We’ve recently raved about the perfectly phenomenal persimmon in our post about the Spanish persimmon. We’ve been buying boxfuls of these lovelies at a time, that’s how obsessed we are with this fruit!
Unfortunately, as happens with the best of fruit, boxfuls of the stuff can lead to having too much fruit and too little time to eat it. What to do with too much fruit? Jam it, of course!
If you make just a jarful of jam, it’s quick and easy to do and you don’t have to deal with all the serious sterilization that is required for mass and long term jamming and canning.
We just gathered up our extra persimmons, a bit soft and sad from our neglect and whipped up this yummilicious persimmon jam, an explosion of cheeky orange lusciousness, tasting of honey with hints of plums and apricots and the mellow sunshine of a late summer's afternoon.
There are three major types of persimmon: astringent, non-astringent and a man assisted type of astringent. To make this jam you can use any of the types, the only caveat is that the fruit must be ripe.
The catch is that different types of persimmons are considered ripe at different stages. Some you can eat when firm. Some you cannot eat when firm but must wait for it to soften. It's kinda complicated but for all the details please refer to our comprehensive post on different types of persimmons.
The quick way to check is to just taste the persimmons. If they taste sweet they are ripe and ready to use.
The persimmons are prepared by washing and then removing the leaves. These are easy to remove, just stick your fingers under the leaves, grab and twist off. Then chop the fruit to pieces, skin and all.
The lemon rind is added in for the pectin in the rind. Pectin is what makes jam ‘jammy’. Actually persimmon also naturally has pectin in it, but extra pectin won’t hurt and the lemon rind will add an extra bit of lemony fragrance to your jam.
That’s it. A quick cook down and a delicious jam awaits. Persimmon jam is as beautiful and uniquely tasty as the fruit. If you love the fruit you’ve got to try this!!
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| Label design courtesy of my daughter! |
Persimmon Jam Recipe
Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 15 mins
Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 15 mins
Ingredients:
- 6 persimmons, 1000g (35oz)
- 1 cup sugar, 200g
- 2 tbsp lemon (squeezed from 1 lemon)
- 1/2 lemon rind (reserved from squeezing of juice)
Directions:
Put two small spoons into the freezer. These will be used later to check readiness of the jam.
Wash persimmons. Remove the leafy tops by inserting finger in, holding and twisting. Roughly chop the fruit, skins and all. Add to blender and purée.
Pour puréed fruit into a pot. Add freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add in one of the squeezed half lemon rinds. Add sugar. Stir to mix.
Cook over low heat for 15 mins or until the mixture is reduced and thickened. Check for the readiness of jam by adding a drop or two of the jam onto one the chilled spoons from the freezer. The cold will set the jam right away so that you can check if the jam is ‘jammy’. (If it's runny when cooled, it's not jammy yet.) If jammy remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. If not jammy let cook for another couple of minutes before testing again.
When jam is cooled pour into sterilized glass jars. Cap and keep in the fridge. Keeps up to 2 weeks. Enjoy the joyous jamminess!
Jammilicious Jams at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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