Homemade persimmon cardamom jam is one super easy and quick jam to make in a jiffy. It is very creamy and smooth, with a sweet floral aroma. It goes great with the morning toast, especially with the almond butter—my favorite. With the abundance of persimmons in the market, you don’t want to miss this one out. Just make sure you get the right kind, but more on this next.
A Note On the Persimmons
There are different varieties of persimmons. The main differences arise from their shape and taste, where the taste difference is largely attributed to the levels of astringency present in the fruit. The astringent taste is very distinctive, as it has an immediate kind of revolting reaction in the mount. The taste is dry, rough, and chalky; definitely unpleasing.
When strolling through your farmers’ market or your local grocery store, the most common types of persimmons you’ll find are two Japanese varieties: Fuyu and Hachiya.
Hachiya belongs to the astringent group, while the Fuyu is the non-astringent type. Note that the Fuyu still has tannins but are not at the levels of the Hachiya, and generally, you can eat the fruit while still firm. To be on the safe side, always taste it before using it in the recipe. Once, I made a mistake assuming the fruit was ripe because it looked and felt ripe. I ended up throwing the whole pot of cranberry persimmon jam in the trash as it was utterly inedible.
Making the Homemade Persimmon Cardamom Jam
This recipe is super easy and quick and just involves cooking all the ingredients. Simply add all the ingredients into a pot and cook for about 15 minutes. The persimmons should be cooked through and become mushy. Next, puree the jam with an immersion or a standard blender to make the jam smooth in texture.
This recipe is intentionally made for a smaller batch solely for the purpose of not needing to preserve it. Just scale it up if you wish to make larger quantities and then preserve the jam.
If you make a small batch and plan to consume it within two weeks, you can keep the jam in the refrigerator. However, if you want to keep it for extended periods, you need to process the persimmon cardamom jam in a hot water bath.
Always use sterilized jars for the jam.
How to Preserve the Jam In a Hot Water Bath
Follow these steps to preserve the homemade persimmon cardamom jam for extended period of storage:
- Use a large stainless steel pot and place a canning rack on the bottom. If you don’t have a canning rack use a kitchen cloth. It is essential for the jars not to be directly on the heat source. Just fold the kitchen cloth to cover the bottom of the pot. Fold the kitchen cloth at least four times. If it is too small for four folds, then use two fabrics.
- Carefully place the filled jars on the canning rack or the kitchen cloth.
- Add hot boiling water to the pot to cover almost the full height of the jar.
- Turn the heat off and let the jars cool in the pot.
- Once cooled, wipe the water marks from the jar and store in a cool place.
Important Things
- The jam is properly preserved if the top of the lid is convex or indented inward and pressing on it does nothing. If it is concave and when you press it, it indents inwards, then you should reseal the jar and repeat the preserving process since the jar did not seal airtight. Or consume this jar first. If you use jars with glass lids, like Weck, then the rubber band should not be very elastic and should hold firmly in place, making it very hard to pull.
- Once you start to consume the jam it is best to keep it in the fridge.
Other jam recipes
Homemade Persimmon Cardamom Jam
Equipment & Tools
- Medium cooking pot
- Immersion blender
- 2 Glass jar 270ml
- Small spatula
- Canning funnel optional
INGREDIENTS
- 500 g persimmon (peeled and diced; very ripe)
- 76 g granulated sugar
- 7 g vanilla paste
- ¼ tsp cardamom (freshly ground)
- 1 tsp lemons zest (Meyer lemon)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (Meyer lemon)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Sterilize the washed jars by placing them upside down in the oven at t 100°C/212ºF for at least 15 minutes or until completely dry.
MAKE THE JAM
- Add all the ingredients into a pot and cook for about 15 minutes or until the persimmon is soft and mushy.
- Puree the jam with an immersion or a standard blender to make the jam smooth in texture.
- Using a larger spoon, carefully scoop some jam into the jar. Use a jar funnel if you have one. If not, try not to drop any jam on the jar rim. Fill the jar by leaving about 1 cm / 0.2in space from the top.
- Check that the rim of the jar is clean (no jam on it), and if not, take a clean kitchen towel and wipe it clean and dry. Place the lid on top and close tightly.
PRESERVE THE JAM (optional) – Note 1
- Use a large stainless steel pot and place a canning rack on the bottom. If you don't have a canning rack use a kitchen cloth. It is essential for the jars not to be directly on the heat source. Just fold the kitchen cloth to cover the bottom of the pot. Fold the kitchen cloth at least four times. If it is too small for four folds, then use two fabrics.
- Carefully place the filled jars on the canning rack or the kitchen cloth.
- Add hot boiling water to the pot to cover almost the full height of the jar.
- Turn the heat on medium to achieve a very slow simmer. Simmer for at least 10 minutes.
- Turn the heat off and let the jars cool in the pot.
- Once cooled, wipe the water marks from the jar and store them in a cool place.
NOTES
- Preserve the jam if you are planning to store it for more than two weeks.
