Four Fruit Jaggery jam is a wholesome jam made using just two ingredients; only fruits and jaggery without any preservatives, color or added pectin
A long while back, a blog reader had left an ardent request for me to share a homemade “kissan jam” recipe. I had smiled at the trust he/she had on me but laughed at the plausibility of it in my mind, left it at that and moved on.
Several years later.. turns out my little one has a soft corner for jam.
I have shopped for many jams in various categories including those with natural ingredients & few preservatives so far, but had that constant mental itch to make my own mixed fruit jam from scratch (thanks to that ardent request), a jam with no added artificial flavors, pectin, thickeners or colors. I have made fruit compotes (or compôte) several times, but had always yearned to make a mixed fruit jam.
Because, I’m a control freak when it comes to choosing what to buy and Because I don’t trust the marketing lingo on the front of the package, I read the back of the packages religiously, ingredients list specifically and I find things like “thickener -440”, acidity regulator -330, preservative -202, “Contains permitted food color 122 and added artificial flavors and class II preservatives”, time and again
I don’t want either my kids or us to be eating stuff like those.
Also by making at home from scratch, we get to refuse, reduce reuse recycle
In short, I made this Four Fruit Jaggery Jam from scratch and felt like I scored 90% in an invisible exam!
It might be a tad laborious, but the satisfaction makes up for it 100%
This Four fruit Jaggery Jam may not be an exact replica of branded Mixed fruit jam. But SO SO delicious in its own way and you can taste all the fruits. Next time, I will be trying with native Indian fruits.
The sweetener of choice for the jam is jaggery. I use jaggery for everything from chai to sweets to baking. So it came naturally to make this four fruit jam.
Refined sugar free, no added colors, preservatives or pectin – the color of this jam greatly comes from the black grapes and strawberries
The secret of this four fruit jaggery jam is no added pectin. All the needed pectin comes from Apples. So do not skip the apples in the recipe.
The amount of jaggery used depends on the sweetness of the fruits. Always taste check the fruits and the jam while making and adjust jaggery accordingly.
All you need to make this jam is good quality fruits, jaggery and some time at hand. Time till the fruit and jaggery are slow cooked till most of the moisture evaporates and the resultant mixture thickens to the desired spreadable consistency.
This recipe needs no canning experience. And since we don’t sterilize and can the jam, it must be stored in the refrigerator or it will go bad.
I’m sure whoever you will make this for, will simply love it. Do give it a try. Homemade Four Fruit Jaggery jam is heaven on a spoon.
If you love cooking with fruits, you might really melt at the idea of this Raspberry Pear Tart or this Maavina Hannu Seekarane
- 1 medium ripe yellow Pineapple
- 350 g Black seedless grapes
- 2 boxes Strawberries
- 2 Apples
- 3 cups Jaggery powder
- 500 gm glass bottle or slightly bigger
- Parchment paper for lining the cap
- baking soda for washing the fruits
-
wash the apples in water with baking soda stirred in, to get rid of the wax layer and pesticides if any.
-
Similarly wash the black grapes too.
-
peel and core the apples and discard the seeds.
-
Roughly chop the peeled apples into chunks.
-
Pluck all the grapes from the stems. Discard any spoilt grapes.
-
Wash the strawberries. Gently towel dry. Pluck out the leaves and hull the strawberries. Trim/cut off any slimy parts.
-
Wash and cut off the outer skin (including the eyes) and top of the pineapple. Also, after chopping the pineapple fruit, make sure to cut off/ trim the central tougher part.
-
Transfer all the chopped fruit into a blender and puree them by pulsing intermittently. Do not add any water.
-
Transfer this fruit puree to a wide, thick bottomed stainless steel pan and place it on medium heat.
-
Add jaggery powder and cook on medium heat while stirring intermittently.
-
When the mixture goes from big bubbles to smaller frothier bubbles (takes at least 25 mins), continue to stir continuously to not let it burn.
-
Jam is done when it thickens enough that when you scrape the bottom of the pan with the ladle, it begins to part leaving a clear path in between
if the jam is still runny and covers the pan as soon as you lift the ladle, continue to cook.
-
Switch off the stove and let it cool completely.
-
Remember, that the jam will continue to thicken as it cools.
-
When cooled completely, transfer jam to the clean dry bottle and cover with parchment lined lids before storing in the refrigerator. Optionally, label the bottle with the date of making
-
Spread on some warm toast or chapathi rolls and enjoy!
line the bottle cap with a parchment paper to avoid rusting of any kind
Store in the refrigerator and use, since the recipe did not sterilize the bottles for canning
handle with a dry spoon always
If you don't have strawberries, you can substitute with black grapes or any other non-watery fruit of your choice
Taste check and adjust the amount of jaggery used according to the sweetness of the fruit you have on hand
If you don't have a big bottle, store it in two smaller bottles.
If stored and handled well, the jam stays well in the refrigerator for at least 3 months
Ryoko says
I cannot wait to try this one.
have you can this recipe to preserve it longer ?