The Edible Christmas - A fruit jam to gift a loved one, even if that happens to be you!
As usual, time has been short, here on my side, and blogging becomes less and less of a pleasure, and more a task I feel I need to complete, lest I end up abandoning this place. It's not the cooking, styling and shooting photos for the blog that has been set aside, or become a chore I end up forcing myself to continue, on the contrary. Just last weekend I was all stoked with a certain Christmas-y soda bread I baked, and couldn't wait to style a scene around it and take some photos. They're not even on a folder on my laptop, waiting for me to edit them, they're still in my camera. I haven't had the time to go thorugh them, and frankly, haven't had the will to. All I've been longing to do is write, write, write. Not blogposts, as you may have guessed.
But seeing it's Christmas, and I do love filling this space with posts during the month of December, I wasn't satisfied with not doing the same this year. Edible gifts are the best, as far as I'm concerned, seeing I love to eat, and whenever I find a few nibbles under my tree, I'm a happy camper. Some of my fave will include cheese and jams, and those are also some of the things I like gifting best. Seeing I don't yet make my own cheese, I normally cook up a batch of jamps or compotes and spread the love around, even if it's only to my very close ones. Not everyone likes to be offered food. But I think a jar of jam will always put a smile on faces, don't you?
Having frozen blueberries and black currants stashed away, I thought it would be a nice thing to turn these into a jam I could then indulge in come morning, over breakfast. It would also make for a lovely, festive gift, what with the scents and colours inside that jar. It's such a comfort feel, for me, starting my day with a slice of home baked bread spread with a sweet compote! It does help drive away the Winter blues, not that I'm having them yet. But it does sweeten the mouth, and while it lasted - which I have to say, wasn't a long time - I did indulge, and my day started all the better for it. A sweet treat once in a while is not going to harm, I'm all for balance, not restraints.
For a batch of this jam, I used:
- 375 gr black currants
- 300 gr blueberries
- 700 gr preserving sugar
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tbsp cinammon
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Start by sticking a saucer in the deep freezer. Place the ingredients in a saucepan and stirr with a wooden spoon over a high heat, making sure you coat all the fruit with the sugar and the liquid. Turn the heat down to low, and keep stirring once and again, bringing it to a boil. Let it do so for 5 to 8 minutes (this will depend on the size of your pan, really) and start testing for setting point at about the 4 minute mark, taking the pan off the heat and dropping a scant teaspoon of the mixture into the frozen saucer. Leave this to cool and then poke it with a finger to check the consistency and see if it's ready. You'll know it's ready by the touch of it, must be supple but not runny. When you reach the setting point, take it off the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes, after which time you can safely decanter the jam into cleaned, pre sterilised jars. Serve it with some scones and you can thank me later, you know.
