Golden Citrus Jam

China-grown mandarin oranges 🍊 are only available at the beginning of the year, or during lunar New Year.  In other words, mandarin orange can only meet up its citrus counterparts during this time of the year.

I gathered my very first mandarin orange for this year, with a Sunkist naval orange, and a lemon together. And brewed them into a small cup of yummy golden citrus jam 🍯

Yield: 235g jam

Ingredients

1 large naval orange

1 large mandarin orange

1 medium lemon

80~100g raw sugar*

10g rock sugar/golden syrup, optional

* The amount of sugar added depending on the sweetness of the fruits, used as well as your preference.

Directions

1. Wash the skin of the fruits with vegetable & fruit wash to remove any residual pesticides.

2. Cut the orange into segments. Slice away the white pith and keep the orange peel. For the orange segments, remove all the seeds. Keep the pith and seeds for extracting the pectin later. Set aside.

I collected 140g of orange segments, and 6g of orange peel.

3. Repeat the same procedure for the Mandarin orange. 

I collected 125g of orange segments and 9g of orange peel.

4. Cut the lemon into halves, and extract the juice. I collected 30ml of lemon juice.

5. Julienned all the orange peel.

Dice all the orange segments. Keep the cut-size small so the jam would not to be too chunky.

6. Put all the discarded fruit peels, pith and seeds (about 220g) into a pot. And add in about 160ml of water. Heat at low temperature without boiling them. The purpose is to extract the pectin from these parts. 

Stop heating when the liquid turns cloudy and slightly thicken.

Filter the mixture and keep the liquid.

7. In a clean pot, add all the diced orange segments, julienned peel, raw sugar, pectin extract,

and lemon juice.

Bring to a constant boil and stir regularly to evaporate the liquid  faster. When the mixture starts to thicken, reduce the temperature and stir constantly.

Add in the rock sugar, if you're adding. The rock sugar would give the jam a glossy looks.

The jam is ready when your spatula can cut a clear path through the middle of the jam.

8. Transfer the hot jam to a clean and dry glass container.

Cover the opening with a plastic food and invert the container. Let the jam cool down in this position.

I kept the jam in the fridge after it has cooled down 😋

Kiwi Pineapple Jam 奇异果凤梨果酱

A sweet and a little tangy pineapple and kiwi jam. I first came across this jam combination from the popular IXL jam. Although the jam has a mild flavour, it is very appetizing 😉

Produced: 240g kiwi pineapple jam

Ingredients

240g kiwi, peeled and cut

25g lemon with skin

75g raw sugar *

60g honey pineapple

15g raw sugar *

* The amount of added sugar is determined by the sweetness of the fruits.

Directions

1. Rinse and remove the kiwi skin.

Cut the kiwi into small cubes. I collected about 240g of kiwi from two XL size fruits.

2. Cut about 1cm thick of lemon ring. Remove the white pith, and keep the yellow lemon peel and pulp.

3. Squeeze the lemon juice,

and add the lemon ring, as well as 75g of raw sugar to the kiwi.

Mix well and set aside.

4. Trim away the harder core of the pineapple, and cut it into small.chunks.

Add about 15g of raw sugar to mix with the cut pineapple.

5. Cook pineapple and kiwi in a pot using medium heat.

Stir occasionally to ensure no over-browning at the base.

Lower the heat when the mixture starts to thicken.

6. The jam is ready when the spatula can draw a defined gap through the middle of the jam.

7. Remove the lemon peel from the hot jam.

8. Transfer the hot jam to a sterilized glass container.

Seal the opening with a cling wrap and lid.

Invert the hot jam and let it cool to room temperature.

9. Keep the jam in the fridge after opening 😀

Mango Jam 芒果酱

Recently, I have a growing interest in churning fresh fruits into yummy jams 😁 Not only my family can enjoy the freshest jams, but I can also control the taste, and the ingredients used in the jams 🍓🍊🍋

For example, the mango I bought was quite sweet. In order to add a little tangy taste to plain sweetness,  a little lemon was added during cooking. I also added a little butter to enhance the flavour of the mango jam. That's the fun of playing with the ingredients in jam making 😀

Produced:  250g mango jam

Ingredients

300g peeled mango*

15g lemon with skin, optional

70g raw sugar

10g unsalted butter

10g organic rice malt syrup/golden syrup, optional

* The mango I used was of Australian origin.

Directions

1. Peel mango and cut into small cubes.

2. Cut a small section of lemon. Keep the yellow lemon skin, and lemon flesh. Discard the whitish pith and seeds. I collected a total of 15g of lemon skin and flesh.

You may omit the lemon if your mango is a little sour. My mango was all sweetness, so I added a little lemon for a better taste 😉

3. Add mango cubes, lemon skin & flesh, and raw sugar to a non-stick pot.

Cook at medium-low heat, stir frequently, and bring the mixture into a boil.

4. When the mixture has thickened, stir in the unsalted butter,

and organic rice malt syrup. You can skip rice malt.

When the mixture has thickened further, reduce the heat and stir regularly.

The jam is ready when the spatula can draw a clear path through the centre.

5. Remove the lemon skin from the jam.

And transfer to a sterilized glass container.

Cover and invert the container. Let it cool down to room temperature in this position.

Store the jam in fridge 😀 Enjoy your fresh mango spread with bread 😋

I used the mango jam as bread spread and bread filling :)