Christine Ferber, known as the Queen of Jam, once said
Jams follow a schedule of seasonal variations, gastronomic festivals and traditions
Beautiful ingredients full of delicious aroma
And with patience, time and love, the perfect finished product is presented
The whole year is full of attractive delicacies and happiness
The annual | One session and one session | One flavor per season
The fruit ripens to the ground in its own season.
Thoughtful diners, wanting to leave evidence that the fruit has ever come, try to seal the sweetness and beauty unique to each season with a special sense of ritual.
I can't help but think of the Japanese movie "Little Forest", where the ordinary girl Ichiko grew up in Komori, a village in the tohoku region of Japan.
As a child, my mother's delicious food made from various ingredients in the mountains and rivers and fields has left beautiful memories in the depths of Ichiko's taste buds.
As if following her mother's footsteps, she integrates her love for her hometown into the cooking of food.
When Ichiko makes jam, she goes from picking her own beard seeds to mashing, seeding, boiling, and finally filling a full bottle of jam.
Each bottle of homemade additive-free jam is a gift from nature.
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directory
Who put the fruit into the bottle
Introduce the origin of the history of jam sweetness
There is nothing else in the jam besides fruit
Jam is not as simple as it seems
Introduce you to the various categories of jams
Not all jams are called Jam
Let's make jam together
Share classic jam recipes
01
When did the sweet history of jam originate?
Jam, as a microcosm of food preservation experiments, is also closely related to sugar.
6th century BC
The Persian kings discovered sugar cane during their conquest of India and spread to the Middle East with the war.
Ancient Roman period
The earliest prototypes of jam were born in the hands of the ancient Romans. During the roman period, people began to soak fruits and flowers in honey.
1st century AD
The ancient Roman historian Pliny the Elder mentions in his Natural History papaya impregnated in honey, the earliest record of candied fruit.
8th century AD
The Arabs finally tasted the sweet sugarcane juice and gradually introduced the sugarcane to the Mediterranean coast, so sugar began to spread in Europe.
Mid-14th century
Candy was all the rage in European courts, and the nobles felt that all plants should be made into candy, and all flowers could be turned into jams.
16th century
There are more and more works on the theme of jam, and the famous French prophet Nostradamus wrote in the book: "The jelly of the black cherry is bright vermilion in color, like a delicate ruby." ”
Early 18th century
The modern name for jam, Jam (Old English for "squeeze"),has just appeared.
Late 19th century
The jam industry began to take shape, and from the beginning of the First World War, the French fell in love with spreading bread slices with jams that were easier to preserve due to shortages of fresh food.
It can be seen that human beings' obsession with retaining sweetness has a long history.
02
What's in a bottle of jam?
# 1| fruit #
Many people think that the fruit that is selected to make jam should be as ripe as possible, but it is not. Seven-point ripe, three-point astringent fruit is the proportion of the perfect jam.
Freshly ripe fruits are responsible for providing sweetness, and the large amounts of pectin, pectin and tannins in those fruits that are still hard can not only help the jam to perfectly present a smooth gelatinous texture, but also build a sweet, sour and astringent layer, giving the finished product a fresh vitality.
# 2| sugar #
Sugar means much more to jam than sweetness, the more important mission is to prevent preservatives; the addition of sugar reduces the activity of moisture to extend the shelf life of jam.
When the amount of sugar reaches 65% (65g of granulated sugar is added to every 100g of pulp), the jam can achieve the ideal storage conditions; if it is eaten in the short term in the refrigeration at home, the sugar content can be appropriately reduced according to personal taste.
# 3| pectin #
Pectin is a natural carbohydrate in fruits with a strong thickening and gelling capacity. During the boiling process, the pectin begins to coagulate under the action of heat and acidity.
Fruits rich in pectin are especially suitable for jam, when the fruit itself contains less pectin, you can appropriately add natural pectin, or mix and match fruits with a light taste but rich gum to help the jam form a gelatinous texture.
# 4| acid #
The pH of the mold should be between 2.8-3.5, if the acidity is not in place, the pectin cannot coagulate.
The acidity in the jam is often provided by lemon juice, and when it is boiled, it is added in moderation, which not only balances the sweetness, but also improves the antioxidant properties; it can also be slightly added with lemon flakes, which is richer in texture and fresher.
03
So, all jams are called Jam?
In Asia, any fruit candy boiled is called jam. In Europe, vegetables and fruits are notoriously named according to different presentations. Such a meticulous classification reflects the popularity of the processing art of jam in Europe.
In France, especially in france, boiling jam is a national sport, just as we always have to pickle a plum in the late spring plum to collect the spring weather of the year.
#1| Jam "the kind of jam that is known to people." #
Image source | completelydelicious.com
The most well-known type of jam is the mashed or chopped fruit, without retaining the prototype, boiled with sugar and lemon juice until the pectin is released to produce coagulation; Jam texture is easy to spread, and the finished product often contains fruit grains or diced fruit.
✦ How to eat
Jam and butter are spread over bread and are the most popular way to eat it all over the world.
Image source | blog.thestepfordhusband.at
Jam's status as a filling is also irreplaceable; it can also be mixed into a drink, and ice drinks and hot drinks are delicious.
# 2| Preserve pickled fruit #
Image source | theviewfromgreatisland.com
Originally, it meant candied fruit, which was later called candied fruit.
Most of China uses the sun to reduce the water by impregnating or cooking and sterilizing the fruit after sun exposure, so that the sugar penetrates into the fruit, flavoring it while making it more resistant to preservation; in Europe, the cooked fruit is mostly impregnated in the syrup for preservation, and most of the flesh is particularly prominent.
A scoop of large pieces of pulp is blanched with sincerity and garnished over vanilla ice cream, waffles, or warm-baked freshly baked cake muffins.
# 3| Jelly Fruit Condensation #
Discard the pulp and do not use, mixed with juice, sugar and lemon juice, relying on the rich fruit acid and pectin in the juice to condense into a clear crystalline shape, the taste is refreshing, and the sweetness is obvious.
The bright fruit gelatin can be eaten alone as a dessert, and it is more suitable for French toast and thick coating!
Alternatively, try a special American PB&J (peanut butter & jelly sandwhich), filled with a sandwich of peanut butter and fruit curd.
# 4| Mamalade citrus jam #
Image source | feiertaeglich.de
Citrus jams are jams made from citrus fruits that retain at least 1/3 of the peel, which gives off a strong fruity aroma to add flavor to the jam. Citrus jam is suitable for long-term storage, and the older it is, the more fragrant it is.
Oranges, tangerines and grapefruit, fruits with aromatic essential oils, make jams that are best degreased and served with Scone with Clotted Cream, pushing the taste to new heights of sweetness.
Paired with other toasted bread or biscuits is a good choice! Marmalade can also coat smoked ham with an appetizing orange peel flavor.
#5| Conserve assorted jam #
Image source | tidymom.net
A jam made from a fruit is called Jam, and Conserve is a jam that combines a variety of fruits and boils them together.
Blending dried fruits such as sugar, nuts or raisins will enrich the flavor.
With this rich jam, paired with cheese, the sensory experience is instantly advanced.
# 6|Compote sugar boiled fruit #
Image source | practicalselfreliance.com
Made from fruit, sugar and water simmered at low temperatures, the amount of sugar used is much less than that of jam, and the complete appearance of the fruit is basically retained.
Because of its low sweetness and high moisture, the shelf life is very short, about one week.
Most commonly used to decorate desserts, sugar-boiled fruits are commonly found in cakes and other decorations.
04
How should a good bottle of jam be made?
To this day, although industrial jams have long been equal to handmade jams, in many kitchens, you can still smell the pleasant aroma of candied fruits, and you can also see people constantly skimming away the foam and mixing jams.
As winter begins, the strawberry season arrives as promised. I don't know if you have eaten your first strawberry in winter? Few people can refuse the temptation of strawberries, so we decided to make strawberries into jam to continue this sweetness.
# 1| jam recipe #
Fresh strawberries
500g
Caster sugar
300g
lemon juice
25g
# 2| production steps #
Step1/ Wash the strawberries, carefully remove the stems and leaves, and shake off the excess water; drain the strawberries, remove the stems, and cut into small pieces and place in a clean pan.
Step2/ Add caster sugar and lemon juice, mix well, mash with a spatula, or gently gracate with your hands with gloves to leave the juice at the bottom of the pan.
Step3 / Low heat slowly, continue to cook for about 5 minutes after boiling, turn off the heat and let it cool; put it into a clean bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap or baking paper, put it in the refrigerator for refrigeration overnight, if the room temperature is not high, you can also directly cover it indoors; so that the sugar and fruit are fully integrated and penetrate into the pulp.
Step4 / Refrigerated jam is boiled in a pot over medium heat, you need to stir constantly, and fish out the foam at any time; the jam begins to bubble is a sign of gelatinization after the water evaporates, be careful not to be burned by the splashed jam!
Step5 / After boiling until boiling (103 ° C), turn the heat down and continue to simmer until concentrated and the surface appears glossy, then turn off the heat; bottle while the jam temperature is not lower than 85 ° C; after filling until it is 89 minutes full, immediately tighten the cap and reverse buckle.
Step6/The bottle is soaked in the pot in an upside-down manner, heated and boiled, then turned off the low heat, so that the bottle is kept warm in hot water for about 30 minutes, making it a vacuum state.
Refrigerate thoroughly and store, each time with a clean water-free and oil-free spoon to eat, you can store the jam for a long time.
# 3| production points #
✦ Handling of strawberries
Berry fruits are more delicate, pay attention not to damage the surface of strawberries, or crush the pulp when cleaning; after cleaning, you also need to control dry water, strawberries soaked easy to rot.
Image source | Pinterest
The removal of the strawberry stalk after drying is to prevent moisture from penetrating into the pulp through the broken surface, which can better maintain the taste and flavor of the pulp.
✦ Use of granulated sugar
If you prefer to eat a less sweet jam, you can replace some of the sugar with trehalose (you can replace up to 60% of the total amount of sugar).
You can also reduce the amount of sugar added, the time to boil the jam after reducing sugar needs to be extended accordingly, and the flavor of the jam will be lost; the shelf life of the low-sugar jam will be shorter than that of the high-sugar jam, and it needs to be eaten as soon as possible.
✦ Choice of pots and pans
The pot for boiling jam is of course the first copper pot of the mouth. Jams have a high content of fruit acids, while copper pots are acid resistant and conduct evenly in heat, and copper ions can better help the fusion of jams. Large diameter is also easy to evaporate moisture.
No matter what material is used, it is necessary to constantly stir to prevent sticking to the pan, and the strawberry juice precipitated to the bottom of the pot is also to prevent the paste from being boiled at the beginning.
✦ Sterilization of bottles
The disinfection of the bottle is the key step of jam preservation, and it is necessary to choose a clean, water-free and oil-free bottle, and fully disinfect and sterilize.
Jam is usually hot packed, glass bottles can withstand high temperatures, but not too high temperature differences, in order to prevent thermal expansion and contraction glass bottles from exploding, any method needs to be slowly heated from low temperatures.
(1) Boiling: the most common glass bottle disinfection method, cold water under the pot, medium-low heat slowly heated, boiling after boiling for 3min, take out the upside down buckle on the paper towel, wait for the water in the bottle to volatilize, you can use.
(2) Steam: put into the steamer, turn on the heat, steam for 5min after steaming, take out the inverted buckle on the paper towel, and wait for the water in the bottle to evaporate, you can use.
(3) Baking: Put into the oven, turn on the heat, bake at 100 ° C for 5min, take out and use.
Jam is the sublimation of fruit, and boiling jam by hand is probably the most sincere love for food, seasons and sunshine in this impetuous world.
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✦ Today's topic ✦
/ What is your favorite jam? /