Cherry Negroni soft set jam

take one part VBF (Very Best Friend), one part FCB (Favourite Cocktail Bar – and I have one downtown Bucharest replete with home-made syrups, fresh herbs and burly bartenders) , add two Negronis and mix gently with the latest gossip – Voila! “Negroni Night”!

Cherry Negroni jam may just be the pick-me-up you need after such a soirée; spread on toast and butter with a restorative coffee it is just perfect.

Ingredients for 5-6 200ml jars

  • 1.0kgs de-stoned sour cherries ( buy 1.2 kgs)
  • 300g thinly sliced oranges (approx 1 large orange) A food processor is useful for this
  • 450ml water to boil the orange slices in
  • 1 .0 kg fructose (regular sugar also works fine)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 200ml bitters/ vermouth such as Cinzano Rosso or Ramazotti

How To

  • The night before, macerate the cherries in the fructose and refrigerate. A minimum of 8 hours is good. If time is short then bring to a low boil and switch the heat off – leave to macerate 2 hours. This allows the sugar to permeate the fruit and prevent “floating fruit” in the finished jam.
  • Boil the orange slices in the water with the lid on (you need that cooking liquid)
  • Day two: Combine all ingredients in your jam pan and bring the fruit to a boil starting at a low heat first.
  • Large bubble stage: Boil at a medium heat – the fructose has a lower melting point than regular sugar so it can burn on the bottom of the pan. At first it will froth and the pectin will create a scum – skim off as much of the scum as you can. Let it boil away because magical things are happening as well as some evaporation of liquids. Approx 30-40 mins
  • Small bubble stage: Boil at the highest heat until the bubbles are smaller and the jam has changed in appearance and looks “glassy” (in fact its refractive index has changed! as has it’s moisture content) Approx 10-15 mins
  • Test the jam for a soft set: on a plate in the freezer – remember this is a soft set jam.. If you have a jam thermometer , the jam should reach 102C (104-105C for a hard set)
  • Now add the bitters and turn down to the lowest setting. Cook for 2-3 minutes just so any harshness from the alcohol disappears.
  • Pot it into hot jars sterilised in a solution of bicarbonate of soda, the lids too.
  • Turn the jars upside down to sterilise the airspace or water bath them or process them in your dishwasher on the hottest setting – as you prefer.

Soft set Apricot, lime and vanilla jam


I grew up of course with very rigid jam making rules and chasing the holy grail of a “perfect set” jam every time. And certainly a solid “set” jam has it’s advantages not sliding off that carefully buttered slice of toast. Now I like to “follow the fruit” and let it gel the way it wants, just naturally and according to how much pectin it contains.

This makes for more soft set dribbly jams – in the style of Turkish or Transilvanian jam making – but retains the true flavour of the fruit far better.

Being somewhere between a classic jam and a “compote” they lend themselves to all manner of culinary uses and are perhaps more suited to how we eat today? Use them to dribble over granola and yoghurt , over plainer cakes and best of all…spoon over porridge!

And the best thing of all? It is far far easier to make this kind of jam and makes for a relaxed jam making session without frantic setting tests and jam thermometers and all that paraphernalia.

Continue reading “Soft set Apricot, lime and vanilla jam”

Whole orange, coconut and saffron cake

I have made Claudia Roden’s whole orange and almond cake in various guises and with many tweakings for years and years since I first eagerly bought her encyclopedic book “A new book of Middle Eastern Cookery” while at university – somehow the co0kery book section at “Dillons” was always more interesting than the engineering one! Glancing at the book now, I see my handwritten notes about adding in some polenta in Romania and some fine cornmeal with musky mastic while visiting the Greek island of Kefalonia for a reunion.

The recipe is a Sephardic Jewish recipe which they took from Spain and Portugal when they fled the peninsula in the Inquisition and were welcomed to Turkey and other countries of the region including Egypt, Claudia Roden’s country of birth. This inspired me to add some saffron which deepens the colour and imbues the cake with that subtle smoky sweet saffron type taste.

Continue reading “Whole orange, coconut and saffron cake”