Prickly pear jam
Confettura di fichi d’India
My neighbour likes to leave eatable presents outside my window in the morning, and in the fichi d’India season I woke up to mountains of peeled and disarmed prickly pears in red, orange and yellow. To return the favour I gave her a glass of homemade prickly pear jam, and what a success. The idea of preserving the fruit with sugar hadn’t occurred to her before, and she hates to see good food go to waste. Now I’m pretty sure she will start a production line that can supply prickly pear jam to the entire family.
This recipe makes a runny jam of more or less the same consistency as honey. If you want a thicker and more jelly like texture commercial pectin should be added. In Italy every household has a ‘passaverdure’ which I’ve used to mash and sieve the fruit. If you haven’t got a food mill, you can press it through an ordinary sieve to remove the rather indigestible seeds.
Ingredients
1 kg peeled prickly pears
50 ml water
1 lemon (juice)
500 g sugar
Preparation
Chop the fruit and bring it to the boil with 50 ml water
Pass the pulp through a sieve or a food mill to remove the seeds
Add sugar to the fruit puré and let it boil for 5-10 minutes
Stir in lemon juice and let it boil until the jam passes the jelly test (ie when the drops hang on to a cool metal spoon instead of running off like liquid.)
Pour the jam into sterilized jars.
If you want the jam to keep for more than a couple of weeks, you should boil the jar with a tight fitting lid in a water bath. When the prickly pear jam inside the jar starts to bubble, a vacuum seal is formed, and you can turn off the heat and leave the jar to cool.
Other recipes using jam
Multi coloured prickly pears without the spikes ready to be turned into jam.
With so many jellies, chutneys and such it’s very refreshing to see your prickly pear jam. It really stands apart. Love this refreshing color as I am sure flavor!