MAKING JAM
It is important to have a rich, varied, and high quality diet throughout the year. Fresh food products are of course the ideal thing, but often it is not possible to have the desired fruits and vegetables the whole year round. Harvesting season is often short and sweet. If proper storage is not possible and a product is likely to spoil before it can be consumed, the best solution is often to preserve it.
Preservation means modifying the product so that its proprieties change and it can be kept longer. The goal with preservation is to create a food that bacteria, insects and moulds will not live in so that the foods will not spoil. This is where techniques such as fermenting, drying, salting, pickling, canning or making jams come in. In this way, new products with different properties are made that are still edible.
RECIPES
The secret substance that makes jam and jelly-making possible is pectin. This is released when the fruit is first cooked, and is what causes the jam or jelly to set. We must add a lot of sugar, honey or syrup. Few bacteria are able to survive in this environment – as long as water is not added.
Good jam-making relies on three key ingredients: good-quality fruit, pectin, and sugar.
Prime quality fruit is better for jam than over-ripe fruit. For jam and jelly to set properly you need the correct balance of pectin, acid, and sugar. Fruits that are rich in pectin set well without any added ingredients, but those with medium to low pectin levels will need some pectin stock Lemon peel contains pectin, offering an option, but be wary of adding too much as this can affect the final flavour of the jam. Sugar preserves the fruit by inhibiting the growth of bacteria. The sugar content must be more than 60 per cent to stop the jam from fermenting.
Any sugar can be used to make jam. Preserving sugar is more expensive, but very easy to use as it dissolves quicker. Brown sugar produces darker jams with a slightly different flavour.
“Jam-making simply involves cooking fruits with sugar. After you have softened the fruit by slow cooking so that the pectin is released, you add sugar and boil the fruit rapidly. Weigh the fruit first, so that you know how much sugar to add. Use preserving sugar if you can because dissolves fastest. Boil the fruit until setting point is reached. The setting point is critical. You can be sure when it has been reached by doing a simple test. After the mixture has boiled merrily for a while, take little out in a wooden spoon and put it on a cold plate. If it is at setting point, a skin will form over the jam that will crinkle if you push it with your finger. The Jam is now ready. If a skin does not form, allow the mixture to boil some more and try again. “ The Self-Sufficient Gardener, Seymour J
Making pumpkin jam in the 11 primary schools was something lovely. It is a very simple process but at the same time it was emotive the experience to see others tasting something for the first time (and enjoying!)
We bought two breads per school, a pumpkin, two lemons and sometimes one full packet of brown sugar other times half packet per school (depending on the weight of the pumpkin). Actually, the jam must be made with same proportions of fruit and sugar.
We started the process: cutting the pumpkin and peeling it, which is quite hard and for sure the step that took us more time. Then, we cooked it with firewood. Not used to smoke, our eyes could not hold, we often cried.
After making the jam, it was the time to share with all the students. And always, always, we could manage with two breads. Each slice of bread could be in some cases cut in 16 small pieces! Other times, just each slice in 6 pieces, depending on the number of students that were attending the school. No one was never forgotten.
Both, teachers and students were curious about the process of making jam and once ready, it was the total happiness. So sweeeet and yummy!!!
Children always love sweet things, no matter the culture where they live, the country where they were born. It is something common to every child around the world.
The ingredients needed were not expensive, the recipe is indeed very cheap. From pumpkin to lemons, the people easily find them locally, in almost every home.
Besides the pumpkins itself, that has a lot of carbohydrates, the pumpkin leaves are edible and high in calcium, vitamins A, B6, C and lots of minerals like phosphorus and manganese . The leaves, while growing, also helps other crops, preserving the soil through mulching.
We feverously recommend to all DI’s and to everyone that wishes to work in the field of development to promote food security and diet diversification among the rural areas. We believe that this kind of projects has a huge footprint in the lives of the families. Simple actions, like pumpkin jam can help people to understand concepts of protecting nutrients and food safety.