Mirabelle Jam Food

MIRABELLE JAM

Steps:

• Pit the mirabelles.
• Put the pitted fruits in a non-reactive saucepan. Add enough water so it's about 1/4-inch (a scant 1cm) deep in the pan. Cover and cook over medium heat, until the mirabelles are cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. (You should have about 2 cups of cooked mirabelles.)
• Add the sugar and lemon juice and continue to cook the mirabelles over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid looks syrupy and thick. If you want to check it for doneness, you can turn it off and put a generous dab on a chilled plate in the freezer and check it in a few minutes, when it's cold: if it wrinkles when you nudge it, it's done. If using a candy thermometer, the jam will set at around 218-220ºF (103-104ºC).
• Remove from heat, add the kirsch or eau-de-vie, if using, and balance the flavor with a little bit more lemon juice, if desired. (When cool enough to taste.) Scrape the jam into a clean jar, cover, and refrigerate until ready to eat.

MIRABELLE-ROSEMARY JAM

Steps:

• Pit the mirabelles and weight 720 grams. Puree them to a degree you would like th fruit to be in your jam. I use the food processor for mashing.
• Put them mirabelle puree into a suited pot and add the super gelling sugar and mix.
• Cut the vanilla bean in half and scrap out the seeds. Put seeds aside.
• Add vanilla bean halves and the rosemary sprigs to the fruit mixture. Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly. Cook for 4 minutes strirring all the time.
• Take from heat and remove rosemary sprigs and vanilla bean halves.
• Add lime juice and vanilla seeds and mix.
• Fill into prepared twist off preserving jars and close jars. Let stand for 1 minute and then turn up side down. Let stand for 10 minutes and turn over again. Let cool completely.
• NOTE on "Dr. Oetker's Super Gelling Sugar 3:1". Dr. Oetker is a well known brand in Germany. There are several gelling sugars available. The "3:1" super gelling sugar already contains pectin and you only need 1/3 of sugar. If you can't get it, you could also use Dr. Oetker's 2:1 super gelling sugar (the use 360 g sugar). Follow the instructions on the package.
• NOTE on "yellow plums". Use mirabelles, which are very small yellow plums. They are different from plums though. Mirabelles is not recognized as an ingredient. So I used the term yellow plums.