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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Jam Making Foray #2 - Blueberry Jam with Cardamom and Anise Seed

It's Yum Time.

I made more jam.

It was yummy.

The process was exactly the same as my Jam Making Foray #1 - Pure Raspberry Jam except with blueberries, and some added flavours.

Cardamom seed goes really well with blueberry, in my opinion.

And it has such a unique flavour.


The shells (husks?) of about a dozen cardamom seeds.

Even though the fruit of the seeds are easily obtained, and are quite small by themselves, they still need to be ground a bit in the mortar and pestle.

I threw in a dash of anise seeds as well (not many as they are quite powerful), and then ground it all up.


Anyway, I got everything ready, including puréeing the jam mixture (which, just like foray #1, included lemon juice and zest), but refrained from adding the pectin until the very end.

So, this time, the jars and lids were ready before the jam was.


Which made it really easy and safe to just start ladling as soon as the jam was ready.

It WAS a little tedious to do 12 cups of this stuff though.  Yup.  That's how many blueberries we picked.


So, in case you've forgotten, that means 6 teaspoons of calcium water (which can last in the fridge for weeks, BTW, just be sure to give it a stir before using) and 6 teaspoons of pectin (which also boasts a very long shelf life just out at room temperature).

Some lemon (as mentioned earlier) for acid and flavour, some sugar for jelling (and a little for sweetness), and then a dash of cardamom and anise.

You can see I didn't add much spice, but when the ONLY other flavour in there is blueberry, you can taste it clear as day.

Anyway, after close to an hour of ladling and then boiling again (no more than 10 minutes, remember), I had so much jam.




 So much jam!

And then, with my raspberry jam from the day before, SO MUCH FREAKING JAM!!!

MUAH HAHA HAH HA AH HAH!!!



This was after having given some away already.

Anyway...

The cardamom and anise were brilliant, and the jam exquisite.

BTW - this jam ALSO used all the fruit, so the skin and seeds of the blueberries also.

And look at how well it set:




YUM TIME INDEED!