Jams, Preserves & Liqueurs Archives - I THINK THEREFORE I JAM

Fig, pear, walnut, pine nut, sesame preserve with mastic and aniseed

Inspired by the Lebanese, “M’rabbah al teen” dried fig jam, Aegean ingredients and leanings this is what I think my Nana would have called a “sweetmeat”; something so delectably fine it deserved to be eaten just by itself (Although I have eaten it with creamy thick sheep’s “Suzme” yoghurt and salty crystalline “Tulum” goat cheese).

It melds the tahini-like taste of sesame seeds, the crunch of nuts, the stickiness of the figs, the indescribable taste of mastic (sakız) and the zing of the aniseed, into a stellar confection.

Strawberry & Passionfruit Conserve (No refined sugar)

softly, gently, dribly does it

Strawberry jam is a capricious affair and belies the inviting simplicity of the fruit. It is notoriously adverse to setting, is easily over boiled and loves to reward you with a growth of mould- yet somehow when those first strawberries appear it is just too hard to resist the urge!

This version creates a soft set high fruit conserve which captures the fresh tart tastes of the fruit and has passion fruit “pop” too. I like to dribble it over ice creams, yoghurt and museli combos or old school butter and croissants.

To create the recipe I took a leaf out of the jam-making doyenne Christine Ferber’s book “Mes Confitures” (her “Strawberry with Passionfruit”) for the strawberry/passion fruit balance and tinkered with fruit sugar and lemon boiling liquid for help with setting and general brightness.

As always with jams, make in small quantities to ensure a good clear bright jam and use top quality fruit – here these were Greek strawberries…almost “local” and I ate a few to check their texture and taste.

Orange and ginger marmalade (No Refined Sugar)

I make a batch of this every year for my friend Jeff. It is bright, it is sharp, it is bold, the ginger packs one hell of a punch and it is always comforting; Jeff’s special marmalade.

Marmalade making takes place in two stages – a boiling the fruit and macerating it in sugar syrup stage- and the actual boiling up into a set stage. Thus you can chop a longer process in two and make marmalade in the middle of the night, in the middle of summer and in the middle of a pandemic too.

I eat mine on toast, make upside down cakes with it and sneak it into the bottom of crème caramel moulds for a twist.

In this recipe I use fruit sugar, concentrated grape juice and more lemons to ensure a light marmalade and a perfect set. The amount of ginger is generous and roughly chopped as I generally find that there is no such thing as too much ginger but if you prefer things a little less head-on then grate the ginger and reduce the amount a little.