ginger rosemary Pear

The Jam: Sweet shinko pear base infused with powerful fresh ginger and rosemary.  This jam was reconstructed from Olivia's mother's description of a jam she tried on a trip to Stockholm, Sweden.  Passed on through words, careful consideration, and some tips from other pear-based jam recipes the final result carries strong ginger flavor, a rosemary background, and a sweet, refreshing finish.

Makes about 10 4oz jars or 5 8oz jars

Ingredients:

  • 4lbs Shinko pears (peeled, cored, and chopped into 1” cubes)

  • 1 cup water

  • 1/4 cup lemon juice

  • 6 tsp calcium water (comes with Pectin)

  • 4 or 5 sprigs of fresh rosemary

  • 1/4 cup ginger, finely chopped

  • 2 TBSP lime juice

  • 3 cups sugar

  • 3 tsp pectin (Pomona’s Universal Pectin is best)

Making the Jam:

  • Place several spoons in the freezer ahead of time for testing jam consistency once hot. Prepare ingredients as listed above and set aside. Wrap rosemary with cheesecloth (pictured above).

  • Bring pears, water, lemon juice, calcium water, and rosemary bundle to a boil. Boil for 30 minutes until pears are translucent.

  • While pears are boiling, combine sugar and pectin, mixing with a fork or whisk to ensure pectin is completely mixed in with the sugar to avoid clumping.

  • When pears are done cooking, remove rosemary bundle. Add ginger and lime juice, bring to a boil again. Mash mixture with a potato masher.

  • Add sugar-pectin mixture slowly. Boil again for at least 1 minute. Drop about a 1/2 tsp of jam onto the frozen spoon to check if it is at desired consistency. If jam is still too runny, make more sugar-pectin mixture (1/2 tsp pectin in 1/4 cup of sugar) and add, boiling for another minute before testing again.

A Word on Canning: In order to safely keep this jam at room temperature, is necessary to follow proper canning protocol, including completely sterilizing the jars and lids, adding in contents when they are boiling hot, and reboiling the filled jars, keeping only those lids which have properly sealed. If you have not canned food before, please refer to further resources on proper technique! You can also make small batches of this jam, and store in the fridge for a few weeks, avoiding canning entirely.

If you decide to can this jam, fill still-hot freshly sanitized jars with boiling jam, wipe lip of jar with a damp cloth, secure lid, tighten rings finger-tight, and process in boiling water for 6 minutes. Properly canned jars whose lids compress on their own while cooling can be stored in a cool room for up to 1 year.