Merry Christmas Jam Recipe so that you can surprise your loved ones this season with your homemade food gift.
Not only the name but also the fruit jams flavor combination with spices will warm up your family and friend's heart.
If you are looking to gift a jar of homemade jam preserve for Christmas, I can recommend the Orange marmalade.
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I think the name, Merry Christmas Jam, is fun and totally suitable.
This Christmas Jam Recipe will get us all into Christmas mood, no matter if it's snowing outside or not.
The jam includes seasonal fruits and spices, which remind me personally of Christmas and all the food goodies that we tend to enjoy during that time of the year.
I combined each ingredient, fresh fruits and spices, in such as way that they compliment each other to create a unique magical winter jam.
🍐 Ingredients
Fruits
I created the Christmas Jam Recipe by combining pears, plums, figs, and raisins, and because I want you to enjoy preparing your own batch, I haven't set any fixed rules on the amounts for each fruit.
However, I have fixed the total quantity of all the fruits, which gives you plenty of freedom to combine the amounts of each fruit the way you like.
So, for example, I combined the fruits the following way: 30% Pears + 30% Plums + 30% Figs and the remaining 10% the Raisins.
Spices
To turn this Jam into a Christmas delight, I add spices which will remind you of the holiday season.
This includes green cardamom, star anise, and cinnamon.
I think the combination of these 3 spices alone is more than enough to bring out the flavors of the fruits and to make you realize with each bite that the jam is magical.
Sugar
This Jam, as are all my jams, is prepared without pectin sugar because it's based on the French way of preparing jam.
Real regular sugar is used instead, which preserves the jam really well for many months.
Please do not reduce the sugar quantity in this Christmas Jam Recipe, because the sugar is not only a sweetener but the main ingredient that preserves the fruits.
🔪 How to make it?
To prepare the jam is super easy and straightforward.
Just follow the basic steps outlined, watch the quick video and read up the full recipe below with the ingredient quantity and complete instructions.
- Wash fruits, discard core of plums, and pears.
- Wash and sterilize jars and lids in boiling water or oven
- Cut fruit into chunks and place into pot
- Pour sugar over the fruits.
- Mix sugar into fruits
- Take to heat
- Add the Spices
- Slowly bring to a rolling boil
- Reduce heat and let simmer until jam thickens and sets. Setting point is 105 Celcius/220 Fahrenheit.
- Check with Thermometer, or freezing cold plate, if the jam is set
- Once the jam is set, take out the spices from the hot jam
- Blend the jam to a smooth or semi-smooth consistency
- Fill jam into clean jars up to the rim
- Pour a tiny amount of rum, whiskey or other alcohol into the lid to give your jam extra protection
- Close the jam jar tight
- Turn the hot jar with the jam in it upside down to create a vacuum. Leave the jar that way for 24 hours.
- Label your jar with the jar name and date
- Store in a cool and dry place. Keep in the fridge once opened.
🧰 Tools
Basically, you can prepare a jam at home with just a simple large pot, a wooden spoon and some old glass jars with lids.
It's that simple.
However, if you enjoy making jam and or you want to go all the comfortable way by using some tools, then I suggest you can some of the basics.
For example, instead of a plain large stainless steel pot, you can get one of those fancy French copper pans.
I'm saying fancy because they are for an outsiders perspective.
In France, most countryside homes have a copper jam pan like this because it's a family heirloom.
I'm waiting for my mum to pass hers on to me. If you can afford one, get one too, please!
It's worth every penny!
Another tool of the trade is a wide-mouth funnel so that you don't make a mess when pouring the jam into the jars.
I really should get one of these!
When sterilizing jams, you will need a jar lifter to move the hot jars from A to B without contaminating them.
You can boil the jars and lids in hot water to sterilize or place them into the oven to kill off all the germs.
If you are new to cooking in jams without pectin sugar, I suggest you get hold of a reliable candy thermometer so to assist you with getting the setting temperature right.
👁️ More winter jam ideas
- Pear Preserves
- Persimmon Jam
- Apple Jam by theviewfromgreatisland.com
Dear Readers, whom are you going to surprise with your homemade merry Christmas jam this season?
Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
Free E-Book available for a limited time. Grab yours now and get instantly inspired!
You missed out!
📖 Recipe
Merry Christmas Jam Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.2 pounds Mixed Fruits: fresh pears, plums, figs and dried raisins *see Notes
- 3 cups Sugar
- 1 Star Anise
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 12 Green Cardamom Pods
Instructions
- Keep a small plate in the freezer, this is to test the setting point of the jam later.
- Wash and sterilize your jam jars.
- For the jam, start by washing your fruits well. We won't peel them but take out the cores from the plums and pears. Cut your fruits into large chunks and place into a large jam cooking pot.
- Pour the sugar over the fruits and mix it all in.
- Take the fruits with sugar to the heat.
- Add the spices to the fruits with sugar. Make sure to smash open the cardamom pods so that the spice aroma is released into the jam.
- Bring your jam to a rolling boil (it will get super foamy).
- Take the heat down to a simmer. Stir occasionally and simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes until the jam is set. Jam setting temperature is 105 Celcius/220 Fahrenheit.
- To make sure that your jam is set, test it by dropping some of the hot jam on the freezing cold jam. That way the jam cools down instantly and then only can you make out if it's running or set.
- The jam is ready when it's not running but set (please refer to video).
- Pick out all the spices and with a hand blender mash the jam smooth or semi-smooth.
- Pour the jam into the clean sterilized jam jars, up to the rim.
- Pour a drop or two of rum, whiskey or similar into the lid to add extra germ protection as this will prolong your jam's shelf life.
- Close the jar with the lids tight and turn it quickly upside down when it's still hot. This will create a suitable vacuum and your jam won't get moldy. Leave the jam like that for about 24 hours.
- Label your jam with jam name and date. Store in a cool and dry place. Keep in the fridge once opened.
Notes
- The fruits need to be 1 kilogram altogether. So you can use 300 grams plums, 300 grams pears, 300 grams fresh figs, and the remaining 100 grams raisins. Or adjust the number of fruits to your liking and let us know in the comments how you made yours.
- Use regular granule sugar or to pep up things brown sugar. Do not reduce the amount of sugar! This would ruin the jam and it will turn bad within weeks. The sugar preserves the fruits.
- Always use clean sterilizer jar and lids.
Can I mix in canned fruits? Often Canned peaches/pears are offered at a local food bank with dried plums, figs, and raisins. These are usually left behind because no one knows what to make with them. I'd like to try it and be able to feature it with the foods we give out.
I Sue, theoretically, yes. But canned fruits are sweeter and in that case, you would have to adjust the sugar content accordingly. I can't tell you how much sugar to use because I haven't tried using canned fruits to make jam. You would have to reduce the sugar quantity. I recommend trying this with a smaller batch to test the result. We would definitely want to read about your experience here. Others might find this useful too.
This turned out so good! I used fresh picked pear and plums. I gave a jar to several friends and they loved it too. Will definitely make again.
Thanks Amanda for your feedback! Glad you guys loved it. 🙂
Hi Helene,
Does 1kg of fruit really only make 3 jars?
I was looking to do this for the whole family. 10 Jars.
So do I need roughly 4kg of fruit?
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Alex, yes the quantity of 1kg fruit and 700 gram sugar makes about 3 jars (300 ml each). This is because the ingredients are cooked down. You can use smaller jars too to gift. I recommend always work with just 1 kg of fruit at a time because it's easier to get the setting point right. I have done it with 2 kg of fruit and it just complicates everything. You could work in batches but if you really want to prepare a larger batch, I would not do more than 2kg in one large pot. The same applies to anybody converting this to pounds.
Just made this. Really enjoyed making it and its tastes delicious. Did have a bit of a mess though when turning the jars over, they popped and jam started pouring out. I've managed to get the lids on tight and they are upside down now, just wondering why it happened, and hoping it still keeps well until Christmas
Hi Emma, If they popped open it's because the jars are not that great. If the seal is tight, this can't happen. I had this happen to seals that didn't tighten properly. Maybe other jars from another brand are better for that purpose next time. They will keep well until Christmas at least if you store them in a dry and cool environment. Of course, having followed all the other points such as setting time and clean jars is also important.
Hi Patty, you can of course can your jam in your jars, just the way you would can your other jams at home. That said I have a new post, which will be posted in the next days, which talks about canning jams, fruits, etc.
Is the fruit weight, before or after cutting up?
Hi Millie, Thanks for the question! The fruits are weight after cutting up. Please excuse the confusion I will fix that in the recipe asap so that it's more clear.
Sounds yummy! I'm wondering if I can substitute some dried fruit for fresh, such as prunes, , dried figs, apricots. Thanks! I
Yes you can! Just make sure that the fruit and sugar weights remain the same as per recipe.
This looks amazing and I will definitely try it! How long does the jam typically last after opening?
Hi Victoria,
If you followed the instructions by working in a clean environment, then your jam will last about 3-4 months stored in the fridge after it was opened. The unopened jam will last for over 10 months in a cool and dry environment away from direct sun light. Happy jam making! 🙂