Jamming

If I say jam and the definition that comes to your mind is "to drive or wedge forcibly into a tight position", I'm there.
Have been trying not to get jammed, I have.
A 6-year-old just started elementary school this week. A 3-year-old just started the kindergarten. Both doing just a few hours a day and me running from one school to another. It's a miracle I haven't forgotten anyone anywhere yet.
Actually, I have forgotten something, for the third time since this spring, my ATM card. Only, the third time, I was lucky, the supermarket where I forgot it (damn self sevice machine, supposed to save your time when paying, but probably didn't take into consideration a stressed mom with two youngsters running all over the place ^__^) luckily found it and kept it until the following day when I finally discovered it wasn't in my wallet and flew over to check before blocking it, again.
Yes, I've been trying to force everything I have to do in my tight schedual, but since I survived the first week of school, you might say I've been jamming but didn't get jammed yet.
My computer did instead. Remember I told you a few weeks ago my computer was giving me hard times? Well, it died and was resurrected only a few days ago after it's motherboard was substituted, now it works like new, no, it's faster and works much better.
Another jamming problem solved ^__^.
And finally, I managed to jamm in some time for jamming, fruit jamming, I mean. I was afraid the peach season would fly away before I tried this recipe for peach & rosemary jam.

And I'm definitely glad I have. Otherwise I wouldn't be posting about it, probably.
Rosemary is one of my favourite herbs in the kitchen (together with basil and thyme), one of those I can't live without. And even though two of my three plants died during the summer, the one that survived even brightened this cloudy and rainy week with flowers, that chose just a perfect moment to bloom.
Perfect, indeed, because it's the flowers that I needed for this jam as well. And they are so lovely, small and delicate, that pale lilac-white colour, resembling lavender flowers.
And so is this lovely Peach Jam, delicate on it's own, and moreover delicately scented with rosemary.
I also loved the cooking method, the jam was ready in no time, otherwise I wouldn't be able to squeeze it in at all. A really great discovery for me that I'll definitely be applying to all jams I will/may be making.
The one I'm planning to try next is grape-thyme combo (doesn't it sound lovely?)
So, how about the first autumn jamming session?

Peach and Rosemary Jam

(for about 500 g of jam)
700 g peach pulp (about 950 g whole peaches)
300 g sugar
1 big lemon
1 rosemary twig, 10 cm long, preferably with its flowers
+ 2 smaller twigs
Chop the peaches (peeled and stoned) into small pieces, mix them with sugar, and keep refrigerated for 12 hours, stirring occasionally.
Strain the peaches to separate the pulp from the juice that has formed in the meantime. Put the juice in a casserole and cook for about 20 minutes until it’s reduced and looks syrupy.
In the meantime, squeeze the lemon, and peel the outer yellow skin from the squeezed lemon halves. Place the lemon halves, the lemon seeds, and the rosemary twig (remove the flowers and set them aside) on a piece of cheesecloth. Close this little package with a piece of butcher’s twine.
When the syrup starts caramelizing, add the lemon juice, the peach pulp and the lemon rosemary bag into the casserole and cook everything together for about 10 minutes.
Remove the lemon rosemary bag and squeeze it well (use two spoons in order not to burn your hands) letting all the juice fall back to the casserole.
Continue cooking the jam for 5 more minutes. Add the rosemary flowers you set aside just before turning off the heat. If you wish a smoother jam, use an immersion blender at this point.
Fill the hot, sterilized glass jars with jam, place a small, carefully washed and dried small rosemary twig on top, close them carefully, and turn upside down to form the vacuum inside the jars.
You can use other types of peaches for this jam, or mix yellow and white ones, or use apricots and/or all wild berries.

■How to sterilize the glass jars: Put the carefully washed and dried glass jars and lids into a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 110°C (it’s important to put the glass jars into a cold oven to avoid temperature shock and breaking). Keep the jars at this temperature until the jam is ready. Take the jars out of the oven (careful, they’ll be hot) and fill them with hot jam, close the lids very carefully and turn the jars upside down. Keep them in this position until they are completely cold. In this way, vacuum will form inside the jar and should assure you safe conservation for a long period of time.

■Pectin: some types of fruit (like apples, red currants, raspberries, blackberries, quince and oranges), but especially lemon juice, seeds and the internal (white) part of the skin, contain a substance called pectin, similar to starch. This substance helps fruit obtain that gelatinous consistence typical of jams and marmalades. Therefore, instead of using industrial pectin that can be purchased as powder take an advantage of the pectin naturally present in fruit, and try this method with lemon skins and seeds as suggested in this recipe.

Confettura di pesche al rosmarino
(da Cucina naturale, numero di settembre 2010)

(per 500 g di marmellata)
700 g di polpa di pesca (circa 950 g di pesche intere)
300 g zucchero
1 limone grande
1 rametto di rosmarino lungo 10 cm (preferibilmente con i suoi fiori)
+ altri due rametti più piccoli
Tagliate la polpa delle pesche a pezzettini e mescolatele in un contenitore con lo zucchero. Lasciatele macerare nel frigorifero per 12 ore mescolandole ogni tanto
Passato questo tempo scolate le pesche per separare il succo. Mettete il succo a ridurre sul fuoco medio alto per circa 25 minuti.
Spremete il limone e privatelo della scorza più superficiale (la parte gialla). In una garza posate i semi, le metà del limone spremuto e il rametto di rosmarino (staccate i fiori e conservateli). Chiudete la garza con spago da cucina formando un sacchettino.
Quando lo sciroppo inizia a caramellare unite la polpa di pesca, il succo di limone e il sacchettino con rosmarino. Proseguite la cottura per 10 minuti circa.
Togliete il sacchettino e spremetelo sullo sciroppo per raccoglierne il succo (ho usato due cucchiai).
Continuate a cuocere la confettura per altri 5 minuti e aggiungete i fiori di rosmarino prima di toglierla dal fuoco. Se gradite una confettura più omogenea, frullatela subito con un frullatore a immersione.
Versate la confettura calda nei vasetti sterilizzati, mettete un rametto di rosmarino ben pulito in ciascuno, chiudeteli e capovolgeteli per ottenere il sottovuoto.
Potete preparare questa confettura con altri tipi di pesca, o mescolando le pesche bianche e quelle gialle, oppure con le albicocche, percocche e tutti i tipi di frutti di bosco.■Per sterilizzare i vasetti: inserite i vasetti e coperchi, perfettamente lavati e asciugati , nel forno freddo. Accendete il forno e portatelo a temperatura di 110°C mantenendo i vasetti in queste condizioni fino al momento di riempirli. Quando la marmellate è pronta, togliete i vasetti caldi dal forno e riempiteli con la marmellata altrettanto bollente. Chiudete bene e capovolgete i vasetti a testa in giù fino al completo raffreddamento. In questo modo si formerà il sottovuoto (noterete l’incavo al centro del tappo) che dovrebbe garantire una lunga conservazione.

■Pectina – un addensante naturale: Alcuni tipi di frutta (mele, ribes, lamponi, more, mele cotogne, arance) ma soprattutto i semi, il succo e la parte interna della scorza di limone contengono la pectina, una sostanza simile all’amido,che favorisce il trasformarsi della frutta nella consistenza gelatinosa tipica di confetture e marmellate. Invece di utilizzare la pectina venduta sotto la forma di polvere, approfittate di quella che si trova naturalmente nella frutta utilizzando il limone nella maniera spiegata nella ricetta.

Pekmez od bresaka s ruzmarinom

(za oko 500 g pekmeza)
700 g očišćenih bresaka
300 g šećera
1 veliki limun
1 grančica ružmarina sa svojim cvijećem (duga oko 10 cm)
+ dvije manje grančice
Narežite breskve (oguljene i bez koštica) na komadiće, pomiješajte ih sa šećerom, zatvorite i ostavite u hladnjaku 12 sati. Promiješajte koji put.
Procijedite breskve da odvojite sok. Stavite kuhati sok na srednje visokoj temperaturi oko 20 minuta, odnosno dok sirup ne počne karamelizirati.
U međuvremenu iscijedite sok iz limuna. U komad gaze stavite iscijeđene polovice limuna (ogulite vanjski žuti dio), sjemenke i grančice ružmarina (odvojite cvjetove i ostavite sa strane). Zavežite komadom kuhinjske špage da dobijete vrećicu.
Dodajte sok limuna, breskve i vrećicu s koricom limuna i ružmarinom u pomalo karamelizirani sirup. Kuhajte oko 10 minuta, a zatim izvadite vrećicu s ružmarinom i dobro je iscijedite.
Nastavite kuhati pekmez još 5 minuta. Prije nego ga maknete s vatre umiješajte i cvjetove ružmarina. Ako želite da je pekmez bez komadića izmiksajte odmah štapnim mikserom i sipajte u sterilizirane staklenke. Stavite u svaku staklenku i manju grančicu ružmarina pa dobro zatvorite. Na isti način možete pripremiti pekmez od drugih vrsti bresaka, ili pomiješati u istom omjeru bijele i žute, i/ili s marelicama i šumskim voćem.

■Sterilizirajte staklenke tako što ćete ih oprane i posušene staviti u hladnu pećnicu. Uključite pećnicu na 110° i držite ih na toj temperaturi dok pekmez nije kuhan. Sipajte vruć pekmez u vruće staklenke. Napunjene staklenke dobro, zatvorite ih i okrenite naopako (poklopac dolje). Ostavite ih tako dok se potpuno ne ohlade. Na ovaj način će se stvoriti vakum u staklenkama.

■Neke vrste voća, kao npr. jabuke, ribizle, maline, kupine, dunje, naranče, i posebice sjemenke i unutrašnjost korice limuna sadrže pektin, tvar koja pomaže želiranje voća i pretvaranje u pekmeze ili marmelade. Dakle paketić sa sjemenkama i koricama limuna služi kao prirodna zamjena za kupovni pektin (želin).