Pumpkin jams are a wonderful delicacy, unfortunately not as widespread as sweets from berries and fruits. Probably, prejudice is affecting: how is it so, vegetable sweetness ?! Well, the risk is worth - dense, luxurious color and wonderful density, jam can not help but like, to begin with, the smallest. And adults, having tasted and having come to taste, will not refuse an unusual entertainment.
Pumpkin Jam - General Cooking Principles
• Jam differs from jam homogeneous consistency and thickness. To solid pumpkin pulp well boiled soft, it must first be softened, put out on low heat in thick-walled dishes or baked in the oven. Then grind through a sieve or smash with a blender to obtain puree. If the vegetable does not require preliminary heat treatment according to the recipe, it is rubbed raw or grated in a meat grinder.
• After grinding, pumpkin puree or raw vegetable pulp is combined with sugar and supplied according to the recipe. The raw flesh is usually kept for some time, covered with sugar, so that the ground pumpkin gives out its juice better, and the sugar crystals without residue are dissolved in it. Pre-baked or stewed grated pumpkin is mixed and put to boil immediately after being mixed with sugar.
• Pumpkin does not have a pronounced flavor and taste, so jams are most often prepared with fruit that has more pronounced taste. The apples and citruses are best combined with it. For a brighter taste, you can add spices and spices to the pumpkin jams, as well as chopped citrus zest.
• Pumpkin-made jams lend themselves well to long-term storage. For preparation for the winter, hot pumpkin jam is packed in dry, steamed jars, and hermetically sealed with metal lids. A loosely corked delicacy, covered with a nylon cover, can be stored in a common refrigerator compartment for up to two weeks.
Pumpkin jam with dried apricots - “Amber”
Ingredients:
• ripe pumpkin - 1 kg;
• kilogram of sugar;
• 5 Art. l freshly squeezed lemon juice;
• 300 gr. dried apricots.
Cooking Method:
1. Carefully rinse the pumpkin with warm water, cut it in half and select the seeds, trying to remove the whole large fiber part. Next, cut the fruit into slices and carefully cut off the peel from them. Do not save, grab with a thick peel and light green layer of pulp.
2. Cut the prepared pieces of pumpkin into blocks or cubes of medium size. Pouring sugar, put in a pan and leave for a couple of hours to give the vegetable juice.
3. After this time, pour in the pumpkin slices, filtered freshly squeezed lemon juice, gently stir and put on low heat.
4. Rinse dried apricots in hot water, you can scald dried fruits with boiling water. Dry with a disposable towel and cut into slices or strips.
5. Add pieces of dried apricots to the pumpkin when the sugar is completely dissolved. Boil everything together, stirring occasionally for at least a quarter of an hour and turn off the stove.
6. When the jam is completely cooled, but not earlier than after four hours, boil again, boil for 20 minutes and cool well again.
7. After six hours of cooling, bring to a boil again, boil the jam for only five minutes and pour into prepared jars.
Thick pumpkin jam with apples
Ingredients:
• pumpkin pulp - 800 gr .;
• 1.2 kg of sweet autumn apples;
• five glasses of sugar;
• a quarter of a teaspoon of crushed orange peel.
Cooking Method:
1. Separate from the solid pumpkin pulp coarse-fibrous part of the vegetable with seeds. Remove the peel and cut into small pieces. Put everything in a thick-walled skillet with high sides or in a pan with a thick or multi-layered bottom. Put on a light heat and bring pieces of vegetable, stewing under the lid, until softened, then cool and grind through a rare sieve.
2. Peel the apples, cut into halves, remove the core. Cut the halves into cubes and, like the pumpkin, soften the carcass over a low heat. Cool and turn into a puree, grinding on a sieve. For grinding, you can use a blender. 3. In a large thick-walled bowl or basin, mix apple and pumpkin puree. Add granulated sugar, but not all, first you need to pour two and a half glasses. Mix mash with sugar well and set to boil for the lowest possible heat.
4. When the grains completely disperse, add the remaining sugar, mix and leave the jam to boil down to the desired thickness. Approximately 10 minutes before readiness, add chopped orange zest.
Pumpkin jam with lemon, apples and nuts
Ingredients:
• kilogram of ripe pumpkin pulp;
• 700 gr. sweet, preferably autumn apples;
• half a cup of crushed walnut kernels;
• medium size lemon;
• half a teaspoon of vanilla powder.
Method of preparation:
1. Cut the peeled apples into slices and carefully remove the core residue.
2. Solid pumpkin pulp, cut into square-shaped pieces and put into a saucepan.
3. Pour to a pound of sugar to the crushed pumpkin a pound of sugar, mix and stir on a little heat until the crystals completely dissolve in the vegetable juice that has been released. Add heat to medium, bring to a boil.
4. While stirring constantly, boil the pumpkin pieces in the syrup for five minutes. Then add the remaining sugar, add apple slices and crushed walnut kernels. Stir well, boil for a quarter of an hour and remove from heat. Be sure to make sure that the sugar is completely sold, if necessary, increase the cooking time.
5. After complete cooling, repeat the cooking process with cooling another three times. Each time bring the jam to a boil and cook for at least 15 minutes.
6. When you boil down the amber sweet mixture for the fourth time, do not forget to add vanilla and sliced lemon into thin slices.
Fragrant cinnamon pumpkin jam with citrus
Ingredients:
• 450 gr. peeled pumpkin pulp;
• large juicy orange;
• medium sized lemon;
• granulated sugar - 180 gr .;
• cinnamon stick.
Cooking Method:
1. Grate the pumpkin pulp on a large grater, put it in the pan. Pour all the sugar at once, mix and leave to stand for half an hour. 2. Scald citruses with boiling water, wipe dry with a napkin and scrub the zest with a fine grater, mix. Then, from the whole orange and lemon halves, squeeze the juice well and strain it.
3. Pour freshly squeezed juice to the pumpkin, add two tablespoons of chopped zest and put on low heat, stir well.
4. Put the cinnamon and, occasionally stirring, boil the jam for about 50 minutes, until the pumpkin straws are soft. At the end of cooking, you can additionally smash the sweet mass until homogeneous with a blender.
Pumpkin jam with crisps and ginger - “Sunny”
Ingredients:
• a piece of pumpkin weighing 750 grams;
• small lemon;
• medium sized orange;
• 40 gr. fresh ginger (root);
• 400 gr. Sahara;
• one third teaspoon of cinnamon;
• half a liter of drinking water.
Cooking Method:
1. Peeled ginger root and pumpkin, grate with a fine grater or twist in a meat grinder.
2. Dry the scalded lemon with a towel and use a grater to remove the zest from it. Cut the citrus, squeeze the juice. To give more lemon juice, you can pre-stand citrus in boiling water for about a minute.
3. Prepare about half a glass of orange juice and filter both freshly pressed beverages through a sieve.
4. Transfer the crushed pumpkin pulp to the pan, pour in the water, add all the crushed zest and ginger. Pour in cinnamon powder, pour in citrus juice. Stir and put on minimum heat.
5. Do not forget to stir, boil the jam with a slight boil for about an hour, until the pumpkin is completely boiled soft. When stirring, try every time to lift a lot from the bottom so that the bottom does not burn.
6. Add sugar, mix thoroughly and continue cooking jam for another 25 minutes. In the finished delicacy should not remain undissolved grains of sugar.
A simple recipe for pumpkin jam - “Autumn”
Ingredients:
• pumpkin puree - 1 kg;
• 400 gr. Sahara;
• ground cloves and cinnamon for 1/2 tsp .;
• a quarter of a teaspoon of ground ginger;
• freshly squeezed lemon juice - 1 tbsp. l
Cooking Method:
1. Cook mashed potatoes. Wash with warm water and cut the pumpkin into large slices, remove the seeds, and leave the peel. 2. Spread the pumpkin pieces on a baking tray covered with parchment and put them in a hot oven. After about 20 minutes of simmering at 150 degrees, when the flesh is soft enough, remove and cool.
3. Release the cooled slices from the peel and whip in a puree with a blender. If there is no such device, twist the pulp in a meat grinder, passing it through a fine-meshed grate, or rub it on a sieve.
4. Measure out the kilogram of the finished mashed potatoes and put it in a thick-walled bowl for making jam. Add sugar, and, having stirred well, start cooking by placing the container on a slow fire.
5. In the cooking process, after about twenty minutes, add spices and lemon juice. If preparing the jam will be too thick, dilute it with a little water, but do not pour it too much.
6. Boil pumpkin jam with a slight boil for 45 minutes. The finished delicacy should have a bright orange color and be practically transparent.
Pumpkin jam - cooking tricks and helpful tips
• Most pumpkin jams are cooked without adding water. If the mass of ground pumpkin mixed with sugar turns out to be too thick, add some drinking water to it. Initially, a thick sweet mixture with a long boiling quickly burn out and the pumpkin does not have time to soften.
• Make sure that jam is ready in a simple and time-tested way. Pry the hot mass with a spoon and put a small drop on the cooled saucer. If while tilting a drop of jam does not float - you can turn off the stove.
• For winter harvesting, pour pumpkin jam only over sterile jars and roll with boiled lids. If the lids and dishes are not prepared in advance, the preservation will not last long, the jam will be covered with mold and can ferment.
