Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Lunch, Sweets, Tea Time
Keyword: Christmas, Jam
Servings: 8jars of 350g
Equipment
8 clean and sterilised jars with a lid
Ingredients
350gfresh cranberriesrinsed
750gblueberriesfresh or frozen
500gsweet applesgrated
3clementineszest and juice
750mlglühwein or mulled wine
2tspground cinnamon
500gjam sugarsee notes
Instructions
Put the cranberries, blueberries, grated apple and clementine juice in a pan, cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Cook until the cranberries start to break down and release their juices. Remove from the stove and leave to cool down to room temperature.
Optional: at this point, you can use a stick blender to further break down the cranberries if you like. I personally like a few lumps in my jam, but some prefer it to be smooth.
Add the glühwein, clementine zest, cinnamon and jam sugar to the pan and stir to combine the ingredients. Make sure the sugar is dissolved completely. Cover and put in a cool place overnight.
Prepare your jars and lids by cleaning and sterilising them just before cooking your jam.
On the next day, cook your jam according to the instructions on the package of the jam sugar.
When still hot, fill the jam into the prepared jars, close immediately and put the jars upside down for at least 10 minutes.
Notes
Basically, jam sugar is regular sugar with added pectin. It's the pectin that thickens the jam. Pectin is naturally present in most fruits (especially apples). When making jam, I like to use jam sugar that is less sweet. Regular jam sugar uses a ratio of 1:1 meaning that the amounts of fruit and sugar are equal. The sugar that I like to use requires a 2:1 ratio: the amount of fruit you use is twice the amount of sugar that you use. Cooking times vary as well. Therefore check the instructions on your jam sugar before you start!
Alternatively, you can use regular sugar and add pectin separately. Just check the instructions on the package.
By nature, both cranberries and apples have a large amount of pectin. Therefore, I have added extra liquids (wine) to make sure that the jam won't be too thick.
If you don't have glühwein or mulled wine than regular red wine is fine too.
When using sterilised jars, you can keep your jam for about six months in a dry and cool place.