Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Publishing old photos as the plum season in the Oratia orchards is well finished! But jam recipes are good to keep! I used 1 kg of plum was far too ripe and soft for eating. It happens, sometimes we buy fruit and it is hot so it doesn't keep… but very ripe fruit is sweeter, and it is perfect for jams! I washed and the plums and put them in a pot with a little water and boiled them, then I strained them to discard stones and leftover skin and tasted the paste. I usually add 50-60% of sugar (I don't like the 1kg fruit for 1kg sugar ratio they do in NZ), but this paste was already sweet! So I added just 2 tbsp of brown sugar and a pinch of citric acid (as a preservative) and, fearing that the jam wouldn't set, 1/3 tsp of agar agar. If I were to keep this jam longer maybe I would have added more sugar, but I only made 5 small jars and they went pretty quickly!   Remember that apples and pears are still in season at the Dragicevich Orchard, 556 West Coast Rd, Oratia, ...

I made  feijoa  jam using my usual ratio of 60% sugar (i.e. 60g sugar for every 100g fruit - in this case you need to scoop the pulp our first, as the jam is made only with the pulps, not the skins). Most Kiwis seem to use the same amount of sugar as the weight of the fruit (100g to 100g) which I find too much personally, but if this is also your style of jam and you are planning a feijoa jam … think again!! Even with the 60% ratio my jam was so thick that I regretted putting it into jars! It would it been better in a mould, like quince paste. In fact it really reminds me of the guava paste that you can buy in South America (and in some shops here too, in cans). It smells tropical and taste fantastic, sweet and thick and just perfect with a strong cheese. So next time I'll make feijoa 'paste', not jam, and I'll be sure not to put it into a jar! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Jam made with plums from Oratia. I removed the stone and cooked the plums with a little water and some jam setting sugar (this was a present, and I wanted to try it). The NZ jam tradition seems to be 1kg of sugar for 1 kg of fruit (or even more sugar if you make raspberry jam) for an Italian this is too much. I go for 40 to 60%, with the latter being my preference if I need to preserve the jam for a long time (it helps agains botulin). You can taste the fruit better with less sugar :-). And our cats, Nikita (left) and Marameo (right) are also enjoying the last of the sun, sleeping outdoors all day long! Marameo is 18 now, an old lady cat    Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

These images are of the afternoon baking with my daughter, we made jam ring biscuits with strawberry jam, and with the left-over pastry Arantxa cut her own biscuits.  She really likes little details :-). Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©