By the end of last week I had my bomb of fresh Fruit Salads with curds, and I am happy to announce that I got used to the heat.
Some days ago it rained a bit early mornings and since that its even more hot, (38 Celsius and I guess the humidity is easily over 80%).
My husband is still in the fruit salad craze, because he can’t get used to the calidity.
Sometimes I am wondering who the local between us two is, the same question arises whenever we are in Europe where I can’t stop complaining about endless, blistering cold.
While my husband was fixing my dads old Motorbike outside, I was standing in front of our wood oven, frantically trying to gain a bit of warmness.
You can imagine!
Since i was finished with fruit salads for some time and I needed anyway some fresh jam for my breakfast, I decided to make a tropical mix fruit jam.
The last few months we were still living of the few jars of Strawberry Passion Fruit jam I had prepared in December.
My sister even took one for my parents to Austria when she came to visit us.
This time i needed a few more flavour dimensions and I had to use the fruits in the house.
O.O Fresh foods tend to get quickly foul these days again, I blame the humidity for that, maybe our small fridge but not my taste bud change!
This recipe was inspired by our family trip back then in 1997 (or was it 98?).
I was around 10 and my parents, my siblings and I had gone to visit my mums friend on the french island Guadeloupe for 2 weeks.
That was one of the most memorable vacations ever!
We stayed in the southern part of the island (Basse Terre) where we were the only foreigners ( we didn’t see one white face roaming around at that time).
I remember the market very clearly.
At that time too I had to write a diary (homework for school) so I had documented about the markets there (yes, already back then!).
I remember tasting my first fresh Papaya and mango and learning about some exotic fruits such as Love Apples and Black Bananas.
The market ladies were kind of singing while attracting customers to their stalls, it was magical!
One day in the future I ll organize the pictures from Europe, so you ll be able to see what it used to look like, what seems like ages ago.
I tasted my first tropical fruit jam in Guadeloupe.
Banana and mango jam was so unusual for us, even for my parents, but we are a family who likes to discover and try out new things and foods, so we went all into it!
My mum had noted down her friends favourite mix fruit jam, she used to make it before but had stopped it for a while now.
The time was right for me to reinvent it.
Actually the recipe what I am sharing with you today is pretty much the same like the original, except I have added Kiwis as a twist.
There is no Pectin sugar in this recipe, just simple sugar is used, Apples and a small amount of finely chopped lemon skins, which helps in setting the jam.
Here we go with the recipe so that you can prepare your own batch at home. =)
- handfull Raisins
- 1 Oz White Rum
- 1 small or ¾ of a Medium Pineapple
- ⅓ of a medium Papaya (1 inch flesh)
- 1 Apple
- 2 Tangerines
- ½ of a big Grapefruit
- 2 Kiwi
- 1-2 Bananas
- 1 Pomegranat
- 1 inch fresh Ginger root
- 400 gm Sugar
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- zest of a ¼ Lemon
- Keep the Raisins to soak in the rum, a night before you intend to cook the jam.
- The next day prepare to clean and cut all the fruits. Remove the Pineapple skin by cutting it all around off, remove the ring core of the pineapple too, because that part seems to be causeing irritation in some peoples throats. I kept the core in the recipe, thats my favourite part of the pineapple. Cut the pineapple into small chunks.
- Rinse and cut a slice out of the Papaya. Remove the skin with the black seeds as shown. Cut out the flesh from the skin and dice it.
- Rinse and peel the skin of the apple, quarter and remove the core of the fruit. Cut it into small slices.
- Peel the tangerine, remove the white strings and cut out the seeds with a fruit scissor.
- Half the Grapefruit. With a knife cut out the flesh from the sponge mass all around then cut out the flesh partitons. I usualy help myself with fingers too, except if I have a special Grapefruit spoon. Part the chunks with your fingers into smaller pieces.
- Peel the Kiwi, quarter and cut into slices.
- Peel the Banana and cut into thin slices.
- Quarter the Pomegranat and pick out the red flesh/seeds.
- Peel the ginger root and chopp it fine.
- Add all the fruits to a Pot and heat it up on a slow flame.
- Allow it to heat up a bit and directly add in the sugar and the Raisin Rum mix. Stir well!
- Continue to stir (actualy you will have to do that till the jam is ready cooked). The fruits will loose a good amount of liquid after a few minutes of cooking.
- Now chopp the pealed lemon zest very finely and add it together with the juice to the pot. Keep on stiring every now and then. It should never stick to the bottom of the pot, attention here!
- Once the fruits cooked for over 10 minutes, you can smash them with a potato masher gently.
- Cook it on slow heat for 45 minutes and the last minute to a rolling boil.You can test if the jam is ready by dropping hot jam on top of a cold plate from the freezer, if it rins, then its not ready but instead it should be thicker.
- Sterilize the jars by boiling them in hot water with the caps. Remove them from the water and directly fill in the jams. Drop some Rum inside the cap, that will help to give your homemade jam a longer life. Seal it well and keep the jars in a dry place, to make sure that no mold grows!
Today you will be able to learn more about me and who I am over at Maureens – the Orgasmic Chef. Hop over to find my interview and my favourite childhood dish recipe! Can you guess what it is? =D
Sarah Caron says
I’ve never had a jam like this, but it sounds delicious. I bet it’s very refreshing in the morning on toast.
Joanne says
Tropical fruits tend to be my favorites so I know I would adore this jam! Definitely perfect to cool off in this heat!
Epicurea says
can you please send some over here :-)?
Bakerstreet29 says
I love your choice of ingredients here. There’s ginger, kiwi, grapefruit and rum of course. Great clicks H! 🙂
Liz says
Interesting combination of fruits, plus I like the addition of rum – sounds really nice.
Aparna B. @ Not A Leaf says
I love the color and ingredients! It just screams spring and summer 🙂 But I love the added element of ginger to give it a good kick. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing! Have a good weekend <3
Shuhan says
I just love the mix of all these tropical fruits in a jam! remidns me of all the fruits I enjoy back home. I would gladly slather that over toast everyday. nice one helene (:
Yummychunklet says
This jam is worth it just to see the seeds suspended in the jam goodness.
Cucina49 says
I’ve never seen a jam quite like this one–what a great mix of flavors, and it’s a beautiful color.
Choc Chip Uru says
This jam is absolutely awesome – there are no other words to describe it – we’ll maybe creative, genius and utterly divine 😉
This is fantastic and such a break from the usual!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
http://gobakeyourself.wordpress.com/
Catalina @ Cake with Love says
Great recipe, I love the color of the gem, and all the photos are amazing!!!
FiSh says
wow there’s really alot of fruits used for the jam. but i love it, with no added sugar 🙂
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Helene Dsouza says
Hi! Sugar has to be added because otherwise it wont get set and preserve. A jam is only a jam when it is set. Already I have used normal sugar instead of the added pectin sugar and I have reduced the amount to a reasonable minimum so that its not over sweet, as are most of the commercial jams out there.
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
I have never had a jam made with so many different kinds of fruits…and it turned out so great!
Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef says
I love this post!!! It gives a peek into what your life is like and I like that.
This jam is really interesting. I love jam but usually end up making “normal” jams like strawberry and raspberry or orange marmalade. I want some of this one!
Sissi says
The jam looks beautiful and must taste heavenly. Such exotic treats are only possible far from Europe…
LaMereCulinaire says
Didn’t i say tat you’re a fusion foodie!
This is so exotic, i can barely imagine the taste!
Is there something non-alcoholic i can use instead of the rum?
Helene Dsouza says
ah I was prepared for that question from your side Arwa. =)
You can leave the Rum out and add the Raisins to the fruits while cooking directly, without soaking them previously.
Charles Smith says
Heh, so it means you’re only 24 (or 25) now? I always assume people behind blogs are older than me – it’s not so often I meet someone who’s younger than me… of the blogs I read I only know two people like that I think, now three 🙂
I’m intrigued by this jam – I just can’t imagine what it must be like with bananas inside. It sounds delicious… kinda like having multi-fruit juice in jam format… so yummy – and pomegranate too? I never saw pomegranates used like this (only seen them used “raw” in salads or juiced up before) so it’s really fun to see a cooking recipe involving them. Thanks for sharing this – I’ll remember this next time pomegranates are in season around here.
Helene Dsouza says
Yes I am 24 right now. Happens to me too, I always think others are much older and in the same time wiser then I am. 😉
I had once a turkish pomegranat jam,.. so defently it can be preserved. In this recipe there will be pomegranat seeds in the jam too, which arent that annoying while indulging the jam, so no worries!
Lizzy Do says
I’d much rather have your magical mix of tropical fruits in my jam than something ordinary like grape or raspberry! Yours sounds delicious!
Eva says
The jam looks wonderful Helene. The photos are really beautiful too. We are just heading into spring on my side of the world, everything is spectacular and in bloom.
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
Your jam must be delicious with all the different fruits that you used. I can’t imagine the heat and humidity that you are dealing with.
Parsley Sage says
This. is. brilliant! Love love this jam. I’m so making this.
And I’ve been totally climatized too. If it gets below 60, i’m ‘freeeeeezing’ 🙂
Cass @foodmyfriend says
This looks so delicious! I love how it looks in the jar with the sun peaking through 🙂
Helene Dsouza says
thanks Cass! I had the same thought! 😉
Karen says
Wow…what lovely flavors in this jam. I think this would be perfect no matter the season!!!
kitchenriffs says
Great combo of flavors. I love the ginger in this! It always adds such a nice tangy flavor. Really enjoyable post and recipe – thanks.
Jenn and Seth says
oh wow this sounds absolutely delicious! so many wonderful flavors!
shruti @ a spoonful of yumm says
this jam looks fabulous……love all the ingredients you used !
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Preet says
This jam looks so delicious. My aunt used to make homemade jam for us, it is just so different and so delicious. Looking at your pictures and imagining the taste, I want to try this myself now.