserving sugar & let the mix rest for about 2-3 hours.
- The sugar will liquefy the fruit mix.
- Heat the fruit mix to boiling & cook at least for 4 min.
- Fill the hot jam at once in the waiting jam jars, screw the lid on & turn upside down.
- Let the jam cool down.