Recipe: Spiced Pineapple Jam with Patron Tequila

I love making jam. And jellies. And chutneys for that matter. We used to live in a little place called Chaddesden. We had a massive garden. Big patio, big lawn with trees for us to climb in and then my dad’s veg garden. It was full of fruit and veg, we had a sour cherry tree, a pear tree, three plum trees, a crab apple tree, plus raspberries, strawberries, black/red/whitecurrants, gooseberries, blackberries.

Whilst we were a family of six, this still meant that on a good year we had a glut of everything. I can remember the kitchen cupboard being absolutely full of jam, us gifting the neighbours pounds of plums, and being so damn sick of plum crumble it took me til my twenties to be able to even think about it again.

But it was also when I learned about jam making. About putting saucers in the freezer so you could check when it was ready. About putting jars in the oven to sterilise. Coming home to find the house smelling of vinegar because she was pickling, the sweet spiced smell of apple chutney. My dad sitting a peeling onions and salting them for hours to make pickled onions. They’re still the best, and he still gifts me a giant jar at Christmas (they often don’t even make it to new year).

So jam making for me is kind of a comfort. And what I hadn’t thought about, until I watched last week’s episode of Saturday Kitchen, was using tinned fruit.

I mean. Why not? We use fresh fruit, frozen, why not tinned. It put an idea in my head. We had a tin of pineapple and a tin of peaches. I let the idea simmer. Stew even. And spiced pineapple jam was born.

Well almost. As I was cooking it, there was a little something missing. I eyed my gin stocks, but I wanted something a little punchier. So reached for the Patron. The smoky kick is perfect in this – a mezcal would work just as well, but you could also use a punchy citrus led or spicy gin too.

To serve, I made some turkey burgers (in this case, super lean turkey mince, pepper, rapeseed oil and soy sauce for seasoning) and topped them with cheese and a dollop of jam. It also works deliciously with chips too!

But enough waffling from me. Here’s the recipe!

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Spiced pineap

Author Charlie H-S

Ingredients

• 1 Tin of pineapple chunks in juice
• 1.5 tsp Chilli flakes, or 1 fresh chilli finely diced
• 1 Thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
• 2 Cloves of garlic, minced
• 50 ml Patron Tequila (or other Tequila or Mezcal)
• Pinch of salt
• 160 grams Sugar with pectin, or ordinary sugar, with 1 tbsp lemon juice.
• For testing before you jar your jam, before you start, put a saucer or small plate into the freezer.

Instructions

1. Put everything, except for 50ml of the pineapple juice into a solid bottomed pan onto to a gentle heat on the hob.

   

2. Once the sugar has dissolved, let the mixture come to the boil.

3. Let it boil on the hob, a big rolling boil, for around 4 minutes.

4. After four minutes, turn off the heat and grab the saucer you put into the freezer. Test the jam, by dropping a little onto the saucer and when it's cool, push it with your finger. If it wrinkles, you're done!

5. Tip into a warm sterilised jar, and set to one side to cool. It will keep for a few weeks, but to be honest, you'll be lucky if it lasts that long!