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.
- 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
- 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.
- Place the mixture in a pot and bring to the boil.
- Add in the mezcal.
- Reduce to thicken, stirring regularly to prevent scorching.
- 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.
- 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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