Saturday, September 16, 2006

Peach Passionfruit Jammy Syrup


Growing up, I had no idea jam was sold in stores. I assumed everyone's grandma made them strawberry freezer jam and that was that. When I first tasted store-bought jam? Yuck. Of course, now there's not just Smuckers; even your local Safeway carries Sarah Elizabeth Katherine's Homemade Black Raspberry Lime Plum Pepper Preserves or some other fancy-schmancy spread for the low, low price of $7.99.

I still subsist off my grandma's jams and jellies--every Christmas my sister and I get our stock for the year. However, with all the glorious summer fruit we have in California, I figured I should give it a shot on my own. Plus, having a sweet reminder of summer in the cupboard will help us get through the harsh Los Angeles winter. Oh, wait....

The more wrinkly the passionfruit, the better. You don't want the smooth skinned ones.

My first batch was small--I wanted to see how boiling the jars and waiting for the lids to pop would work before devoting a full afternoon to the task. It's a bit stressful, but not too difficult. Definitely get everything laid out ahead of time and start with a clean, empty kitchen. Also, I found that tongs work well as jar removers--no need for a fancy canning rack. The satisfying "pop" of the lids will let you know whether or not you'll kill anyone.

As you can see from the runnyness of my end product, I either didn't let the jam cook down long enough for the pectin in the fruit to appear fully, or perhaps I needed to add some pectin because peaches and passionfruit are low in it? I'm not sure. It still worked well on my morning english muffin and I am saving the other jar for an over ice cream treat later this year.

Peach Passionfruit Jammy Syrup
(makes approx. 1 1/2 8 oz. jars)

2 peaches, peeled and diced
juice from 5 passionfruits, seeds strained
3/4 of a cup of sugar

Mix your ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook until jam-like (obviously, I don't really know what I'm doing). One way to tell is to take a small spoonful and place in the freezer for 30 seconds or so. If it's "set" when you take it out, the jam is ready for canning. Now go follow someone elses instructions on canning, because I don't want to poison you. (The Joy of Cooking is great, as is The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest).

4 comments:

Jen said...

This is wonderful Erin, I have ony just started to make my on jam myself.
I was quite the opposite, I never grew up with homemade jam. Typical city slicker kid, always just bought it from the store, until now that is.
Your jam combination sounds exciting : )

KT said...

That looks delicious! I have so far opted to make small batches of refrigerator jam because I am still too afraid of the canning process. I've only ever done it with supervision and honestly, I don't use enough jam to warrant a whole bunch of preserves anyway.

I'm keeping this recipe in my mind though, in case the passionfruit guy still has them next time I'm at the market.

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