Soothing Tea Jam
My Soroptimist sister, Shirley, kindly gave me part of a row in her vegetable garden. It’s a spectacular garden, and I am priviledged. Her husband was a bit leary of these things growing in it, but when I stopped by to check on the heirloom cherry tomatoes and ground cherries, he was pleasantly surprised by their sweetness and agreed they would taste good in a salad.
I realized several had dropped so Gillian and I popped by Saturday morning to collect them. I then enjoyed the summer heat, sitting on my front porch husking them and gathered about 5 cups worth plus at least another cup that were still green (and are currently ripening in a brown paper bag with some orange tomotoes that haven’t fully turned). It was hard not to eat them but I held fast! An interesting observation is that the flower gets trapped in the husk as well and often sticks to the berry, hence the note in the recipe to wash them carefully.
This is the recipe I am using for the jam, scaled for my 5 cups:
- 4 cups ground cherries (husked)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup chamomile tea, left to steep for about 2 hours
- Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
- Husk and wash the ground cherries carefully. Measure the sugar and water. Add the cherries, lemon rinds, and juice. Bring to a full rolling boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand overnight in the refrigerator.
- Next day, return to the heat, and again bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook gently until the cherries burst and the jam is transparent (about 15 minutes).
- Ladle into hot jars. Wipe the rims, assemble the lids and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
