What can you make unusual jam from? The recipes inherited from mothers and grandmothers are not always the most original, but you want something unexpected. Well, in fact, you won’t surprise anyone with a jar of currant or strawberry jam , and you can’t proudly put such a treat on the table.
And what then to prepare such a thing for the winter, so that it would be interesting to cook for ourselves, and it is not a shame to show the guests? In this article we have collected the most amazing recipes. Honestly, not all types of unusual jam are given here: after some thought, I had to abandon the famous onion confiture - after all, this delicacy is better not to prepare in the winter, but to cook in small portions, the famous sweet dish from unripe walnuts was not included in the top - it is difficult to prepare because of the lack of the necessary ingredients in most regions of Russia. Also, assorted fruit jam was removed from the list - unusual and surprisingly tasty, but inaccessible to most people because of the high cost of the necessary ingredients, even in season.
Oh jam
"Jam" - an old Russian term for boiled foods made from berries, nuts, fruits or flowers based on honey and molasses - there was no sugar then. Our ancestors knew very well how to make stocks in the winter, including sweets. In the absence of honey or molasses, the berries were simply boiled heavily, and then used as a filling for pancakes and pies, or drinks were prepared - fruit drinks, stews and fruit drinks. And when sugar appeared in Russia, they began to make jam from everything - carrots, radishes, pumpkins, green tomatoes, dandelions, etc. Candied fruits were served only in rich houses, such products were not available to ordinary people. Although noble gentlemen often used unusual jam - from cucumbers, nuts or hot red pepper. So those types of jam that seem original to us were actually well known to our ancestors.
What to roll in cans in spring
It is generally believed that harvesting in the winter should be done in the fall, when the shops and in their own plots are full of berries, fruits and vegetables. But in fact, you can cook a sweet treat in the early spring, for example, from sorrel, mint or dandelions.
Unusual mint and lemon jam
List of ingredients:
- 500 g of fresh mint leaves without stems;
- 1 kg of sugar;
- 1.5 lemons;
- 1 liter of water.
Recipe. Chop mint, chop lemons with peel. Add water and boil for 10-15 minutes on low heat to avoid reducing the amount of broth. Then we cool, filter and add sugar. The resulting syrup should be simmered over low heat for about two hours.
The taste of this delicacy will turn out to be mint-lemon, without a sugary sweetness, since half of the recommended sugar was used in this recipe. The color will also be pale, so you can add a drop of food coloring - green or yellow.
Unusual assorted jam
When housewives reflect on the topic of original blanks in the winter, they often come up with the idea of making assorted ones. And not just an ordinary mixture, but something really incredible. Actually, there are a lot of options: cherry stuffed with pine nuts, eggplant with walnuts and cinnamon, a mixture of peaches, apples and lemon, blackcurrant with rhubarb, etc. But currant jam with almonds is considered the most original of all this is not a small list. and hot pepper.
List of ingredients :
- 3 kg of ripe red currant;
- 400 g of almonds;
- 1 kg of sugar;
- 2 large or 3-4 medium hot pepper pods.
Recipe. We sort through my berry. Grind through a sieve to get a homogeneous mass. Mix the berries and sugar and set to cook on low heat. Add peeled unroasted almonds and chopped dry or fresh hot peppers. Cook for 1.5 hours, after which the delicacy is ready.
This jam is unusual, sweet and sour, with a light aftertaste of hot pepper and a delicate aroma of almonds. The recipe indicates the minimum amount of sugar, so lovers of sweeter dishes need to take it 2-2.5 times more.
Vegetable jam
In fact, from any vegetables you can make an unusual jam. Recipes where the main component is carrots, zucchini, cucumbers or beets can be found in any cookbook. The most memorable of them was jam from green tomatoes.
List of ingredients:
- 1/2 kg of green tomatoes;
- 650 g of sugar;
- 200 ml of water;
- 2-3 carnation flowers ;
- 1-2 grains of cardamom;
- 3-4 g of cinnamon.
Recipe. Rinse small green tomatoes and boil for 12-15 minutes, then drain the water. Cook sugar syrup and dip vegetables in it, let it brew for at least 3 hours - the tomatoes should be soaked in sugar. Then cook over low heat for 20 minutes, cool and let it brew for another 2-3 hours. These steps need to be repeated 3 more times: impregnation, cooking, cooling, again impregnation, etc. At the last stage, cook until tender, and drop the bag with spices into the syrup (it is thrown out later).
How to surprise ordinary strawberries
It seems that there is nothing more banal than strawberry jam. But with this berry you can cook many original dishes with interesting flavor combinations. For example, you can cook sweet strawberries with vanilla and black pepper.
List of ingredients:
- 0.5 kg of strawberries;
- 0.5 kg of sugar;
- 1 tbsp. l lemon juice;
- 1.5 g of vanillin (preferably fresh vanilla, but this is a rather expensive component, so we use a substitute);
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper.
Recipe. Sort the berries, wash and pour sugar with vanilla. Let it brew until the strawberries begin to secrete juice. Add the remaining ingredients, while it is better to grind the pepper yourself from peas or take from a new pack (aromatic, not exhausted). Then cook as usual: either "five minutes" for those who like liquid jam, or about an hour - for those who prefer a thick mass.
Unusual currant jam
Currant is the best berry for making "raw" jam, that is, the product is obtained as natural, fortified and very fragrant. But this recipe is too simple and obvious, so we will tell you how to make blackcurrant jam with ginger. And it is unusual because ginger is used unusually a lot, about 1/5 of the weight of berries.
List of ingredients:
- 500 g of black currant;
- 100 g of ginger;
- 300 g of sugar.
Recipe. Cook like ordinary jam, but add thin slices of ginger at the beginning of the process. This is a very unusual jam for the winter - sweet and tart, for an amateur. But such a treat is a wonderful way to prevent colds and flu.
Flower jam
From the flowers you can make an unusual tasty jam. Here, no one limits imagination: a sweet treat in the east is prepared from rose petals, in Asian countries - from lotus and chrysanthemums, and in Russia - from spring dandelions. But in this list we left a place for interesting and unusual, but at the same time affordable recipes. So get acquainted with the original jam from the flowers of lilac and grapefruit.
List of ingredients:
- 300 ml of lilac flowers;
- 350 ml of lilac for infusion;
- 250 ml of boiling water;
- 1 cup of sugar;
- 1 tbsp. l pectin;
- juice of one grapefruit.
Recipe. Collect lilac flowers - only buds, without green parts. Divide into two parts, pour boiling water over one and let it brew for at least 7-10 hours. Then separate the liquid from the petals and based on it prepare syrup with the addition of pectin. The syrup should be cooked for 15 minutes, after which grapefruit juice and the remaining lilac flowers are added to it.
It turns out surprisingly fragrant pink jam, sweet-sour and very tasty. This unusual jam for the winter will remind you of summer even in the most severe frosts.
Tasty plum
According to most housewives, plum is very good in itself - and in jams, and in compotes, and in salads, and adjika. In general, hundreds of tasty and healthy preparations for the winter are made from this wonderful berry. But you can also cook unusual plum jam.
List of ingredients:
- 0.5 kg drain;
- 5 g of pectin;
- 1 tbsp. Sahara;
- 1 tbsp. l rum;
- 10 g of fresh ginger;
- ½ bar of dark chocolate;
- 30 ml of water.
Recipe. Cook like ordinary plum jam, but when the mass boils, you need to add rum and grated ginger, and then stir in the melted dark chocolate. Boil over low heat until thickened.
This unusual plum jam with chocolate flavor and a touch of ginger will cheer up the whole family on long winter evenings. Fans of chocolate and fruit combinations will be delighted with such a filling to pancakes or pancakes.
Amazing apples
Unusual apple jam is very easy to make. It's just that these fruits are universal, and they can be combined with anything, for example, kiwi.
List of ingredients:
- 4 things. kiwi;
- 5 pieces. medium apples;
- 600 g of sugar;
- juice of one lemon;
- 15 ml of water.
Recipe. We clean the apples, cut them into cubes and pour the lemon juice in order not to darken. In kiwi, remove the skin and cut the fruit into cubes, add to the apples. Add water and sugar and let it brew for 2 hours. Then bring to a boil and cook for another 40 minutes.
The finished product smells very good, but the taste is just a jumble!
Original pears
Unusual pear jam with the addition of ginger is becoming increasingly popular - the delicacy has a sweet and spicy taste and goes well with both meat and desserts.
List of ingredients:
- 4 things. dense pears;
- 0.5 kg of dense grapes;
- juice of one lemon;
- ½ tbsp. l fresh ginger;
- 1 star anise star;
- 3-4 carnation flowers;
- 250 ml of water.
Recipe. Wash, peel, cut the pears into halves or 4 parts. Seeds and ponytails can not be removed - with them the jam will look more interesting. Sprinkle pears with half lemon juice. Put grapes and pears in a container with thick walls, add water and put on medium heat. After boiling, cook for 20 minutes, after which the fruit is pulled out of the water, and the liquid is filtered so that there are no seeds left, loose tail, etc.
On the basis of pure fruit water, make a syrup with all the seasonings, add fruit to it and add the second half of lemon juice. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes, then set to rest for 6-7 hours. Repeat these procedures 3-4 times: it takes 2-3 days to prepare an unusual pear jam, then the pears will become glass, and the syrup will acquire a rich beautiful color.
Pine cone jam
Although this is a healing treat, we nevertheless included it in the top of the most original recipes.
List of ingredients:
- 200 g of a young pine cone (collect in May);
- 1 liter of water;
- 0.5 kg of sugar.
The recipe . Boil the cones for 15-20 minutes. We prepare sugar syrup and dip the boiled cones into it. Then cook on low heat for half an hour, and the jam is ready. Sometimes this dish is cooked without cones, based on one coniferous decoction.
The resulting treat is used to prevent colds, treat asthma, fatigue syndrome and a number of other diseases.
The most unusual jam
Who could have thought of making garlic jam? After all, this vegetable has such a specific aroma and taste that it can not be imagined as a dessert! But still, there is such a jam, moreover, there are many recipes for its preparation and recommendations with what to eat it. Here we will not write about medicinal garlic jam, which you need to eat a spoon a day for the prevention of colds, but we will talk about a real sweet treat with an original taste that can be used as a sauce for meat dishes or as a regular jam for sandwiches.
List of ingredients:
- 300 g of baked garlic;
- ¾ cup sugar;
- 300 ml of water;
- ground nutmeg;
- cinnamon.
Recipe. Peel and chop the garlic in half, and then bake in the oven at 180-200 ° C. Cooking time - 18-20 minutes. Then make syrup from water and sugar, add spices to it and lower the baked pieces. You need to cook until the syrup begins to thicken, but not until caramelization.
Harm and Benefit
Is it good to eat jam? Everything is not so clear here. On the one hand, some vitamins (groups B and E) are preserved in jam, even boiled many times, there is fiber, so such food is useful for the body as a whole and for the stomach in particular. But on the other hand - extra calories, harm to the teeth and, in some cases, an increase in acidity. So you can and should eat, but not liters.
But jam improves mood - this is noted by all doctors. And raspberry is most useful: it treats colds, contains beneficial folic acid, cleanses the circulatory system, normalizes blood pressure, has a beneficial effect on the stomach and intestines after violent feasts, improves complexion and helps maintain skin elasticity. So it turned out that raspberry jam is unusual, although it seems that it can not be easier.