Canadian made Jabuticaba Jam

Today we had a revolutionary change in Águas da Prata. Urso Branco made Brasilian Jabuticaba Jam. The is that beautiful jam made from the Jabuticaba Berries grown in our yard and all over Brasil.

So this is not 100% Canadian, It is more like 98% Brasillian with a 2% Canadian content. Urso Branco made it under that watchful eye of his wife Judy, the expert (she made it twice already).

Here are step by step instructions to make Jabuticaba Jam (Geléia de Jabuticaba). All you need is the berries and some sugar and an empty jar with a screw top lid.




First gather as many berries as you want. We only intended to make 1 jar this time so we had a small amount of the berries. By the way, if you don't live in Brasil, Tough Luck! Come and Visit us to make your own Jabuticaba Jam.





Put the berries in a pot.





Use your fist to smash the berries.





Cover the berries with water.





Now boil some other water in a small pot. We will use it to sterilize the jar.





Pour the boiling water into the jar and the lid. Swish it around, dump it out then set the jar aside.





Now boil the Jabuticaba berries.





Every so often take a sample and see if it is getting dark.





When it is dark enough it is ready for the next step. The juice should have thickened enough to drip slowly from the ladle or spoon.





Pour the juice from the berries into a seive over a pot.





Don't press unless you feel you must. Just dump the skins and seeds.





Now you have a pot with delightful juice ready for the next stage.





Pour it into a glass bowl and mark where the juice comes up to in the bowl.





Pour the juice back into the pot.





Get a bag of crystal sugar.





Put it into the bowl up to the mark you made with the juice. This doesn't have to be exact. I just used three fingers on the side of the bowl. That was close enough.





Put the sugar into the pot with the juice.





Stir well to mix the sugar into the juice.





Now boil it!





Stir occasionaly.





Bring it to a vigorous boil.





It may take 5 to 15 minutes depending on how much juice you have. Then take a small pot or a ladle and scoop the juice from the pot.





Pout it into the sterilized jar. Then cover immediately.





It should look exactly like this. Let it stand for two to three days to thinken.


Now you are ready to serve the finest jam you ever had. It goes nice on toast.

So if I can make it you can too! Try it.

I guess this process will work with most berries. Try it an let us know how you make out.




Photos by Urso Branco