American Appetizer
DRAGON FRUIT JAM
INGREDIENTS
1 dragon fruit
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ cup water
3½ tablespoons pectin
¾ cup sugar
SPECIAL UTENSILS
2 * ½ cup Mason jars. (They really must be hot and newly sterilized.)
Makes 1 cup. Takes 1 hour.
PREPARATION
Peel dragon fruit. Cut dragon fruit into ½” cubes. Add dragon fruit, lemon juice, and water to pot. Bring to boil using medium-high heat. Stir enough to prevent burning and until well blended. Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer for 15 minutes or until dragon fruit become quite soft. Stir enough to prevent burning and until well blended..
Add pectin. Bring to boil using medium-high heat. Stir slowly and just enough to prevent burning. Reduce heat to low-medium for 10 minutes or until pectin dissolves completely. Add sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves completely. Bring to low, or rolling, boil using medium-high heat. Boil for 1 minute. Stir slowly and just enough to prevent burning. Skim off any foam from this jam. Remove from heat.
Spoon jam into hot, newly sterilized Mason jars. Let cool for 10 minutes. Store in refrigerator for 3 weeks.
TIDBITS
1) This recipe uses dragon fruit. Dragon fruit is a tropical fruit chock full of antioxidants, fiber, and iron. It might improve metabolic health, Give it a try.
2) One dragon fruit is not the same as one dragon and one fruit, such as a strawberry. Don’t confuse them. Dragon fruit can be found in supermarket. Dragon fruit will let you take it home with no fuss to speak of.
3) Dragons however remain difficult to find. I’ve seen a feral dragon in some years now. All to be fair, I don’t venture out much anymore. You need to bribe a dragon with a gold coin in order to get it to follow you home. I urge care and speed when cutting a dragon into ½” cubes. They don’t like it! May I suggest first honing your slicing skills with the easy-going strawberry?
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
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