Spicy Thai Clementine Jam
Okay, I love clementines! Easy to peel, no seeds to spit out, good for you, sweet tasting and just downright delicious. Of course, when they start appearing in stores, they are a sign that Christmas is near and I love Christmas. The sights, the sounds, the gifts, the food and best of all, the family gatherings. Because (I know, never start a sentence with because, but it just works so well here☺) clementines are in the store for such a short time, I tend to buy more than I can consume. I decided I needed to come up with a way to use up the excess, so that they don’t go to waste. That’s how the inspiration for Spicy Thai Clementine Jam came to me. This jam is so versatile. It’s especially delicious with poultry. Think chicken burger, gooey sticky chicken wings, or even try replacing the cranberries in a leftover turkey sandwich. At our New Year’s Eve party I heated some of the jam and we dipped our spring rolls in it. Another option is to spoon the jam on top of crackers with a little cracked pepper cream cheese.
Yields 6 x 250 ml jars
Ingredients
3 ½ cups prepared fruit (8 to 12 clementines)
1 lemon
5 cups sugar
½ cup rice vinegar
4 cloves of garlic
1 pkg fruit Pectin
½ tsp butter
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp dried red chili pepper flakes (divided)
Directions
Place water in boiling water canner. Heat to a simmer. Place 6 clean, warm 250 ml mason jars on a rack in canner. Cover with simmering water. Place SNAP LIDS® in a bowl full of warm water. Keep both jars and lids warm until ready to use.
Peel clementines and lemon. Using food processor with a bowl attachment and multi-purpose blade, add fruit and garlic. Pulse until the fruit and garlic is minced.
Transfer mixture to a large, thick bottomed saucepan. Add rice vinegar, fruit pectin, salt and half of the red chili pepper flake. Stir until the pectin is dissolved.
On high heat, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil.
Add all sugar at once. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture back to a full rolling boil. Boil one minute. Remove from heat. Add remainder of red chili pepper flakes. Stir. Fill jars one at a time, leaving ¼ inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim. Place SNAP LID® and screw band on jar. Tighten until fingertip tight. Place in canner on rack. Repeat until all jars are full.
Add enough hot water to the canner to ensure jars are covered by 1 inch of water. Place lid on canner. Bring to a full rolling boil. Boil 10 minutes (adjusting for altitude). Turn off heat. Remove lid and wait 5 minutes. Remove jars with a jar lifter, without tilting, to a protected countertop.
Cool upright 24 hours. After cool, check that the jars are seal. Sealed jar lids curve downward. Clean, dry and label with contents and date.
TIP: Never place hot jars directly on the countertop. Hot glass touching a cool countertop could cause the jar to shatter. Use a t-towel or pieces of newspaper to cover the counter and to place the jars on.
TIP: Only prepare 1 batch of jam or jelly at a time. Doubling the recipe could cause failure.
TIP: Although common practice 30 years ago, pouring melted wax over the jam in the jar is no longer considered an acceptable way to seal jars.
*Altitude adjustment for boiling water method
Altitude in feet Increase processing time by
1001 to 3000 5 minutes
3001 to 6000 10 minutes
6001 to 8000 15 minutes
8001 to 10000 20 minutes
