All natural.
No artificial ingredients, pectin,
colouring or preservatives.

Low sugar.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Monday, December 28, 2009

How I started making jam

My husband and I love taking bread and jam for breakfast. Sometimes we have jam on scones or crackers.
Commercial jams are high in sugar and contain very little fruit (that’s why commercial jams are hard like jelly). Artificial pectin is usually used. Even if the label says fruit pectin is used, commercial fruit pectin is probably chemically processed. Thus I hand on and make my own jams.
I browse the webs for ideas and compared methods used by the foreigners since jam is very much their culture. Well, even homemade jam by the Americans are far too sweet. The ratio of fruits and sugar is 50–50.
I started with papaya and pineapple because they are common fruits in Malaysia. Frankly, I can't imagine how papaya jam tasted as jam and I don't like just plain papaya. I feel very strongly that orange peels go well with papaya.
Pineapple jam is commonly associated with pineapple tarts in our culture. And I don't want my pineapple jam to end up like the jam on the tarts that is sticky and sweet. Hence lemon peels go well with pineapple.
Finally I've my 1st batch of jams cooked up with praises from both my husband and daughter.