The smells of summer

After being inspired by the delightful Faux Fuchsia I decided to capture some of the smells of summer to enjoy on a cold winter's morning (if it makes it that far into next year!). I love stone fruit. The only problem with stone fruit however is that you get little bits stuck between your teeth as you eat it off the seed. I have now removed that obstacle people and turned it into a beaut conserve. I present to you white nectarine jam. Dead easy to make and tastes fabulous. Believe me, I've already had some on toast :-)

White nectarine jam

1kg white nectarines
White sugar (now I"m sure I used much less than I was supposed to but its usually about 1:1)
A squeeze of lemon juice
(secret ingredients....vanilla bean extract and ginger (shhhhh.....)

Yummy, ripe white nectarines. I've fallen in love with nectarines.

The process begins - deseeding and chopping them before they get put into the pot

1kg chopped nectarines...make sure you use a big enough pot!

Add the sugar....as you can see I didn't add nearly as much as you're supposed to...the only thing I can see different is that it isn't too sweet (bonus) and it didn't set too firm (also a bonus)...

Add the juice of some lemon - I only added the juice from one lemon, you can add more if you wish, I just don't like my jam tasting like lemon (been there, done that, poor strawberry jam - just a note, I didn't make the lemon strawberry jam)...

Sterilised bottles....

Mid process - it takes supposedly 30mins, I think mine boiled slowly for at least an hour...just keep checking it but don't let it burn! Note: at this point, the house should smell like nectarine tart. Irresistable!

And the finished product...voila!

So there you have it. You could use this for tart fillings, pies, or just to spread on toast for breakfast and enjoy with a nice cup of tea (herbal for me thanks...)...or if you're feeling really decadent....with icecream...yum!

xxx