Monday, 7 October 2024

Mulberry, Rhubarb & Mezcal Jam


It's a long weekend in October (the middle of Spring) which is perfect time for preserving.  This weekend, as if the produce gods knew I would have some spare time, I was randomly offered a bunch of rhubarb from a friend's mum's garden, and a bag full of fresh mulberries from another friend, picked off a tree in their back garden.  I'm a big fan of rhubarb jam and of mulberries too, so I figured combining them into a jam would be perfect.  





In my favourite pickling and preserving book, Saving the Season by Kevin West, there is a recipe for 'Rhubarb Jam with Mezcal' (p. 68).  West says that the 'fire-cooked, smoky quality' of mezcal blends surprisingly well with rhubarb.  I still have several bottles of mezcal from a trip to  Mexico (in June 2023) so adding this to my jam seemed like a great way to make a dent in all of this mezcal. 



Ingredients
  • 900g of mulberries, washed and de-stemmed.
  • 500g of rhubarb, finely diced
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 600g of sugar
  • Tablespoon of vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup of Mezcal
  • Place a small plate in the freezer for testing the jam.
Recipe
  1. In a large bowl, combine the mulberries, rhubarb, lemon juice and sugar, and allow to macerate for about 30 minutes until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Place the mixture in a pot and bring to the boil.
  3. Add in the mezcal.
  4. Reduce to thicken, stirring regularly to prevent scorching.
  5. Once it has thickened and is starting to splatter, test the jam using the cold plate.  Place a teaspoon of the jam on the plate and place it back in the freezer for 60 seconds.  
  6. If the jam is jelly-like in texture (forms a bit of a skin) and doesn't drip across the plate, then the jam is ready.



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