Orange Jam تطلي برتقال

Do you like Jam? My favorite thing in the morning is to have a toast with butter and my homemade jam along with my coffee. That's basically my breakfast, Faris asks me, Mama “you don’t get tired of eating the same breakfast every day”, and I say no I don’t. We grew up eating homemade jam, my mother never bought any jam from the store. I also think that’s how things were; people make most of that stuff at home. So not only it's a money savior the taste of the homemade jam is much better than any jam you can buy anywhere. at least that’s how I feel about it.

So, when I moved to the US, of course, I needed jam. So many different kinds of jams available at any US average store, and they all looked tempting and interesting. I started trying different kinds, but none of the ones I bought I really liked! I tried some from high-end stores, from wholefood, farmers markets, organics, fresh..etc. but none of them seemed close to what I grew up eating.

So the idea of making my own jam was a bit intimidating, as I do remember those days when my mom used to make jam, the entire house

would be on stress mode lol. “Be careful of water getting into the jam, don’t enter the kitchen, make sure you stay away from the pot.” And the biggest pot in the entire world is sitting there on the stove, filled with jam cooking on low heat. We were a big family so my mom would make lots of it during the season of a particular fruit so the quantity would last throughout the year.

I understand my mother’s fear behind protecting the jam. If a drop of water enters the jam after it’s completely cooked, this will spoil the jam and won’t last more than a week. Mold will start building inside the jar and it’s not good for anything. So that’s important to remember.

So here is how I started making my own jam. One day and by coincidence only, I had some strawberries left in my fridge that I picked up from a farm during the time I lived in North Carolina. I had so many of them and got tired of eating them and I didn’t want the strawberries to go bad, so I decided to jam them. I washed them, chopped them and pour some sugar cooked them on low, and there you go, I ended up with some yummy jam and the good news is that it’s so easy to make. I got so excited and I continued to try this method and improving my techniques.

As for orange jam, I only started making it last year, and since I’ve never made it before, I checked with my sister, who gave me such a complicated way of doing it, as with orange jam the peel is used, and what she mentioned sounded like so much work. So I decided to follow a simpler method which turned out perfectly fine.

So here is how to make orange jam.

You'd only need about 5-7 oranges and 2 lemons. For the peel use only about 5 of the oranges, peel the outside part out make sure it doesn’t include any of the white from the orange and chop very thin lengthwise. Use zest of one orange, zest of lemons, squeeze the juice out of all the oranges including the ones peeled and the juice of the lemons.

In a measuring cup, measure all together after mixed (orange juice, lemon juice, peel, and zest) and add the exact same amount of sugar. Here I had about 2 cups of the mix and I added 1.5 cups of sugar instead of 2. I just think it doesn’t have to be super sweet and that much sugar would be enough.

Place the pot on the stove, on high heat, once it starts boiling turn on low, keep an eye on it with an occasional stir. This takes about 30-40 minutes. the mix can be tested for consistency by placing some on a plate. Don’t be alarmed if it doesn’t look so consistent, it is still hot and it’ll be ok once it’s cooled off. So make sure it's not overcooked, otherwise, it'll be too thick and hard. Cooking is the main trick with jam.

Turn heat off and let it cool off for about 10 minutes. It’s important to pour it into jars before it’s completely cooled off. Make sure the jars are clean and dry. What’s important with jam that no water will come near it after it’s cooked, otherwise it’ll be spoiled and won’t last long.

Pour it into jars and leave the jars uncovered until it’s fully dry. Jars can be covered with a towel and left until the next morning to be sealed with its original cover. Jam can be stored in the fridge and last up to a full year.

Here is how to make orange jam.

They can last up to a full year in the fridge.

This makes about 3 small jars.

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