Skip to main content

Merry Berries - Strawberry Kumquat Jam with cloves


As far as I can remember, I've never picked strawberries in June. The berry picking usually starts and finishes well within the month of May. In fact, I remember picking Asparagus and Strawberries in the  same session last year, and those berries were the stragglers towards the last of the season, tiny, & tart. I'm chalking it to global climate change!


Another lesson learned from last year - Never go fruit picking with kids if you're aiming to create something new. Yes, its fun, the kids love it and all the memory making aspects of childhood are spot on, but save that for an informal session when you're past the focused search for perfectly ripe, sun kissed strawberries.



And the occasional super cute mutant!



or should that be a collection of them? (Disclaimer: I did specifically look for the mutated ones after I picked the first one.)

AS much as I prized my 'alone' time berry picking, It was for solely meant for the kids. They become little predators when faced with a box of Driscolls, and at the end of 10 minutes, the scene around the sink resembles a 'green massacre'.. drops of water on the kitchen floor that's been steadily dripping off their little elbows, green, leafy 'caps' from the berries strewn all around as if a bunch of elves decided to shed their garments, and of course the tops of the berries (the white part  that they've discarded).


In the end though, Murphy's law prevailed. They barely ate a few (may have been too small or not firm enough for their taste), so the next step was to rinse them thoroughly in lukewarm water with vinegar added to it. -- This is a great trick for extending the shelf life of the berries since it prevents any fungus/mold from growing on them.

In the meantime, I still had a batch of Kumquats left over from my Kumquat & Crystallized Ginger Focaccia -  2 blog posts ago and I'd been deliberately holding on to these just to test the effectiveness of the Green Saver containers from OXO . 



It was like a flashback to those long term storage experiments done on refrigerated biological samples. 3 weeks and the kumquats were as fresh as ever. The decision was instantaneous, Strawberry Jam with the kumquats thrown in! Turns out, the kumquats played a valuable role. They not only add flavor, but the pectin from the fruit and especially the seeds helps to set the jam. The natural pectin content in the ripe strawberries is on the low side. The cloves were a complete after thought. I held the spice over the bubbling mix and it smelled good, so tipped the cloves right into the mix.
As for the recipe, I originally intended to make Merrill Stubb's recipe from +Food52 , but the final recipe deviates quite a bit from the original in terms of ingredients and quantity, but since Merrill's recipe was the inspiration, credit should be attributed to the source.



Strawberry Kumquat Jam with cloves

You need: (makes ~ 4 pints)

8 cups quartered/diced strawberries (Press down to pack the berries)
2 cups  deseeded & diced kumquats (reserve the pips)
4 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon (save the seeds)
20 - 30 cloves
A pinch of salt


Tie the citrus seeds from the kumquats and lemon in a piece of cheesecloth. This is the source of extra pectin that helps to set the jam to a firm consistency. If you like you could also add the cloves  into the cheesecloth if prefer your jam mildly spiced, I opted to add the spice directly into the jam to get a stronger flavor.




Combine the strawberries, kumquats,  lemon juice,citrus seeds, sugar, and salt in a heavy pan and bring to a boil. 




If adding the cloves directly into the jam, do so at this point. Also place a steel metal plate into the freezer. You'll need it to test if the jam is at its 'setting' point.




Lower the heat and cook down for about 30 - 45 minutes. At this point, test the jam by adding a smal blob of jam onto the frozen plate. Place the plate back into the freezer for about a minute and then test by pushing back the cool blob of jam with your finger tip. If it makes wavy 'folds', its ready. Switch off the heat.

While the jam is cooking down sterilize your canning jars, the lids and the rings (and for good measure, your canning equipment like tongs, lifter and funnel as well) and dry them thoroughly. 




Carefully ladle the hot jam into the jars. Wipe the rims clean with a moist paper towel and place the lids over. Screw on the rings until just finger tightened. 



Submerge the filled jars in a water bath and can as per the manufacturers instructions (I let the cans boil away for 20 minutes, just to make sure that all the air inside the jars had an opportunity to escape). Remove the jars, wipe down and tighten the rings. Ensure that the pop up seal is pressed down to ensure a good seal. (If not, refrigerate the jar and use up within two weeks).spoon out any remaining jam from the pan and store in a small container for immediate use.




Serve with toast, pancakes or dosais for a memorable breakfast!





 Bon Appetit!







Comments

  1. Hiya! Dropping by at the recommendation of one of your old iitb professors who also happens to be my dad! Nice blog, lovely photos! Cheers Bach

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love those weck jars niv. And how do you have the time to make halloumi bajji and jam? Amazing woman you are!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I'd love to hear feedback from you, your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

Popular posts from this blog

Sputtering back....

I seriously feel like this scene from the movie 3 idiots .. remember this one? The way I kept racking up drafts and eventually stopped doing that as well. Lulled into complacence by the quick high from Instagram posts. Recipe measurements hastily scribbled into a Moleskine notebook faithfully depending upon my moods. The truth is that I keep over thinking the backstories needed to make the post more interesting while in reality the truth is that ideas and inspirations just occur spontaneously (like little itches , sneezes or twitches) whenever the opportunity happens to strike. Some really cool ideas that scare the beejeezus out of me and yet prove to be utterly delightful and simple in the end. Others, that seem so trivial that I feel it wouldn't be worth crowing about -- even if there are enough other recipes in that genre that get so much publicity simply because the author happens to have the right marketing knack. So in the past 4 years that I've been

Unusual Ingredients - Unripe Blueberry Achar

T'was just another Summer afternoon, The kids were home for the summer holidays, getting bored, there's only so much summer reading you can force them to do, and the Indian mommy in me could no longer caution them against going out in the afternoon  (I've solemnly refused to use that horrid excuse of 'You'll get a dark tan if you stay out in the mid day sun'), and so we decided to head out to Terhune orchards for the blueberry picking. The kids never say no to outings to the orchard, they LOVE the trip there, the cute yellow dogs and the cats,  the chocolate crinkle and Snickerdoodle cookies, and they positively trip over grabbing buckets and heading joyfully towards the berry bushes... ... And there it ends, the younger one loses herself in her delightful imaginary worlds where she probably thinks she's hacking her way through virgin Amazon jungle, sighing at every branch that brushes against her legs, picks 2 or 3 berries as if they were a new as

Product Review: Ninja Mega Kitchen system and a recipe for Masala Dosa

 One of the biggest reasons for attending conferences is the priceless experience of meeting fellow bloggers and get an invaluable exposure to all things  culinary. This includes vendors with new products to savor and get inspiration from. I had no complaints about whatever appliances I had for making traditional Dosa (Traditional South Indian rice & lentil crepes) batter, a sturdy tabletop stone grinder that you could add the Urad dal, turn the timer on , and 30  minutes later, come back to a container full of fluffy, batter with the consistency of whipped egg whites. The The cons of this is the cleaning up, of the various parts, the roller, the grinding bin, the multiple trays on which the rollers need to be placed while transferring the rice & lentil batter, the invariable drips of thick batter on the counter.... you get the point, It takes quite a bit of time. I was pleasantly surprised when the appliance company, Ninja asked me if I'd like to try any of their