Arctic Kiwi Grape Jam with Honey

The chaotic and overwhelming season of preserving is hopefully nearing its end, although we do have several boxes of apples sitting in the garage, reminding us there’s is still a bit more to be done.

Today I tackled a more present problem in the fridge—2 small baskets of fruit that were looking sadder each day.  The grapes were purchased from a farmer two weeks ago at the St. Jacobs Market and the arctic kiwis were a gift from a friend who had received them from another friend who grew tons of them this year.

No, the problem isn’t that the squash have sprouted eyes.

I figured the two might as well go together in a jam because I didn’t know what else to do with them.  So, here’s the recipe, just as it happened this morning!

Arctic Kiwi Grape Jam with Honey (makes 2-3 ½ pint jars)

• 2-3 cups local grapes (these were Concord)
• 2-3 cups local artic kiwis, chopped into small pieces
• ½ cup local honey
• 2 tsp. dry pectin ( the pure stuff , not the crummy kind with tons of sugar in it)

Crush the grapes in a pan and bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.  Push to strain them through a colander.  Return the strained grapes to the pan and add the arctic kiwis.  Bring to a boil then simmer until the kiwis have softened and crush them a bit as well to form a consistent jam*.  Add the pectin to the honey and stir thoroughly.  Add the honey-pectin mixture to the jam and bring to a good boil for several minutes.  Prepare jars for canning, fill them to ½ inch from the top, process in boiling water for 10 minutes and allow to cool.

My opinion of the final product?  It mostly just tastes like a grape jam, but with a slightly deeper flavor that’s hard to place, unless you know it’s kiwi.  I like it and my young assistant does as well!

* If you’re like me and worry about your jam setting up you can always cook it longer to thicken it up that way.