Strawberry Blueberry Jam

While on Facebook the other day, I saw that a friend was attempting to make some jam to give as gifts to the teachers in her boy's school as Teacher's Day is round the corner. It seemed very easy, so I decided to give it a try. Blueberries are still at a low price while the American strawberries are what we find on the shelves now. As they come in bigger boxes, they cost more than the Korean ones. I can't wait for Korean strawberries to be in season again. They are almost always guaranteed to be sweet. And cheaper. I wanted to make a jam with a combination of blueberries as well as strawberries and while hunting for one, came across Happy Home Baking's jam recipes. I think making jam is an addiction. Once you've tried it the first time, you will want to make more. The downside is that since we don't consume a lot of jam, I can't try out a variety of flavours as they don't keep for long, probably 2 weeks at the max.

Double Berry Jam

Ingredients:
(yields about 300ml of jam)

200g fresh strawberries (I used 275g)
200g fresh blueberries (I used 125g)
120g granulated sugar*
2 tablespoons lemon juice** (I think this can be cut down to 1tbsp)

Method:

1. Wash and remove the stems from strawberries, cut into halves or quarters(for bigger ones), leave whole for small berries. Wash and drain blueberries.
2. Mix strawberries, blueberries and sugar in a bowl. Cover and leave in fridge over night, or let it sit for at least 30mins.
3. Transfer the mixture (including whatever juice that was drawn out from the berries) in the bowl to a stainless steel pot or a large saucepan. (Note: use non-reactive pots made with stainless steel, glass or enamel, avoid pots made with copper, aluminum or cast iron which would react with acid).
4. On medium heat, stirring constantly with a heat-proof spatula or a wooden spoon, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil (when the bubbles do not stop or lessen when you stir it). Once the mixture starts to boil, skim away any excessive foams or bubbles (I didn't bother skimming off as the fruits were in the way and the foam goes off eventually), stirring constantly all the time.
5. Keep at a slow rolling boil for another 5 ~ 10 mins, stirring constantly till the mixture thickens, becomes clearer and transparent (no more foams).
6. Drizzle in the lemon juice and cook for a further 2~3 mins.
7. Remove from heat. The jam will be a little runny when hot but the consistency will be just right after it has cool off.
8. Ladle hot jam into hot sterilised jars, fill to the brim. Secure lids. Let cool. Once opened, store in fridge and best consumed within 1~2 weeks***.

Sterilisation of jam jars -

Wash glass jars and lids in hot, soapy water, rinse well. Place jars and lids in a pot. Fill with enough cold water to cover the jars. Place over high heat and bring water to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil gently for 10 minutes. Remove jars and lids from boiling water and drain upside down over a clean tea towel. Fill with jam once jam is done and put cover back on. Boil covered bottle till you hear a pop in the cover. Turn off flame and leave jar to cool down before storing in fridge. If consuming jam immediately, there is no need to reboil it after filling.

Nyonya Kaya

Sitting here and typing out a post at this time of the morning is sheer madness. Unfortunately I'm not able to sleep as my little one has caught the sniffles. She was fine just yesterday till we met up with some ballet mates for a 'thank you' lunch organised by the teacher, in appreciation of our dedication in making the funfair a success. She was playing for hours with a little girl who, towards the end, I realised was sick. :( Have just given her her favourite Dimetapp but she doesn't seem to be nodding off to dreamland. Kids are addicted to this stuff. My little nephew too professes it to be his favourite medicine and so does my girl. How did they make medicine taste this good?? She'll even want to have it when she's well. Lol. But of course she's not allowed. ;P

On to my topic - kaya. I've had this recipe handed to me more than 10yrs ago and it's the first time I'm using it. A quick search on google showed up many others who have made and written about it in 2006. I'm 2yrs late. Lol. Having been told that it was tedious and it involved many hours slaving and stirring over the stove, I was hesitant in preparing it. That's the reason it took over 10yrs. Also, I don't have anymore space to store a double boiler on top of my tons of appliances. However, little princess was introduced to kaya by her dad earlier this year and she loves this coconut jam. I had tried introducing it to her a couple of years before but she didn't take to it. This I have to blame her school for feeding her lots of jam sandwiches. She never liked fruit jams too. And I wasn't too bothered by it as the less sweet stuff she took, the better. So, while we were at a bakery one day, I think it was Han's, she wanted me to buy a bottle of it. Alas, all they had was the bigger bottle and how were we supposed to finish it all within a week? So I decided to make some for my princess. Besides, I never liked the ones sold outside. They are too smooth and sweet for my liking. I love mine with the lumpy texture and making it at home, you can reduce the amount of sugar. A friend of mine made it the same week I did and she says you shouldn't reduce it too much or the kaya wouldn't last. It acts as a kind of preservative?

My recipe calls for 10eggs. A little too much considering the sites I've checked out listed 1 cup or some said 4-5 eggs. I'm not sure what kind of results those will yield, maybe smoother texture? Best I stick to what I know works for me. In the first picture, it shows the lumpy texture of the kaya that I like. Some say you are supposed to blend the kaya at the end to achieve a smooth paste, some others say that you need to stir it constantly from the minute you dump all the ingredients into the pot. I've discovered that it is not that tough after all, to make kaya. In fact it's pretty easy except it takes hours.

In the 2nd picture, it shows the double boiler that I created. I placed a smaller pot into a big pot. I then tied a tea towel over the cover to prevent water droplets from forming and dripping into the kaya mixture.

The ingredients I used were -
10 eggs, beaten
1 coconut (I used the ready coconut milk from the chiller section of the supermarket)
600g sugar
pandan leaves, tied into a knot and bruised a little

Method -
I put everything into the pot and steamed it for 3-1/2hrs, stirring now and then till cooked. As I made it at night, it was only ready after 10pm. I left it to cool while I went to bed and filled them in jars in the morning and then refrigerated them.

I didn't have the local kopitiam bread on hand. Thus we had them on plain white bread. It tasted gorgeous, just the way I remembered it.