26 October 2016

“Compost Jelly-jam”

I love making seedless, skinless jam.

One of my favourites uses things that normally go straight into the compost; apple peel and orange peel.

I remove and freeze the zest of the orange for cakes and scones, then add the peel to a bag and freeze it. I peel apples for various needs and freeze the washed peel. Then, when I have enough, I take it out, add it to the orange peel and a nub of ginger and add enough water to bring it to a rapid boil. I leave it to cool, so the ginger infuses more. Then strain the juices off. Add the required sugar (usually jam sugar or fructose) and make jelly-jam in the usual way. Apple, orange and ginger make for a lovely taste and on average, from 1kg sugar, I get 6 – 8 decent sized jars, that last many months. All from fruit waste. The left-over pulp goes back to the compost and rots down extra fast.

I also freeze any juice left when my husband cooks his fruit to go in his yoghurt. (otherwise the yoghurt gets too slack and doesn’t keep well.) The little cubes of juice (often many different fruits, including stone fruit when in season) soon mount up and get used to make a mixed fruit jelly-jam, two or three times a year. I don’t buy jam often at all. And using the right fruits means I can reduce the sugar content and still get a good result.

Much less waste and real fruit flavour on your toast or scones! Delicious!