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.