If you ever start making preserves you will stop buying the store brands. These types of preserves are so delicious and easy to make. With a little bit of imagination, you can serve an endless variety to family and friends who will love every one of them.
I was lucky enough that my friend Ami Majmudar picked up strawberries, raspberries, and raw sugar at Costco for me. We had a rendezvous to exchange groceries at the grocery store parking lot between our two homes. I can’t wait to invite her children to tea and serve them this version.
Strawberry preserves with ginger and no pectin.
Home made jams and preserves are delicious. Serve over toast, muffins, oats, cereal, scones and more. They even taste delicious with plain yoghurt. Watch out. While these types of preserves have zero saturated fats and only traces of sodium, they are mostly sugar.Yum.
Ingredients
- Organic Strawberries – 4 cups
- Raw sugar – 3.5 cups
- Organic Raspberries – 1 cup
- Fresh Lemon Juice – 4 tbs
- Lemon Peel chopped or diced – 2 – 3 tbs (to taste)
- Cardomom – 1 or 2 pods
- Saffron – 6-8 threads
- Minced candied ginger – 2 – 3 tbs (to taste)
- Jaggery shavings – 1/2 cup
- Vanilla bean – an inch long piece
Directions
Clean and drain the strawberries and cut them into halves. I don’t bother hulling them. Add the berries allong with cleaned raspberries into a heavy bottomed pan. Add the sugar and heat while stirring frequently until the heat makes them start to bubble and boil.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the rest of the ingredients. Keep stirring gently but frequently for 40 – 60 min until they fruit and liquid reduce to about 3/4 of their volume.
You will know it is ready with a simple test. Place a ceramic saucer or dish in the freezer when you start cooking. Remove the plate and add a tsp of the jam on the plate and let it sit for a minute. Run your finger through the jam to separate into two sections. If the sections dont run back together the preserves are done.
Allow to cool and place in clean dry jars and refrigerate. Make sure the lids don’t have beads of moisture under them as this could encourage mould. I have had these preserves in my fridge for several months without spoiling but they seldom last more than a couple of weeks as they are so scruptious.
