Easter Calendar 2022 - orange jam with ginger & vanilla

  

Today it is Good Friday (Langfredag) being the second day of the Danish Easter vacation. So today, I will enjoy my vacation time making some home-made jam from orange for my Easter Calendar 2022.

I will be selling some of the jam jars at work to my colleagues, as I cannot eat 6-8 glasses of jam within reasonable time. And as usual I will donated the money to charity (Julemærkehjemmene).


Orange jam with ginger & vanilla: 6 glasses.

• 6 organic oranges with thin peel
• 2 organic lemons
• 600 g sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder
• potassium sorbate - optional

1. Wash the orange thoroughly.
2. Cut of bottom and top of two of the oranges and throw away.
3. Cut the these two orange incl. the peel into small pieces. Remove any seeds. Place the orange pieces and the orange juice into the cooking pot.
4. Do the cutting of the oranges on a chopping board, so all the orange juice can be collected and used in the jam mixture.
5. Grate the zest of the remaining oranges and lemon, and add the orange & lemon zest into the cooking pot.
6. Peel the orange & lemon, and afterwards cut the oranges and lemon into smaller pieces. Remove the orange seeds during the coating process, as they will give more bitterness in the final jam. Add orange & lemon pieces together with the juice into the cooing pot.
7. Add freshly grated ginger and vanilla powder  together with sugar into the cooking pot.
8. Bring the jam to the boiling pot. Let it simmer gentle for 15 minutes under lid.
9. Remove the lid from the cooking pot, and the jam simmer for another 15 minutes.
10. Use a blend to get a more homogenous texture. 
11. Prepare the jam jars by filling them up with the boiling water.
12.  Stir in potassium sorbate, before you fill the jam into the jam jars.
13. Fill the jam into the jam jars. Close the glass with a lid.
14. Store at ambient temperature.

Ærø shopping

Friday last week my mother and I went away on another day-trip, this time to the island of Ærø. As we did the trip before 1st October we got the return trip on the ferry incl. the car of 10 DKK in total, the sailing time is between 60-75 minutes each way. Now the price is 350 DKK, so it was something of discount :-)

In the town of Ærøskøbing I located this community driven shop called Den Gamle Købmandsgård,  where you can buy a selection of products made on the island of Ærø.

So I brought this little collection of some small soaps from with flavour of  lavender and mint from Sæberiet, liquorice candy made by Hattesen konfektfabrik, gooseberry jam by Annas Gourmet, salt from Salteriet and finally two green ceramic bowl made by Skåb Keramik.

Rhubarb jam with elder flowers

Besides asparagus it is also high season for fresh rhubarb and blooming elder flowers. I have used this recipe on Midsummer jam (strawberry jam with elder flower) as inspiration.

Other suggestion rhubarb jam could be these: rhubarb-white currant jam, rhubarb-raspberry jam, rhubarb-apple jam, strawberry-rhubarb jam, tomato-rhubarb jam, rhubarb jam & rhubarb jam with vanilla.

Rhubarb jam with elder flowers:

• 500 g rhubarb - stems cut into small pieces
• 1½ dl water
• 250-300 g sugar
• 8 g pectin
• 1 teaspoon citric acid
• 8-10 elder flower stems
• potassium sorbat - optional

1. Clean the rhubarb stems, cut them into 1-2 cm pieces.
2. Place the rhubarb and water into medium size cooking pot.
3. Bring to the boil, let the rhubarb simmer gentle for 15 minutes, until the rhubarb is boiled out.
4. Dry-mix the pectin with 50 g sugar, stir the pectin mixture into the rhubarb mass.
5. Let the rhubarb boil for 4-5 minutes.
6. Add in the citric acid and sugar, and bring a rolling boil.
7. Let the jam boil for 2-4 minutes.
8. Add the elder flowers into the jam, stir well. 
9. Remove the cooking pot from the heat, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. 
10. Prepare the jam glasses by filling them with boiling water to sterilise them.
11. Fill the glass with jam and close the glass. Store them cold.
12. Store at ambient temperature.

Clementine Jam

The citrus fruit are in season again, so it is time to make the various citrus jams again. I have used this recipe on orange jam as starting point for making this jam on clementines. In order to made a gelled texture in the jam, I had focus on using clementines with hard texture. I did also add in some citric acid. And yes, I had success in making a jelled clementine jam.

It takes some time to make this jam, as the applied citrus fruit has to soak cold in water for 24 hours, before it turned into jam.

I will be selling some of the jam at work to my colleagues, as I cannot eat 6-8 glasses of jam within reasonable time. And as usual I will donated the money to charity. The donation this time will be done to Julemærkehjemmene.

Kirsten's clementine jam: 8-10 glasses.

• 6 clementine with peel
• 8 dl water
• 1 teaspoon citric acid powder
• 800 g sugar
• potassium sorbate - optional

1. Wash the clementines thoroughly.
2. Do the cutting of the clementines on a chopping board, so all the juice can be collected and be used in the jam mixture.
3. Cut the clementines into smaller boat shapes. Afterwards slice the clementine "boats" into thin slices. Use a shape knife for all this cutting.
4. Remove any seeds during the coating process, as they will give more bitterness in the final jam.
5. Clementines slices and juice in added into a medium-large mixing bowl. Pour the water into the lemon mixture.
6. Store the clementine mixture cold in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
7. Pour the clementine mixture into a large cooking pot. Add in citric acid to the mixture.  
8. Let the clementine mixture simmer gentle for 1 hour without the lid on the cooking pot.
9. Prepare the jam jars by filling them up with the boiling water.
10. If the clementine slices appear too thick, you could consider to blend the mixture, before the addition of the sugar.
11. After 1 hours boiling add in the sugar.
12. Bring the clementine jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
13. Test of set after 4-5 minutes using the flake test.
14. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx.  5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
15. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
16. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
17. Store at ambient temperature.

Christmas Calendar 2019 Day 11 - Lønnestræde's Christman Jam 2019

This evening I have making the limited edition of Lønnestrædes Christmas Jam of 2019. And it is only available in 8 x 100 ml glass jars, so when the last glass is eaten/brought my work colleagues, everyone has to wait for the Christmas of 2020, before a new portion will be created :-)

For me the Christmas Jam is the jam with the addition of something extra, which in this case is the addition of cognac at the very end of the jam making process, so you do not boil off all the alcohol.

Previous years I have been making this Christmas Jam.

Lønnestræde's Christmas Jam 2019: - 8 glasses

• 600 g berry mixture - frozen (blueberry, blackberry, red currant, raspberry and red currant
• 200 ml water
• 1 teaspoon citric acid per 1000 g jam (fruit and sugar together)
• 300 g sugar
• 7 g pectin per 1000 g jam (fruit and sugar together)
• 3 tablespoon cognac
• Potassium sorbat - optional

1. Add the frozen berry mixture together with the water and citric acid into the cooking pot.
2. Put the cooking pan on the stove, heat up the content, so the berries start to boil. 
3. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
4. Stir in the pectin, let it simmer for 3-5 minutes before adding in the sugar.
5. Add the sugar to the jam mass and stir until it is dissolved.
6. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
7. Test of set after 2-4 minutes using the flake test.
8. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx. 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
9. Stir in the cognac.
10. Pour the jam into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
11. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
12. Store at ambient temperature.

Shopping in Carstensens Tehandel

Today my mother and I went on a tour to Aabenraa to look at the city center as well as have some lunch on this dark, rainy and very gray day.

A must do thing, when you are in Aabenraa, you really have to visit Carstensens Tehandel, which is an excellent tea shop.

Here I brought two teas for my tea cup. The first was off cause a Christmas tea based on black tea. The second tea is another black tea called "Miss Marples tea pie" for perhaps, when I enjoy the nice crime novel.

I also located some candies pomerans and sukat, which I plan to use for some upcoming Christmas baking, which could be something like these spicy scones with dried fruits or these kløben buns. Also a small glass of cherry jam found it's way to my kitchen.

Classic plum jam

I have again being picking fresh fruit in the garden of my good friends in Horsens, this time is was plums, so I could make som plum jam. I decided to use pectin as gelling agent this time, so I could use less sugar to gel the jam, as I wanted to have more of a fruit flavour in the final jam. If you to try to make a plum jam without the addition of a gelling agent, then have a love at this plum jam recipe.

Plum jam: - 8 glasses

• 1400 g plums - washed, de-stoned and cut into half
• 450 ml water
• 700 g sugar
• 8-10 g pectin per 1000 g jam (fruit and sugar together)
• 1-2 teaspoon citric acid per 1000 g jam (fruit and sugar together)
• Potassium sorbat - optional

1. Prepare the plum by washing, de-stone and cut into half. Place the plum pieces into the cooking pan and pour the water in as well.
2. Put the cooking pan on the stove, heat up the content, so the plums are simmering. 
3. Let the plums simmer until they become pulpy in texture, it takes between approx 20-30 minutes.
4. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
5. Stir in the pectin and citric acid, let it simmer for 3-5 minutes before adding in the sugar.
6. Add the sugar to the plum mass and stir until it is dissolved.
7. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
8. Test of set after 3-5 minutes using the flake test.
9. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx. 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
10. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
11. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
12. Store at ambient temperature.

Rhubarb - white currant jam

When I recently was looking for a recipe on rhubarb jam I found this recipe on rhubarb redcurrant jam made by Vivien Lloyd. In this recipe it is red currants, which is used to get the rhubarb jam to gel. As the garden of my good friends in Horsens does NOT contain red currants, but white currants I decided to to replace red currants with white currants.

As both red as well as white currants contains plenty of seeds, it is recommend to sieve the currants into a puree, which is when added into the rhubarb.

I also think, that you will have more of red colour in the final jam, if you have access to red currants instead of white currants.

And as usual I bring most of my home-made jam with me to work, so my work colleagues can buy the jam and I donate the money to charity afterwards. I make much more jam, than it is possible for me or my mother to eat. It is the creation process, which I find fascinating.

As other suggestions for jam made with rhubarb you could also have a look into this rhubarb - raspberry jam or rhubarb - apple jam. However, the gelled texture is much stronger in this rhubarb - white currant compared to the other two rhubarb jams.

Rhubarb - white currant jam:

• 500 g rhubarb stems - cleaned and cut into 2 cm length
• 500 g white currant - washed and cleaned, the stalks removed
• ½ lemon - only the juice
• 100 ml water
• 700 g sugar

1. Place the white currants in a cooking pot with 100 ml of the water. Bring the white currants to the boil.
2. Let the white currants simmer until the mass is pulpy.
3. Mash the white currants with a potato masher.
4. Sieve the white currants, so you only have the puree without any seeds.
5. There should be around 225 ml white currant puree.
6. Place the rhubarb pieces together with the remaining 100 ml water and the lemon juice of ½ lemon in a cooking pot.
7. Bring the rhubarb to the boil. Let the rhubarb simmer for 15-20 minutes until, the rhubarb mass is pulpy.
8. Add the 225 ml white currant puree into the rhubarb mass.
9. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
10. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
11. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
12. Test of set after 7 minutes using the flake test.
13. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
14. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
15. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
16. Store at ambient temperature.

Blackcurrent jam

I have made my first visit to the garden of my good friends in Horsens, while they were away on Summer vacation, to pick both black currant as well as white current, which I afterwards have turned into jam in form of this black currant jam and rhubarb & white currant jam.

I used my jam book to locate a this recipe on black currant jam. As other suggestions on black currant you can also have a look at these suggestions (classic blackcurrant jam with twist of balcamico, blackcurrant jam with liquorice lemon and blackcurrant jam).

After the first filling of the jam into the jam glasses; I noticed that the jam did not gel. I think it was, because I had not boiled enough of the water in connection with the first boiling of black currant and water, where I boiled these two ingredients under lid.

Therefore I decided to empty all the jam glasses into the cooking pot and boil the jam again to remove more water from the jam to increase the dry matter, so the natural pectin of the black currant to gel the jam. And this project worked out very well for me, as after the second boiling them black currant jam did gelled in the jam glasses.

Blackcurrant jam: - 6 glasses

• 800 g black currant
• 675 ml water
• 1.12 kg sugar

1. Prepare the blackcurrants by washing the blackcurrant, removing the berries from the strings, removing leaves and removing the dead flower end.
2. Place the blackcurrants in a large cooking pan and pour in the water. Bring the fruit to the boil, and let fruit simmer gently, until the fruit is tender, approx 25-30 minutes. REMEMBER to boil the fruit without the lid on the cooking pot.
3. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
4. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
5. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
6. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
7. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
8. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
9. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
10. Store at ambient temperature.

Shopping in Alsace

Home again after another great vacation in Alsace with a car full of shopping of food, tea and wine. A Peugeot 208 can contain minimum 60 bottles of wine AND a cooling box for transport of yogurt & wine in the trunk  !!! The rest of the luggage can be on the back seat of the car :-) And yes, also this year I had brought some flowers for my terrace.

The wine shelf in a French supermarket is divided into the various wine regions of France. And a supermarket in Alsace will on top divide the Alsace part of the wine shelves into the individual wine grapes (riesling, pinot blanc, pinot gris, muscat etc).



Besides from filling up the trunk with bottles of Alsace brought directly at various wine makers in Alsace I was buying different types of black tea at three different tea shops. I found tea from Dammann as loose tea leaves (Jardin Blue, Gout Russe Douchka & Etoile du Desert). I also located the tea shop of Le Théier Collection, which I have been buying before (Grande Catherine, Rose de Perse (my favourite rose flavoured tea) & Pomme de Pré) incl. a stainless drinking container, which can keep water cold for up to 24 hours and hot for up to 12 hours (and it works perfect). And finally I found a new French tea brand (well at least for me) in form of Compagnie Coloniale, where I will try out Jardin Gourmand & Cerise.

I was filling up my cooling box with some of my favourite French cheese such as Comte cheese, small goat cheese appetizer and a fresh cheese with a tomato filling (I will soon host the last of my birthday celebration with a lunch "in the green" = outdoor lunch, if the weather plays along my plans !!!), cream cheese with a nut mixture of walnuts and almonds. Also fruit yogurt made it´s way back to my refrigerator.

This small selection of Bonne Mamam jam was also brought by me in form jam made from Reine Claude plums, peach jam, apricot jam and rhubarb jam. If you want to make your own home-made versions of these jam, when have a look here: rhubarb jam with vanilla, apricot jam with lavender & plum jam with star anise & vanilla. I was also filling up my stock of caramel sauce and mustard (classic Maille mustard & mustard with sauvignon grapes). Also Speculoos cookies (home-made speculoos) and paste ended up in my shopping backet.   

One of the dishes of Alsace is tarte flambee, so as usual I brought some dough plates for tarte flambee. Two box of fast risotto also ended up in my shopping basket, one with cheese flavour and the other with mushrooms. A suggestion for home-made risotto with portobello mushrooms. 

Finally two Patesserie magazines together with a new doormate with poppy decoration made their way back with me to Vejle :-)

Rhubarb & raspberry jam

At the Summer preserves course last year I brought this jam cooking book "First preserves marmelades, jam and chutneys. And this book I have located this recipe on rhubarb & raspberry jam. So this enabled me to use some of the rhubarbs in my garden together with clearing up the raspberries in my freezer.

I have just recently made this rhubarb & apple jam

As usual I will sell the majority of the jam to my work colleagues, as I cannot eat all this rhubarb jam on my own. The money, which my colleagues pay will afterwards be donated to charity.

Rhubarb & apple jam: 8-10 glasses

• 450 g rhubarb stems - washed and stem removed and cut into a length 2-3 cm
• 450 g raspberries
• 85 ml water
• 840 g sugar
• Atamon - optional

1. Add the rhubarb pieces, raspberries and water to a large jam. Bring the content to the boil, let the fruit simmer gently until tender/has pulpy appearance, approx 15 minutes.
2. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
3. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
4. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
5. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
6. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
7. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
8. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
9. Store at ambient temperature.

Rhubarb & apple jam

At the Summer preserves course last year I learned to make this strawberry& apple jam, where the addition of apple was used to gelled this strawberry jam. As rhubarb has a similar low natural content of pectin as strawberries, I decided to use addition of apple puree to gel this rhubarb jam in combination with a high sugar content.

Well, I think I should have added some more apple puree to obtain a more gelled texture, as this rhubarb jam has a quiet fluid texture. Or perhaps it was the addition of the 200 ml water in order to the rhubarb boiled. Or perhaps I used have added ½-1 teaspoon citric acid to obtain the gelled texture.

As usual I will sell the majority of the jam to my work colleagues, as I cannot eat all this rhubarb jam on my own. The money, which my colleagues pay will afterwards be donated to charity.

Rhubarb & apple jam: 8-10 glasses

• 1 kg rhubarb stems - washed and stem removed and cut into a length 2-3 cm
• 200 ml water
• 450 g cooking apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1400 g sugar
• Atamon - optional

1. Place the apple slices in a separate cooking pan together with the water part.
2. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the apple over low heat, until the apples is quiet soft and pulpy, should look like apple mash (approx 10 minutes).
3. Sieve the apple pulp, there should be around 340 g in total.
4. Add the rhubarb pieces and water to a large jam. Bring the content to the boil, let the fruit simmer gently until tender, approx 15 minutes.
5. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
6. Add the apple purée into the rhubarb mixture mix together to combine the fruit.
7. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
8. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
9. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
10. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
11. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
12. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
13. Store at ambient temperature.

Kirsten's blood orange jam

As a follow on this orange jam I decided to make a blood orange version using the same recipe. As I noticed, that the orange jam did not have a gelled texture, I did after some guidance decided to add in some citric acid. And this really do the trick, so my blood orange jam got a gelled texture. I have previously made this blood orange jam.

It takes some time to make this jam, as the orange pieces have to soak cold in water for 24 hours, before it turned into jam.

I will be selling some of the jam jars at work to my colleagues, as I cannot eat 6-8 glasses of jam within reasonable time. And as usual I will donated the money to charity. From sale of various jams in January - May (orange jam & lemon jam) it was possible to donate 110 DKK to Din NødhjælpJulemærkehjemmene.

Kirsten's blood orange jam: 8-10 glasses.

• 6 blood oranges with thin peel
• 1 l water
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar - optional
• 1 kg sugar
• 1 teaspoon citric acid
• potassium sorbate - optional

1. Wash the blood orange thoroughly.
2. Do the cutting of the blood oranges on a chopping board, so all the orange juice can be collected and used in the jam mixture.
3. Cut the blood oranges into smaller boat shapes. Afterwards slice the blood oranges "boats" into thin slices. Use a shape knife for all this cutting.
4. Remove the blood orange seeds during the coating process, as they will give more bitterness in the final jam.
5. Blood orange slices and lemon juice in added into a medium-large mixing bowl. Pour the water into the lemon mixture.
6. Store the blood orange mixture cold in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
7. Pour the blood orange mixture into a large cooking pot. Add in citric acid to the mixture.  
8. Let the blood orange mixture simmer gentle for 1 hour without the lid on the cooking pot.
9. Prepare the jam jars by filling them up with the boiling water.
10. If the blood orange slices appear too thick, you could consider to blend the orange mixture, before the addition of the sugar.
11. After 1 hours boiling add in the sugar.
12. Bring the blood orange jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
13. Test of set after 4-5 minutes using the flake test.
14. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx.  5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
15. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
16. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
17. Store at ambient temperature.

Kirsten's orange jam

 

At the start of this week-end I brought a small box of organic oranges, so I could make some experiments various orange jams in line with my theme for February. The first of orange jam is a twist to this recipe on Karen-Marie's lemon jam just replacing the lemons with orange, and thereby making my own orange jam.

I was lucky with oranges, which I brought, as they did not contains any seeds, so I did not have to spend time om removing these orange seeds, while I was cutting the oranges.

It takes some time to make this jam, as the orange pieces have to soak cold in water for 24 hours, before it turned into jam.

After the soaking of the oranges in water,  I decided to taste, how acidic the orange mixture seamed. As I found the mixture not to be acidic enough in taste, I decided to add in a small amount of white wine vinegar to get more acidity. The level of acidity plays a crucial role for the setting of the final jam. If the jam is not acidic enough, the jam will NOT set/make a gelled texture.

As citrus fruit is high in natural pectin it is possible to a gelled jam, if the amount of sugar is high enough (minimum 65% solids combined with low pH, high level of acidity).

I will be selling some of the jam jars at work to my colleagues, as I cannot eat 6-8 glasses of jam within reasonable time. And as usual I will donated the money to charity. From sale of various jams in November and December last year (quince jam, apple jam with vanilla & tomato & chilli jam) it was possible to donate 380 DKK to Julemærkehjemmene.

Kirsten's orange jam: 8-10 glasses.

• 6 organic oranges with thin peel
• 1 l water
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar - optional
• 1 kg sugar
• potassium sorbate - optional

1. Wash the orange thoroughly.
2. Do the cutting of the oranges on a chopping board, so all the orange juice can be collected and used in the jam mixture.
3. Cut the oranges into smaller boat shapes. Afterwards slice the oranges "boats" into thin slices. Use a shape knife for all this cutting.
4. Remove the orange seeds during the coating process, as they will give more bitterness in the final jam.
5. Orange slices and lemon juice in added into a medium-large mixing bowl. Pour the water into the lemon mixture.
6. Store the orange mixture cold in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
7. Pour the orange mixture into a large cooking pot. Taste for the overall acidity. Adjust with white wine vinegar to get more acidity, as this has an impact on the gelling of the jam.  
8. Let the orange mixture simmer gentle for 1 hour without the lid on the cooking pot.
9. Prepare the jam jars by filling them up with the boiling water.
10. If the orange slices appear too thick, you could consider to blend the orange mixture, before the addition of the sugar.
11. After 1 hours boiling add in the sugar.
12. Bring the orange jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
13. Test of set after 4-5 minutes using the flake test.
14. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx.  5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
15. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
16. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
17. Store at ambient temperature.

Karen Marie's lemon jam

With the high season of citrus fruit it is time to make various types of citrus jams here in February. I am starting out with a recipe from a good work colleague on lemon jam.

It takes some time to make this jam, as the lemon pieces have to soak cold in water for 24 hours, before it cooked into jam.

As citrus fruit is high in natural pectin it is possible to a gelled jam, if the amount of sugar is high enough (minimum 65% solids combined with low pH, high level of acidity).

I will be selling some of the jam jars at work to my colleagues, as I cannot eat 6-8 glasses of jam within reasonable time. And as usual I will donated the money to charity. From sale of various jams in November and December last year (quince jam, apple jam with vanilla & tomato & chilli jam) it was possible to donate 380 DKK to Julemærkehjemmene.

Karen Marie's lemon jam: - 6-8 glasses.

• 6 organic lemons with thin peel
• 1 l water
• 1 kg sugar
• potassium sorbate - optional

1. Wash the lemons thoroughly.
2. Do the cutting of the lemon on a chopping board, so all the lemon juice can be collected and used in the jam mixture.
3. Cut the lemons into smaller boat shapes. Afterwards slice the lemon "boats" into thin slices.
4. Remove the lemon seeds during the coating process, as they will give more bitterness in the final jam.
5. Lemon slices and lemon juice in added into a medium mixing bowl. Pour the water into the lemon mixture.
6. Store the lemon mixture cold in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
7. Pour the lemon mixture into a large cooking pot.
8. Let the lemon mixture simmer gentle for 1 hour with lid on the cooking pot.
9. Prepare the jam jars by filling them up with the boiling water.
10. If the lemon slices appear too thick, you could consider to blend the lemon mixture, before the addition of the sugar.
11. After 1 hours boiling add in the sugar.
12. Bring the lemon jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
13. Test of set after 4-5 minutes using the flake test.
14. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx.  5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
15. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
16. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
17. Store at ambient temperature.

Christmas Calendar 2018 - Apple jam with cinnamon

Well apple and cinnamon is a very classic flavour combination, and cinnamon is also one of the very classic flavour related to Christmas, well at least for me :-)

So why not combined the apple jam with cinnamon ? After some thinking how to do that, I decided to twist this apple jam with vanilla by, after the filling into jam jars to stick a cinnamon stick into each jar of apple jam, before sealing the jar with the lid.

Apple jam with cinnamon sticks: - 8 glasses

• 1.4 kg apples - washed, cored, peeled and cut into smaller boat shapes
• 600 ml water
• 2 organic lemons - zest and the juice
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 teaspoon of apple vinegar - optional for flavour adjustment
• 8 cinnamon stick - one cinnamon stick per jar
• 1.4 kg sugar

1. Add water, lemon juice and zest into the cooking pan.
2. Prepare the apples washing them, removing both core and peel and finally cutting the apple into small boat shapes. Place the apple boat in the liquid in the cooking pan.
3. Open up the vanilla pod, remove the corn from the vanilla pod. Add both vanilla pod and vanilla corn into the apple mass in the cooking pot.
4. Put the cooking pan on the stove, heat up the content, so the apples are simmering. 
5. Let the apple simmer until the apple boat are tender and starts to cook out.
6. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
7. Remove the vanilla pod from the apple mass.
8. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
9. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
10. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
11. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx.  5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
12. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon.
13. Before closing the jam jar, stick a cinnamon stick into each jam jar.
14. Close the glass with a lid.
15. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
16. Store at ambient temperature.

Quince jam

One of my work colleagues has a neighbor, which has a quince bush in their garden, so my colleague has asked, if she could get some quinces for my jam making. As starting point I have used this recipe on apple jam with vanilla to make this jam from quinces.

The flavour of the quinces is richly perfumed. It is a quiet time consuming exercise to make quince jam, It took me me a little more than 1 hour to prepare the quinces for the cooking part of the process. Afterwards it took close to 2 hours "just" to cook the quince pieces, so they changes colour from yellow to dark orange-red as well became soft enough to mash & blend them. So you need to have plenty of time, when you make quince jam.

Quince jam: - 8 glasses

• 1.5 kg quinces - washed, cored, peeled and cut into smaller shapes
• 700 ml water
• 4 limes - only the juice
• 1.5 kg sugar

1. Add water & lime juice into the cooking pan.
2. Prepare the quinces by washing them, removing both core and peel and finally cutting the apple into small pieces. Place the quince pieces in the liquid in the cooking pan.
3. Put the cooking pan on the stove, heat up the content, so the quince pieces are simmering. 
4. Let the quinces simmer until the pieces are tender enough to be masked and blended. This took 2 hours in this case.
5. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
6. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
7. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
8. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
9. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx. 3-5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. 
10. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
11. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
12. Store at ambient temperature.

Apple jam with vanilla

As my colleagues have been busy buying all jars with apple & ginger jam, I decided to make a new portion of apple jam, as I still have plenty of apples on my apple tree. This time I decided to exchange the ginger with vanilla, but other I made no changes to the amount of apples, lemons and sugar.

In order to get a little more freshness to the flavour profile, I added in a tiny amount of apple vinegar.

As usual I added the water, lemon juice and lemon zest into the cooking pan first, so this liquid mixture hopefully could reduce the browning of the apple boats, as I right after the apple cutting would place the apple boats into this acidic liquid.

When I started to remove the scum from the surface of the jam, I became a little uncertain, if I at the same time was removing all the vanilla corns together with the scum. However, later I could see, that the jam jars still had plenty of vanilla corn inside the jam.

Apple jam with vanilla: - 8 glasses

• 1.4 kg apples - washed, cored, peeled and cut into smaller boat shapes
• 600 ml water
• 2 organic lemons - zest and the juice
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 teaspoon of apple vinegar - optional for flavour adjustment
• 1.4 kg sugar

1. Add water, lemon juice and zest into the cooking pan.
2. Prepare the apples washing them, removing both core and peel and finally cutting the apple into small boat shapes. Place the apple boat in the liquid in the cooking pan.
3. Open up the vanilla pod, remove the corn from the vanilla pod. Add both vanilla pod and vanilla corn into the apple mass in the cooking pot.
4. Put the cooking pan on the stove, heat up the content, so the apples are simmering. 
5. Let the apple simmer until the apple boat are tender and starts to cook out.
6. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
7. Remove the vanilla pod from the apple mass.
8. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
9. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
10. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
11. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx.  5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
12. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
13. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
14. Store at ambient temperature.

Pink closure to October month

PINK CLOSURE TO OCTOBER MONTH

Here in August, September & October month I have been selling the extra jam jars from the many different types of jams & vinegar, which I have been creating in my little kitchen to both work colleagues and friends. Hopefully the buyers are and have been enjoying:

• tomato & chilli jam
• gooseberry jam
• blackcurrant jam (classic version)
• apple & ginger jam
• plum jam
• blackberry vinegar

As a starting asking price I have suggested 15 DKK (=2 €)/glass or bottle. This sale has in total generated 420 DKK, which has just been donated to araceagainstbreastcancer.dk. As I still have different jam jars left, I keep selling them to friends and colleagues, and here in November & December the sale will be donated to Julemærkefonden.

Making a new portion of tomato-ginger-garlic jam

As I am running out of this tomato & chilli jam I decided to cook a new portion of this specific jam. So fare I have been serving this jam together with cheese such as these small sandwiches with matured Cheddar. I would also think, that this jam would fit perfect as compliment for cold meat slices or as part of a sandwich.

As I got plenty of smaller jars with this tomato & chilli jam, I decided to bring some of them to work, where I will sell the extra jars for 15 DKK (approx 2 €) to my colleagues, which afterwards is donated to charity.

Two weeks ago I on behave of my colleagues donated 205 DKK to araceagainstbreastcancer.dk, as my colleagues have been busy buying (and hopefully eating) both gooseberry jam and blackcurrant jam (classic version).