Jamaica Jam

You drink jamaica, right? Seriously? You don't? You really should try it--it's like Kool-aid for grown-ups.  If you haven't, next time you're in a Mexican restaurant order some--they've got it. (be sure to ask for "huh-my-kuh" not "juh-may-kuh" as most restaurants are not equiped to send you off on a Caribbean vacation.) Or check your grocery store, they've got it too. Maybe you know it by another name--they drink this stuff all over the world.  more about jamaica

Having not only made and consumed jamaica many times, and read lots of information like that linked above--I thought I knew about all there was to know about jamaica. Then I went walking in the market and saw this weird stuff for sale--I didn't even recognize it in it's fresh form!

So when the lady told me what it was, I immediately bought a sack full and trotted home to see if it tasted different than the dried form. It was great!

Then I decided to try to make something else. I read here about quesadillias made from them. And that was interesting, but I decided to try and make some jelly.

break the sepals apart

each one is thick and fleshy--who knew?

put them on to boil

Now in a normal world, I would have taken the juice, added some sugar and "sure-jell" pectin and been done in about two shakes. Of course, there's  no pectin here. So I strained out and ground the petals, which seemed pretty acidic tasting, along with some lime peelings and boiled them down until I had a juice which I hoped contained enough pectin for the jam to set up.

And it actually worked! When I saw those first few globs of gelling fruit on the spoon I did a dance you may have previously seen in the movie Castaway after he gets a fire going. 

Then it was just time to bake some fresh bread worthy of this fine jam.

yum!

And yes, for those of you who may be speculating on why the sudden extensive commentary on my lunches--it is because Jonathan (and most of the other Mission Men) are away on the river. You know, it is amazing how much quicker all the cleaning tasks go when there are no muddy boots stomping around the place.

Please keep our river travelers in your prayers--it's been raining buckets and every drop that rolls off our roof has to roll down to that river. They've got a long road back.