Cranberry & Blueberry Jam

Technically it is the season of Autumn, even Singapore is all rounded summer but we could prepare and eat food based on the universal season. During Autumn, we love to make and store the jam in our pantry, bake tarts and create the cinnamon-citrus scent in our room. The cooling weather is just making us craving for sweet and comforting food. It is just a reminder that our favourite holiday (Christmas) is coming in no time.

Our mom is like the classic British, love to have her tea time with bread and jam. So, whenever she has a piece of bread she will request to have some jam. And therefore, it’s essential for our house to have all type of jam. What makes it easier is that we make the flavours and sweetness based on our taste, it will never go wrong.

Have you encounter buying too much of the fruits and couldn’t finish in time. There is a way not wasting them at all – making them into jam and you will never regret it. You combine frozen cranberries with fresh blueberries to get a preserve that is flavorful, not-too-sweet, and perfectly set (cranberries are magical in the setting ability).

This homemade sweet jam tastes as good as my favourite store-bought blueberry jam, minus whatever preservatives that you get from ready-made ones. We like the presence of the chunks of berries, although like most jam it tasted a tad too sweet for us.

How to sterilize the jar?

Firstly, why would you want to sterilize jars for all your lovely preserves? Just because a clean sterilized jar is essential to the success and longevity of the jams and preserves you spend a lot of time making. Sterilizing is a crucial part of preserving to remove any bacteria, yeasts or fungi thus protecting the food you put into the jar. Dirty or jars not correctly cleaned will infect the food inside, and it will spoil very quickly. 

There is a lot way to sterilize your jar for the jam, but we choose to sterilize them in the oven. This method is the most-trusted method for ensuring your jars are scrupulously clean for your preserves. It takes slightly longer than the other ways but starts the process about 30 minutes before your preserves are ready to pot and you will not even notice the

• Heat the oven to 130 C. Do not be tempted to heat the oven any higher, or you may risk the glass breaking.
• Lay a double layer of newspaper on each oven shelf but not the floor of the oven. If you are using a gas oven, make sure your newspaper is well away from any flame. If it is on a middle shelf, you will be fine.
• Arrange the jars on the oven shelf, making sure the jars are not touching each other. Close the oven door and sterilize the jars for a minimum of 20 minutes.
•  Using thick oven mitts, remove each jar from the oven as needed onto a heatproof mat or heat pad, making sure you fill while the jam or preserve is as hot as the jar.

Besides spreading it over a plain slice of bread, this jam is so versatile that we have also thought of other delicious ways to use it. Recently Angela’s friend from Germany sent us a box of delights, among this delight there is this ginger cookie – Skane Peppaekakor, the flavour complement to the jam so much that we can’t stop having it.

You could also use it to make banana blueberry chiffon cake, and we really think the jam would do good to a batch of muffins.

Not only does this spin on traditional cranberry sauce taste incredible; its vibrant, rich colour will also uplift your spirit. Making jam is so easy that we can’t wait to make more flavours and try them out.

xoxo, Joe

Cranberry & Blueberry Jam

It can be used so many ways! Serve it with dinner, spread it on bread or muffins, stir it into ice cream or yogurt, or fill cake or doughnuts with it.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh blueberries

• 4 cups of frozen cranberries

• 2 cups of sugar

• 2 tbsp of lemon juice

Methods

• Sterizeles your jam it the oven for 30 minutes using the method mention above.
• Combine the berries and sugar in a large, non-reactive pot. Stir to combine. Let sit for 30 minutes or so, until the berries are mostly defrosted.
• Place the pot on the stove over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring regularly, until the jam thickens. This should take between 20 and 25 minutes. Because of the presence of the cranberries, this jam will pass the sheet test on a spatula. When the jam is finished, remove the pot from the heat.
• Transfer to a clean, sterilised jar and close it with a lid. Keep the jar in the fridge and use as required.

xoxo, Angela