Lønnestræde Grapefruit Jam for Tea Time Treat

In January Karen from Lavender and Lovage is the virtual hostess for the monthly blogging event Tea Time Treats having focus on citrus. Tea Time treat is virtual tea table runned by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked, which I participate regular in with great pleasure.

Having seen, that the theme is CITRUS, I have some difficulties in selecting just one recipe, so therefore I have decided to share a selection during this coming month with the rest of guests at this virtual tea table. 

The first recipe, which I would like to share with this recipe on Grapefruit Jam based on red grapefruit (Star Ruby sort).

I started by weighting the grapefruit, so I would have an idea about the amount of sugar needed to make this jam. As initial starting point I started with 1 to 1 ratio of grapefruit to sugar. However, with this sugar level, the bitterness in the jam was too strong for me. Therefore I decided to increase the ratio to one part of grapefruit to 1½ part of sugar. With this sugar level I found the balance between bitterness and sweetness to be quiet interesting, so I to took the decision to stop the sugar addition here. However, you should consider to use a level of 1 part of grapefruit to 2 part of sugar, if you find the bitterness of gin tonic to strong for you.

I also noticed, that I should make adjustments to the cooking time of the citrus fruit depending on the firmness/softness of the citrus fruit, which you are putting into the cooking pot. I cooked the grapefruit for 1 hour, which was too long, as the grapefruit was turned into a pure without any fruit pieces at all during the blending process. I think, that 40-45 minutes would have been better to target as the cooking time. So with firm citrus fruit, you should target 1 hour as cooking time, where you with softer citrus fruit should reduce the cooking time to 40-45 minutes.

As this jam as well is made from citrus fruit and the sugar amount is quiet high, where is not need for adding pectin gelling powder, as the citrus fruit is a natural source of pectin.

Red Grapefruit Jam:

• 2 (red) organic grapefruit = 550 g 
• 825 g sugar or 1100 g sugar, if more sweetness is preferred

1. Wash the grapefruits.
2. Place the grapefruits in a small cooking pot, which when is filled with water.
3. Place the lid on the cooking pot. Let the citrus fruits boiled (softly) for 40-60 minutes.
4. Remove the grapefruits and place them in a blender.
5. Add sugar on top of the citrus fruits.
6. Blend everything into a homogeneous mass.
7. Prepare the jam glasses by filling them with boiling water. I do not use any preservatives in my home-made jam, so this is important to increase shelf-life of your jam. Another thing you can do is to store the jam cold afterwards. 
8. Fill the glass with jam and close the glass.