Ingredients
1Kg of ripe persimmon pulp
700 grams of brown sugar
zest of 2 lemons
juice of half a lemon
100 ml of water
Method
To sterilise jars, wash them in soapy water, rinse and drain and then place them in a cold oven set to 110degC. When that temperature is reached, turn off the oven and leave the jars for 10 minutes. Make your jam at the same time so that you are ladling hot jam into hot jars.
Wash the fruit and scoop out the pulp.
Simmer the pulp in some water or lemon juice for 30 minutes. Add the sugar and raise the heat to medium until the sugar dissolves, and then boil the mix for about 25-30 minutes until it thickens or reaches what is called the ‘setting point when the fruit turns to jam.
Test whether the setting point has been reached by dropping a teaspoon of the mix on a saucer that has had 15 minutes in the freezer. After 5 minutes on the plate, draw a spoon through it and it should wrinkle. If not, boil it a bit more and test again.
Tip: if you want to make it a spiced jam, add in a cinnamon stick and a star anise (which you remove before bottling).
Author
Robin Gale-Baker
MacLeod