Carrot Jam

So now for a jam recipe without any fruit in it! Well technically speaking there is a bit of fruit as lemon and orange juice add a little zest to this recipe but otherwise this is an all vegetable affair. And this slightly unusual jam recipe goes great with cheese on toast…or alternatively as I recently discovered a large spoonful also adds an unusual twist to a couscous salad.

INGREDIENTS

1kg carrots, peeled and grated
Finely grated rind and strained juice of 2 lemons
Finely grated rind and strained juice of 1 orange
900g granulated sugar
2-3 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp grated nutmeg

Put the grated carrots, lemon and orange juice and zest and sugar into a large saucepan and mix together. Add the cinnamon sticks to the carrot mixture and leave overnight for all the flavours to infuse together.

The following day add 900ml of water to the mixture and add the grated nutmeg.

Slowly warm the mixture and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Then bring the mixture to the boil and allow the mixture to bubble until it reached setting point.

Jam reached setting point at about 105 degrees C so a sugar thermometer can be used to test for the setting point. Alternatively place a couple of side plates in the freezer before you start boiling up the jam, once the jam has been boiling for about 30 minutes put a blob onto one of the cold plates, let it stand for a minute then push the blob of jam with your finger and if the surface wrinkles and there is a clear path on the plate where you have pushed your finger through the jam then it should have reached setting point.

Although you should start testing the jam after about 30 minutes I found that this jam didn’t reach setting point until after about 50 minutes.

Once the jam has reached setting point carefully remove the cinnamon sticks and then transfer the jam into sterilised jars-it should fill about 3 average sized jam jars (follow the method for sterilising jars from my earlier mincemeat recipe).

Store the jam in a cool dry place until ready to tuck in!

Adapted from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's vegetable jam recipes