OF SOAKING FRUITS, MAKING WINE AND HOMEMADE JAM...I can smell X'mas already!

Was that a weird title? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Let me tell you what I have been doing all these days, since last Thursday, since the last post of mine :-)

I have been trying to be proactive (what a change!) and preserve some fruits for:


1.Cake for which you might have to wait till December for the recipe :-/ . I you are impatient like me, you might have to be happy with my Ultra Moist Fruit Cake for the time being.

2.Jam

&

3.Wine : Uh-oh! Can't help but wait till December! :-/
The fruits that you see in the above picture are cherries and pluots. Pluots are a cross between plums and apricots. For me and Jobin, they tasted more like plums. So, it is tart and a bit sweet. They can be substitued with plums or apricots.

For this jam, you can use any fruits of your choice.







CHERRY- PLUOTS & GINGER JAM
I developed this recipe from the basic jam recipe shared by Helene on Facebook.




Ingredients:
Any fruits -1 kg, one variety or mixed. (I used a mix of cherry and pluots)
Sugar-0.5 kg
Ginger-a small piece, grated fine
Lemon juice- 1/2 to 1 tsp

Method:

Peel (optional) and chop the fruits and transfer it to a heavy bottomed sauce pan .Add the sugar and mix well.Grate the ginger into it and mix.Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and then simmer on medium- low  for 1-1.5 hours or till the setting point *.Bottle it into clean jars.* Setting point is exactly the stage at which you need to stop cooking your jam.To find out whether your jam has reached that stage, take a plate, leave it in the freezer for a while, pour a drop of the jam onto the chilled plate and touch it with your pointer finger and see if it's holding it's shape and not coming away with you as you pull away your finger.Start checking for the setting point after 1 hour of simmering.

Verdict:
I loved the addition of fresh ginger to it, it gets you back to reality when you lose yourselves in the sweetness of the fruits. A very simple recipe with endless possibilities!This recipe is a winner!