Surprise ,surprise when I was watering the garden this week the Grumichama tree was loaded with ripe fruit. Don't know why I haven't noticed before, I knew some were there but not two containers full. They aren't that big. but delicious. Anyway picked and picked from above on the top level, then from below on the bottom bank garden, which really told me how high this tree actually is. Had it about 6 years now, and small amount of fruit last year.
Glad the birds hadn't attacked it, and really don't know why. If you haven't heard of a Grumichama it is a small fruit with two seeds inside, and the closest taste to a cherry as you can get with a tropical tree. Delicious to eat on their own, but as I am home alone at the moment while John is putting in a kitchen for our daughter, couldn't eat them all. I did leave some on so I hope I haven't taught the birds about a new tree for them.
So in the end figured I would make jam, couldn't really see it as a chutney, my go to preserve at the moment, as we don't eat a lot of jam. Next year though I am hoping to use the jam, for a different monthly challenge on the Homemaker's forum. This year if was A Fancy Cake Challenge which was quite successful.
I decided just to throw the whole lot into my jam pan and cook till soft get the seeds out and add the sugar. Sounds easy doesn't it? The first mistake was throwing it all in the pan. Millions of tiny seeds later I had to pick them out one by one. That meant tipping the lot into another pan,which is of no use for jam making, it catches on the bottom. Tipping all the juice back into the original and then I tried to put small amount through a sieve, that didn't work either just a lot of mush and a lot of seeds. I then got a slotted spoon and bit by bit took the seeds out of it and threw what was left into the jam pan.
2 hours later aaaaaaaah. and a giant sink full of bowls, spoons, tongs, pots, finally had a mixture which I started to cook. I wasn't sure of the pectin in this new fruit so I added 2 lemons worth of juice and 4 old apples to thicken, and boiled the lot down, with 2 1/2 cups of sugar. I wanted to keep it tart, there was about 5 cups of mixture in the pot. Finally it started to set and ended up with 7 jars exactly, of Grumichama jam. It is sweet, glad I didn't add more sugar, cherry taste like but not quite, and should be nice on scones and toast.
Back to the housework. I was hoping to have a quiet 2 weeks to really get the house sorted, and have been out everyday for something or a-rather. Barely keeping up with the day to day catchup, let alone declaring war on the linen press or pantry.
Till next time.
Glad the birds hadn't attacked it, and really don't know why. If you haven't heard of a Grumichama it is a small fruit with two seeds inside, and the closest taste to a cherry as you can get with a tropical tree. Delicious to eat on their own, but as I am home alone at the moment while John is putting in a kitchen for our daughter, couldn't eat them all. I did leave some on so I hope I haven't taught the birds about a new tree for them.
So in the end figured I would make jam, couldn't really see it as a chutney, my go to preserve at the moment, as we don't eat a lot of jam. Next year though I am hoping to use the jam, for a different monthly challenge on the Homemaker's forum. This year if was A Fancy Cake Challenge which was quite successful.
 |
| De-seeded cooking. |
I decided just to throw the whole lot into my jam pan and cook till soft get the seeds out and add the sugar. Sounds easy doesn't it? The first mistake was throwing it all in the pan. Millions of tiny seeds later I had to pick them out one by one. That meant tipping the lot into another pan,which is of no use for jam making, it catches on the bottom. Tipping all the juice back into the original and then I tried to put small amount through a sieve, that didn't work either just a lot of mush and a lot of seeds. I then got a slotted spoon and bit by bit took the seeds out of it and threw what was left into the jam pan.
 |
| Actual Grumichama and the two seeds.. |
2 hours later aaaaaaaah. and a giant sink full of bowls, spoons, tongs, pots, finally had a mixture which I started to cook. I wasn't sure of the pectin in this new fruit so I added 2 lemons worth of juice and 4 old apples to thicken, and boiled the lot down, with 2 1/2 cups of sugar. I wanted to keep it tart, there was about 5 cups of mixture in the pot. Finally it started to set and ended up with 7 jars exactly, of Grumichama jam. It is sweet, glad I didn't add more sugar, cherry taste like but not quite, and should be nice on scones and toast.
Back to the housework. I was hoping to have a quiet 2 weeks to really get the house sorted, and have been out everyday for something or a-rather. Barely keeping up with the day to day catchup, let alone declaring war on the linen press or pantry.
Till next time.
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