August is undoubtedly a month in which Mother Nature gives us a great variety of fruits which we should ideally take advantage of by eating them fresh, just picked.
Figs, watermelons, berries, melons, peaches, apricots, prickly pears, plums, table grapes. To a lesser extent we still find strawberries, summer pears, and some cherries.
To all these fruits are added the fruits that are commercially defined vegetables: courgettes, cucumbers, tomatoes, chillies, aubergines.
Prickly pear and chilli jam
Let's start with an unusual but very intriguing jam, often consumed with cheeses or sometimes as a side sauce during aperitifs: prickly pear and chilli, two fruits of Mesoamerican origin, they marry very well.
Ingredients
> 1 kg of peeled prickly pear;
> 750 g of sugar;
> 5 chillies.
Method
Let's start with the basics: the prickly pear is harvested very early in the morning, when the thorns are still closed and therefore unsuitable to be released.
With gloves we will cut the fruit from the blade of the plant e we'll drop it in a bucket full of water, in which the thorns will scatter. After this process, it will be easy to peel the fruit without getting irritated. The pulp of the fruits will be put in a pot to cook with a glass of water and sugar, until everything melts and caramelizes slightly.
At this point it is a question of filter out the seeds and add the chillies, leaving everything on medium heat waiting for it to reach the desired density.
This type of jam it gives its best if it does not gel too much. When we have our final product we can remove the chillies and jar.
Read also Recipes with chilli pepper >>
Jam Green Tomatoes
The famous green tomato jam is a delicacy of days gone by which is disappearing from the tables of the new generations, more attracted to junk food or exotic foods, and less and less to the goodness of our tradition.
It is a ideal jam with cheeses or in tigelle.
Ingredients
> 1 kg of green tomatoes;
> 300 g of sugar;
> 1 lemon.
Method
Wash and cut i tomatoes, removing the seeds. Leave them overnight to macerate in the syrup made from lemon juice together with sugar.
As it does not contain pectin, this jam will require more cooking time to reach the right density level, ideal for spreading.
Before putting everything on the flame, slightly high, we will add the grated peel of our lemon and we will continue to turn all the time, at the end of which we will transfer our still hot jam into the sterilized jars.
Blackberry and vanilla jam
One of the most loved fruits during the month of August they are undoubtedly the blackberries, adorate specialmente dai bambini e delle quali si usa preparare confetture ideali per colazioni e merende. E’ uno dei frutti di bosco più comuni sul territorio del paese e it is not difficult to go and collect them personally.
Ingredients
> 1 kg of blackberries;
> 400 g of sugar;
> 1 lemon;
> 1 vanilla bean.
Method
We will collect the well washed blackberries in a bowl and there we will add half a glass of water, the juice of a lemon and the 400 grams of sugar prepared previously to macerate everything for a whole night.
The following day we can blend or use a vegetable mill to reduce our macerated fruit into a ready-to-cook cream. Once in focus, we will add a vanilla bean vertically cut or a bag of vanillin.
We will cook over low heat for about 25 minutes, we will place the product in the jars which, once we have ensured the success of the vacuum, we will store in a light-protected storage for about a year and a half, if necessary.
Read also 4 vegetable jams >>
