Homemade Cranberry Jam-Obviously Spiced!!

Paint me…RED!

This is such a beautiful season of the year when everything around is painted in red, white and green hues.So so beautiful.Well, red is my favorite color.Its hard to stop myself from buying anything red.If asked, I would love to describe it as a strong color that conjures up a range of seemingly conflicting emotions from passionate love to violence and warfare.A green snake in a bushy tree gave Eve with her red, long, wavy hair a shiny red apple leading to  birth to all mankind.I identify red as a color of origin and that of destruction as well.Although not normally considered an ideal coupling,in combination with green and white,red is a Christmas color ? a joyful season.I hope all of you would be in full swing to prepare for holidays.Well, I have bought a few goodies too for the house and lots of red dresses to last for the year.

I picked up a big bag of cranberries the other day..not thinking a second about what I am going to do with them. Came back and threw it in the fridge and forgot!The bag sat in the refrigerator for good 3 days before I recalled it. Thereafter,started a rush of thoughts of what to do with them.First few ideas were of baking which sounded lip smacking but involved a lot of calories at the same time and hence could be put off for some time. I juiced a few of them but I really wanted to preserve these red beauties a little longer in my fridge.That is when I decided to make this easy jam with them.

When you are at Sinfully Spicy, things ought to be spiced up So I have mixed quite a few spices while making this jam in moderation though.However, all or few of the spices can be done away with if you wish to coz this is really a flexible recipe!We loved it a lot.I think these jam bottles make up for a delightful holiday gift. You can enjoy it with your holiday breakfast.Whatever you do,make sure do dish it out! Below goes the recipe!

What I need:

[Recipe adapted from here, makes 2-3 medium jam bottles]

4 cups fresh cranberries
1 tart apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 cup sugar [or adjust to your taste]
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp clove powder
a dash of nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 cup water +1/4 cup fresh apple juice

How I did it:

Thoroughly wash the cranberries and pat them dry.
Tip in the cranberries, apples, lemon juice and sugar into a food processor and pulse 8-10 times.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and chill for 2 hours.
Once chilled, transfer the mixture to a heavy bottomed pan and add the spices along with water.
Cook this on low heat for about 30-40 minutes, till the fruits have softened and the sugar has dissolved.The mix will start to thicken.
Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
Now, you can directly can this mixture into sterile bottles [process below] or strain it through a mesh once for a smoother texture.

Canning the Jam

Wash the glass and air tight bottles in which you wish to store the jam with warm water.
To sterilize them, set your oven to 180 F and preheat.Line the washed bottles horizontally in over a cookie sheet or any baking dish and let them sit in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Pour the prepared jam into the bottles and tighten the lid.Decorate/label the bottles if you desire.

Notes:

I did not wish to use artificial fruit pectin, that’s why I have used the recipe which uses natural pectin from apples to preserve the jam.With this recipe, the jam will last for a 2 weeks refrigerated.However, if you wish to preserve longer than that, I recommend using store-bought pectin as per package instructions.
You can use this recipe to make jam with any kind of berries.

Enjoy and keep licking!