I love jams, especially the one below. Not only does their jam tastes good, I also like their classic colours of red and white on the bottle, matched with back and white label.

I decided to make my own jam, to see how it tastes in comparison to store-bought ones.

It's actually very simple. The key ingredients are fruits, sugar and pectin (in this case, it comes from the fruits used). You just have to disinfect the jar, and put together all the ingredients to boil. The whole process takes about 30 mins, and you'll have your own home-made jams :)

Recipe: (took reference from Happy Home Baking and Cuisine Paradise)

Ingredient
(recipe yields about 1 cup of jam; I ended up with 1.5 cups =P)

100g bananas, mashed
200g frozen / fresh blueberries
230g granulated sugar
juice from 1/2 a lemon

Method:

Preparing the Glass Jar

• The glass jar used to contain the jam must be sterilized. *Sterilizing the jar: Boil the jar, and its cover in boiling water for 10 mins. Take out and wipe dry using a clean kitchen towel.  

Preparing the Jam

• Give the blueberries a light rinse. With a fork, crush the berries so that some berries are mushed up, leaving others only lightly crushed.

• Place the mashed bananas, lemon juice, sugar and blueberries in a pot or a large saucepan. Mix well.

• Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture starts to boil, skim away the excess foam or bubbles that will gather at the top of the mixture (refer to pictures above). Keep the mixture boiling for another 8 to 10 mins, stirring constantly, until there is no more foam. As you continue stirring, you will notice the mixture thickening, and there will a shine / glaze to it. This means it's ready!

• Remove from heat. *The jam may still be a bit runny, but will thicken up when cooled.

• Ladle the hot jam into the sterilized glass jar, leaving a gap of about 1~2cm from the top. Secure lids. Let cool before storing in the fridge or a cool, dark cupboard. Once opened, jam must be stored in the fridge, and best consumed within 3-4 weeks.

After-thoughts
The whole process is fun! I much enjoyed it, especially the part where I get to lick off the jam from the wooden spoon =). However taste wise, I can't quite taste the blueberry in the jam... felt that it has been overwhelmed by the flavour of the banana. Hmm... guess I'll still be sticking to my favourite brand of store-bought jam for now.

Lately, I borrowed a book from the library. An amazing woman by the name of Sarabeth actually started her business from making jam. I heard that their jam is so nice that even Oprah Winsfrey is a fan of theirs. It will my dream to try Sarabeth's jam... and I know a place that sells it in Singapore... but at $12 plus dollars, I can't bear to pay for it!  (>,<)

I had a lot of guavas sitting on my table-top. As the skin slowly turns colour, becoming a deeper shade of green, it's beckoning me to eat it up :)

Guava is a nutritional fruit containing Vitamin C and dietary fibre. The common way of eating it in Singapore is to slice it up, and add some plum powder (酸梅粉）to it.  I'm not a fan of plum powder, as I find it too sweet and sour-ress for me. If my colleagues and I were to go out for lunch, and pass by a fruit stall, I will avoid buying guavas. That was until I learnt about a different way of preparing guava, which is to add preserved orange peels  (陳皮）to it.

Though preserved orange peels also contain sugar and salt, similar to the ingredients in plum powder - I like the smell and flavour that the orange peels provide.

I only have to add a bit of preserved orange peels to the guavas, chill everything in the fridge for a few hours, and wah-lah... all the flavors will be well blended together.

Here's how I prepare it:

Ingredients
4 guavas
Approx 6 slices of preserved orange peels  *(qty to be adjusted based on personal preference, and the brand you are using; I used a different brand previously, and for that I had to add more preserved orange peels for the flavors to come out)

Method

Start by cutting from the sides

Cut to remove the core

Dice everything up

Shred the orange peels and add it it

Mix well, and chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving

There are some things in the house I can't leave without... and one of it is my Citromatic.

When I was young, whenever there were oranges to be cleared,  my mum would bring out the  glass juicer, and manually squeeze the oranges. It was tiring when she has to make orange juice for all 3 children (cos we would all want some). It's after I receive this gift that I fell in love with making and drinking orange juice.

Here's introducing to you my favourite gadget:

my citrus juicer

making my own orange juice

top view

see how it squeezes the orange dry

It's really handy to have if you want fresh orange juice regularly. This definitely beat store-bought juices, in terms of its taste and nutritional value. Sometimes, I would add in a grapefruit as well.

Its limitation is that it is used for citrus fruits only. However, unlike a fruit extractor, it's easy to wash, and doesn't take up much space. I love my citromatic, and I believe you would too, if given the opportunity to own one.

It's through making juices, and from the fruit seller I learnt about the different types of oranges. The lady was sharing that Valencia oranges, which have a higher liquid content is more suitable for juicing. Navel oranges are more suitable to be consumed directly as fruits.

That's something new for me, and I also found that Valencia are generally sweeter... No more sour orange juice for me, now that I know the type of oranges to choose :)

Over the weekend, my sister came over, and we did a tiramisu.  I love having a partner around. Well... in case of emergency, like you forgot to add something or needed something to be added quickly, you can always call on the partner for help. I also like that the load is split up, and the partner, usually very nice would also help in washing up :)

The tiramisu was to be brought along to a gathering, but to my horror, there wasn't enough sponge fingers to fill the tray. I have to activate my dear to go to the nearest NTUC to find some for me. But he couldn't get any, and in the end, he chose Marie biscuits.

You'll be amazed with how it tastes... after refrigerating overnight, the flavour kind of blends together. Both types of biscuits have softened and absorbed the coffee-alcohol flavour, and it actually tasted very nice.  This sets me thinking about the different biscuits I can try next time, maybe wafers or digestive? Perhaps it will then depends on the unique type of situation I will meet when doing tiramisu again =P

1st layer (using sponge fingers)

2nd layer (using Marie biscuits)

cocoa powder to top it off

our tiramisu comes in all sizes :)

my sister's finished products