Jam

The medlar fruit I collected a couple of weeks ago are now ripe and soft, so high time to make jam. I follow a recipe by Fratelli ai Fornelli (Italian for Brothers at the Ovens) which is quick and easy.

However, a time-consuming first task is inspecting the fruit because quite a few have unfortunately gone mouldy since being picked. The clean ones got a rinse and went into the pan; a few dozen salvageable ones I cut the tops off and squeezed pulp and pips into the pan, discarding the skins. Then squash the lot and simmer for a bit.

My late Mum's separator now proves its value. Spoon in some mash, turn handle and pulp comes out while skins and pips remain.

Jars had meanwhile been thoroughly cleaned in the dishwasher and the missus has this red funnel to help fill them. The pulp received sugar and a bit of vanilla and a pinch of salt and was bubbling away for an hour. I put the lid half-open on the pan because every so often the mixture shot up a blob much like a geyser in Iceland, leaving a sticky patch somewhere.

Tasty result: justabout exactly twelve jars of jam. Yum!

Recipe here for those interested.

medlar - nèfle - mispel