Wednesday 12 February 2014

Roselle (Sorrel) + Strawberry Jam

Jams have always been a hard sell for me, mainly due to my reservations about the preservatives in most of the shop bought varieties and my indecisiveness in settling for a flavour preference with the home made ones I have tried. Hence I have always had it in the back of my mind to find that one flavour that would finally "hit the spot" with me.
Now enter in today's offering; which is a no-brainer really.
This is the third time that roselle has come up on this blog. So I decided to try out using the roselle I had left in my stock to try out this idea.

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To be quite candid, I had no idea how this was going to turn out, but I knew what I hoped it would turn out to be.

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After several trials, I finally nailed it once I realised that the ingredient was not going to work as a
"stand alone". I mean the acidity of the taste of my first batch was enough to suck ones eyeballs out of their sockets!!! Then I decided to balance that out with other ingredients - finally settling for the sweetness of strawberry - Perfect Combination!!!


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Boiling Roselle

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Ingredients
  • 75g Dried Roselle 
  • 250g Fresh Strawberries
  • 700ml Water
  • 2 Bay Leaves
  • 200g Caster Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 6 tsp Lemon Juice
Method
  1. Carefully sort through and sieve the roselle calyces to get rid off stones and grits
  2. Place into a saucepan and add water and cook over low heat until it starts to boil
  3. Remove from heat and leave to cool a little
  4. Pour into blender and blend until it is a thick smooth consistency. Add a little water if necessary to loosen it.
  5. Return mixture into saucepan, and add in 100g caster sugar, bay leaves 2 tsp of lemon juice and stir together.  
  6. Cover with lid and cook over very low heat for 2 hours. Stir the mixture regularly.
  7. Slice strawberries in halves and place into saucepan
  8. Add 100g caster sugar and 4 tsp of lemon juice and stir together
  9. Cook over low heat until the sugar melts and the strawberries have softened
  10. Remove from heat and leave to cool for about 5 minutes
  11. Transfer strawberries mixture into blender and pulse it 2 or 3 times, and set aside until needed
  12. At the 1.5 hour mark of the roselle mixture cooking, add in the strawberries mixture, stir together and cover with lid
  13. Leave to continue cooking for a further 30 minutes
  14. Remove from heat. Remove bay leaves and pour into jars, then leave to cool
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Served with Banana Bread
Tip: If using fresh roselle calyces, reduce cooking time by 30 minutes.

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