Remember back in July when Hope, Joy, and Moriah came out for a visit? Moriah and her family used to live in Tucson and she told us how they used to go picking prickly pear fruit and make jam. On the way home from hiking in Sabino, we found an area that was literally covered in ripe prickly pear cactus. We used tongs to twist the fruit off the cactus, they're covered in small thorns that are very hard to see and get out of your clothes and hands!! The dark purple ones are the ripest and make the best jam.
Can you see Moriah way out there filling her container? :)
We picked two containers, one for Moriah's family and one for Hope and Joy to take back with them. I picked a small bag full and attempted to make the jam.
I cut the amount of sugar down to less than half of what the recipe called for so there is more of a natural tart flavor of the fruit. I also accidentally didn't boil the juice, sugar, and pectin long enough so the consistency is more of a syrup than jam. That's okay though, we just enjoy it as a substitute for maple syrup on pancakes!
1 comment:
It was fun to see where the prickly pear jam started. We enjoyed the jam Hope made. The fruit itself was actually good. Glad you had those tongs though! Grandmommy
Post a Comment