I have revised this recipe This jam uses pumpkin. Pumpkin pairs well with oranges and lemon. I added tangerines because it’s my favorite. I also like ginger with lemon. I cant decide. I make both! Pumpkin & Ginger Jam tastes more like marmalade than jam due to the crystalized ginger and lemon (orange, tangerine) zest. There is a subtle sweetness. Dates are an excellent source of fiber, calcium and iron. Did I mentioned they are delicious!?

Freezer Jam Is The Bee’s Knees!

FREEZER JAM –>Spicy ginger, nutty, mildly sweet pumpkin, zesty citrus zest with date paste. NO SUGAR!

NOTE: site.google.com is no longer providing a print feature. I will get the code to add a new print button as soon as I can do it! 😦

PUMPKIN / GINGER/ DATE Jam Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 – 1 CUP of diced ginger (peel ginger by scraping with a metal spoon or use a peeler)
• 1 1/2 cup of date sugar [ watch the DATE SUGAR making video – see below ]
• 3 1/2 heaping cups of fruit (about 2 lbs); tangerine segments combined with cooked pumpkin. You may add apples and/or apple peals,mandarin oranges or lemons. Note: It all has to add up to 3 1/2 cups
• *Zest 3 tangerines [ use **zest tool -see below] and soften in 1/3 cup of hot water [use microwave]
• A big pinch of sea salt [enhances the flavour]
• 1 lemon zest, about a heaping tablespoon. (*Zest lemon and combine the lemon zest with the tangerine zest )

INSTRUCTIONS

• Prepare GINGER: Finely dice or purée in a blender. TIP: You can do half puréed and half rough, diced ginger, for texture.
• Dice/chop tangerine segments (or other citrus fruit) with cooked pumpkin to make up 3 1/2 cups of fruit + pumpkin.
• Mix chopped fruit, softened zest and DATE SUGAR together. and set aside for 1 hour [ very important step ]. You can use puréed dates – add water as needed
• Add mixture into a heavy pot. Then, add tangerine juice, ginger, salt and left over zest water. Bring to a boil over medium/high heat. TIP: Make sure your pot reaches a rolling boil for about 3 minutes.Your jam is very close to being done. At this point you should have reached the required temperature to set your jam/jelly)
• MONITOR For Doneness: Cook fruit until your thermometer reaches 220 F or 105C. [about 30-60 minutes]
• If you are not using a thermometer, test the jam by looking at the drips from your stir spoon. Slow, syrup-like drips indicates the jam is ready. NOTE: I recommend this for experienced jam makers. CANNING TIPS: freshpreserving.com. For newbies: Use the thermometer and spoon test together to see how the jam looks at the correct temperature. You will get to know when its ready with the eye test. You may skip the thermometer test after you are more experienced.
• Remove pot from heat when you have reached the required temperature.
• Place jam in warm, sterilized jars and store in the fridge for 3 weeks or freezer for up to one year.

NATURAL PECTIN ~CITRUS ZEST

*ZEST: The majority of the pectin resides in the citrus peel. Natural pectin helps remove toxins such as lead and mercury from your body. TIP: make single batches only. Double batches do not work well. Gift extra jam to friends.

COMMERCIAL PECTIN

Commercial pectin is made from Apple pulp, citrus zest and acidic lemon juice. Pectin like Certo and Sure Jell are added to jams to promote a thick gel while making home made jam. But, that can change the flavor of your jam. If you want to ensure you are “Gellin”(geletin) with ‘natural’ jam, you can add apple skins to your jam for added pectin. Sieve the apple peals out as you fill your jam jars. I use the tangerine zest for my natural pectin in this ginger/pumpkin jam recipe.

How To Dry DATES:

• Clean the dates by rinsing
• Soak dates in 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water for 15 minutes. dates
• Spread onto a tray and dry in the oven at 250 F
• Oven or air dry dates until hard
• Place dry dates in a grinder and reduce to a granular powder

Date Powder – A Surprise Find!

Date sugar is good if you want to sweeten any recipe. Add date sugar to your coffee if you are removing sugar from your diet. It is a good transition away from sugar.

Jam or Preserves?

FREEZER JAM TIPS

• Watch the way the jam drips.
  • Swirl your spatula through your cooking jam, hold it up over the pot, and watch how it falls. If the jam runs right off the spoon and looks thin and runny, it’s not done yet. However, if it forms thick droplets that hang heavily off the bowl of the utensil, but don’t immediately fall off, it is either nearing completion or is done. When the jam falls off the spoon almost like a sheet..it is completely done.
• Give it time to Set.
  • Jam can take up to a week to achieve its finished set. You may think its runny, but its not. Some jams take 3 hours or 3 weeks to set into a gel like state. Don’t declare it a failure ten minutes out of the pot. I learned the hard way. If it’s done and runny put the jam in a jar. It’s okay. As it cools the jam thickens. Be Patient
  • HARD JAM: If you cook your jam too long it will start to get hard or even burn in your pot. Take heed of a thermometer or the dripping spoon test. Everything can happen very quickly when you are on a rolling boil.
• Watch and listen.
  • When is the jam ready? As a seasoned jammer, I have learned that most batches of jam will tell you when they’re done. When the cooking noise takes on a frenzied quality that sounds more like a sizzle than a gentle boil. IT IS DONE ! You will also notice that towards the end, the foam subsides and jam starts to gather more thickly on the sides of the pot, and it begins to splatter more violently.

Two Dates a Day..Keeps The Doctor Away!

How To Make Your own Date Sugar [ Easy]