At the beginning of summer I became obsessed with the idea of summer fruits and preserving the “summer’s bounty”. Around the same time I went out to buy jam and all the jam was either all sugar OR was way too expensive. So I came up with the idea of going to the farmer’s markets and buying fresh fruit and then making jam and canning it for the winter.
Since then I’ve become a lean mean jam making machine. I spent a few days going around the city getting all the necessary tools for jam making, read up on canning and then finally hit up the market at St Lawrence Market for great produce.
It’s been a learning process to say the least. my first batch was triple berry jam (strawberry, blueberry and raspberry). I didn’t use pectin (I don’t like the artificialness of it) and didn’t have a thermometer so the jam didn’t set properly. I now have about three jars of berry liquid. It’s still kind of spreadable but is great in crepes and would be a good stir-in for yogurt and oatmeal.
My next foray was peach jam which turned out great even without pectin. They key is bringing the jam to the right temperature. Next up I made ginger plus jam which was a surprise hit. I’ve never even HAD plum jam before.
Now that we’re into fall and the fruit selection isn’t great I decided to make some pear jam. Here I consulted my idol in jam making, Christine Ferber. I seriously want to be her. She’s this french lady who is known as the godmother of jam. Seriously. Isn’t that the best title ever? She has a shop in the french countryside where she makes jam all day long. Apparently the entire town smells like jam. One day I will make my pilgrimage there. Anyhoo… she has this great jam cookbook called “Mes Confitures” (it’s in english) with dozens of recipes for jam with what feels like every fruit. For pears alone she had at least eight recipes. The caramel spiced pear jam sounded delicious so that’s what I went for…
I won’t go through the whole process but you use pears that are seasoned with cardamom, cinnamon and anise seed, and then combined with sugar. You also have to make a simple caramel syrup to which you add freshly squeezed orange juice. Everything gets stirred together and made delicious.
Pears have very little natural pectin so i HAD to use pectin. I bought this all-natural pectin from Whole Foods called Pomona. It didn’t work out so well for me! Mainly because I didn’t follow the directions… details details. By the time I realized that I was on a totally different wavelength than the directions it was too late. Lets just say I spent quite a bit of time scooping out pectin globules from my jam. It turned out delicious anyway… even if the pears were too hard.
So far it has been good on bread. Will likely also stir it into some oatmeal. If I ate yogurt (I’ve pretty much stopped eating dairy… except for ice cream… it makes me congested) I’d stir it into some yogurt.
It’s super yummy and tastes like xmas! There are fewer things as rewarding (and delicious) as eating a slice of homemade bread spread with homemade jam…
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I would like the recipe you used for Caramel Spiced Pear Jam. Thank you. Jenifer
I would also like the recipe you used for Caramel spiced pear jam. thank you. It sounds heavenly. Would you mind sharing it?
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Ooooh – I have a bushel of pears and a NEED for this recipe – before I try winging it, do you think you would be able to email it to me? It sounds deeeeelicious!
Sounds delicious! Can you email the recipe for the caramel spiced pear jam?
Thanks!
I would like your recipes for the caramel spiced pear jam. I’m a 4-h leader in the canning club. That recipe sound good.