Preservation

I have made fruit jams before especially strawberry jam because it’s my favourite! Of course,the first time hasn’t always been a success because it didn’t had the consistency that I wanted to have. I chose pineapple as my raw food product because this was the first fruit jam that I’ve ever made. Of course, first time wasn’t always a success so wanted to recreate it again and try to make it better this time.

Making fruit jam is very simple and easy. The important ingredients you should always have is the raw fruit itself and sugar.

Ingredients:

• 1 pineapple
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 2 tbsp of lime juice

1 sterilized Mason jar

Method:

1.Peel the pineapple and cut lengthwise into wedges. Grate the pineapple using with a box grater with big holes to make crushed pineapple.

2.Mix crushed pineapple,water and lime juice in a pot. Turn the stove on medium  heat and bring to a boil. Then add the sugar and stir. Cook until the mixture becomes thick. When it’s almost cook, turn down the heat and stir the jam to avoid burning.

3. When cooked, allow to cool and transfer the jam to the sterilized jar. To reduce spoilage, put the jarred pineapple jar in a water bath and boil for 5 to 10 minutes. (Make sure NOT TO SKIP THIS STEP!)

Sensory Evaluation

After the cooking process, the colour of the pineapple became darker. On the picture above  you may notice that its orange but its more like a darker yellow colour. You may also notice that the jam has a caramelized look and thick consistency, and that’s because of the sugar.   Like any other jam, it also taste sweet with a kick of sourness from the pineapple and the lime juice. It’s better to use gloves when your transferring the jam into the jar or else you might end up in a “sticky” situation.

Tips for Making Jams

1. The measurement sugar and water doesn’t have to be exactly the same. The pineapple already has some juice when you start grating it and I just cut down the sugar by 1/2 cups because I don’t want it to be too sweet.
2. Do not put too much water otherwise the jam will not thicken
3. Make sure not to stir the jam so much when its cooking otherwise it will crystallize. Only stir it when you put the sugar and before its almost done cooking to avoid burning the jam
4. Always sterilize your jar before putting the mixture
5. Make sure to put the fruit jam in a water bath after putting in a jar so that it will not spoil easily.