WITH (HAPPY) NEW YEAR, JACK FRUIT IS BACK

In a corner of our garden, we were waiting the nature finishes the ripening of some jack-fruits. They were ready this Wednesday and since today, they are present in the different stores which sell the jams of Lola.
As our garden is something like 6 sq m, the corner with the jack-fruit is easy to find. This also shows, even with a very low production, any small farmer is able to make a benefit with a simple processing instead to sell at very low price the fruit unripe to a buyer.
And this one, we can guarantee, is without any chemical but light spraying of natural farming concoctions. The fruits have no disease and the taste is excellent. 


The weekly recipe (adapted from: http://delightfulrepast.blogspot.com/2010/07/trifle-traditional-english-pudding.html)

Trifle - A Traditional English Pudding (Dessert)

Winter Trifle(Makes 8 individual trifles, about 2/3- to 3/4-cup each)
1 recipe stirred custard
1/2 loaf pound cake
1/3 cup triple sec or orange juice
1 cup Jack-fruit (or other) freezer jam
1 cup whipping cream, whipped with 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Stirred Custard
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 packed cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
2 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In top of double-boiler, whisk together sugar, flour and salt. Whisk in egg yolks, then milk, until thoroughly combined. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water, whisking constantly, for about 10 minutes, or until thickened (should register 160 degrees Fahrenheit on instant-read thermometer). Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Whisk for 2 minutes until custard has cooled a bit. Place pan in large bowl of ice water for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Proceed with trifle recipe.
1 Make stirred custard. While custard is cooling, cut half a loaf of pound cake into eight slices not more than 1/2-inch thick; cut slices in half. Measure out the triple sec or orange juice and jam.
2 Assemble trifles:
Cake
1 teaspoon triple sec or orange juice
1 tablespoon Jack-fruit freezer jam
2 tablespoons custard
Cake
1 teaspoon triple sec
1 tablespoon Jack-fruit freezer jam
3 tablespoons custard
You might want to use two teaspoons of liquid (one of triple sec and one of orange juice) to moisten each slice of cake.
3 Chill trifles for at least 8, or up to 24, hours. Not optional, this is a must.
4 When ready to serve, make the whipped cream. Put about 2 tablespoons whipped cream on each trifle; garnish each with a small cherry with stem. 

The question of the week:

Why the Lola's jam are more expensive than the jam in the supermarket at 60 or 80P ?

You have to compare what is comparable. First, Lola's jam are at the same price or less expensive than other jams of equal quality. Then there are different quality of jams based on the quantity of fruit. Extra quality jam have more than 45% of fruits. Lola's jams contain generally 60% of fruit. By the way, the quantity of sugar from the fruit is more important and it is best for health than the added sugar. Low quality jams contain very few natural fruit but a lot of chemicals, colorants and so on, look at the label: you buy a pure chemical product which is very far from a home-made product.

Other point is Lola's garden jam tries to offer you rare and original products and it needs research and trials to find the best quality processed product. Good quality ingredients or organic products have also high price.

And last point, our packaging is a little more expensive. Some friend calls it "sexy packaging"! Let's say this is the "French sophisticated touch" and we know you like it!

Happy New Year to everybody, from Mechelle and Daniel

 Available this week (bottles 300g, 8oz):

CLASSICAL JAMS
Guyabano-calamansi              130P

Jackfruit                                   130P

Pomelo-orange                        130P

Papaya-Buko                           130P
Breadfruit                                130P (available in few stores)

Tomato-apple                          150P

Watermelon                             140P

ACCOMPANIMENT NOT SPICY
Batwan                                     140P
Kalumpit, (Sarali)                   150P

SPICY JAMS

Chili                                          180P

Ginger                                      150P

Green mango (Chutney)        180P

Sweet pepper                          180P

     Minimum order for home delivery: 6 bottles mixed,

     Free delivery in Bacolod (payment at the delivery)

NOTE: this prices are not applied in local selling places

Send your remarks and orders to:

lolasgardenjam@gmail.com
or Text: 0919 3555 424

XMAS TIMES

We're sure many people received our jam as gift for Xmas and we wish to thank all our friends and customers who helped us to have a good starting of Lola's Garden Jam and an excellent month of December. 

Lola and us wish you a merry Xmas and a Happy New Year 2011. We also wish to surprise your taste buds all along the coming year with our new researches and productions. Lola told me she hopes she will have more and more happy friends of the jams.

The weekly recipe:
The Austrian Linzer torte is a simple pie with jam. The paste is a little original. For a pie for 8 people, you mix 130 g of nut powder (or equivalent) with the same quantity of sugar and flour. Add 4 yolks of eggs and 130 g of butter cut in dice. Add a little water to get a smooth and homogeneous paste. Make a ball with the paste and keep in a plastic bag in the fridge 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven at 190°C. Spread the paste. This quantity is good for a mold around 18 cm diameter. Pour the jam, 300 to 500 g, for example the guyabano jam or the Kalumpit jam (Sarali) and decorate with the remaining paste. Oven 55 minutes. You eat this pie cold.

The question of the week:

How to know if there is pectin in a fruit?

Pectin exists naturally in fruits. The concentration is not the same in all the fruits and varies with the ripeness. Worst, appears now fruits like tomatoes

genetically modified and without pectin to keep marketable the fruit a longer time. Not far is the time we will have in our plates the shape and the color of a fruit but not the taste!

Anyway the question is to know rapidly if there is pectin or not. A simple test will help you: mix 1 tsp (teaspoon 5ml) alcohol 90° (it works better than with 70°) and 1 TBS (tablespoon 15 ml) of the hot jam. Depending of the clogging you can conclude:

- you get a compact block: the juice is rich in pectin,

- you get 2 to 3 small balls: the juice has an average concentration in pectin,

- you get small scattered balls: the juice is poor in pectin.

It is not easy to find information about the quantity of pectin of tropical fruits especially when you use local fruits not exported. You must experience yourself.

Example of fruits founded in the Philippines poor in pectin: cherries, strawberries, melons, pears, grapes,...

Example of fruits founded in the Philippines rich in pectin: apples, guava, mulberries, citrus fruits in general,...

 Available this week (bottles 300g, 8oz):

CLASSICAL JAMS
Guyabano-calamansi              130P

Jackfruit-calamansi                130P (available in few stores)

Pomelo-orange                        130P

Papaya-Buko                           130P
Breadfruit                                130P (available in few stores)

Tomato-apple                          150P

Watermelon                             140P

ACCOMPANIMENT NOT SPICY
Batwan                                     140P
Kalumpit, (Sarali)                   150P

SPICY JAMS

Chili                                          180P

Ginger                                      150P

Green mango (Chutney)        180P

Sweet pepper                          180P

     Minimum order for home delivery: 6 bottles mixed,

     Free delivery in Bacolod (payment at the delivery)

NOTE: this prices are not applied in local selling places

Send your remarks and orders to:

lolasgardenjam@gmail.com
or Text: 0919 3555 424

DO YOU KNOW CHILI JAM?

One day, during the development of the Chili jam processing, I found an old recipe, and it was the good one! The trick was to add star anise. I invite you to discover the fresh feeling of anise which first invade your mouth. You will think: "Well, this Chili jam is not so hot!" But slowly like the waves leave the beach, the anise disappears and the chili replaces it suddenly like the thunder saturates the sound space. Generally, you want to renew the experience, first sign of addiction to this new and original spicy jam.

This Chili jam is the last for this year of the series of four spicy jams I promised you for the month of December. You have now a choice of four level of spiciness to enhanced the taste of your meals:
   - The Spicy sweet pepper jam is a little spicy and closed to Thai sauce,
   - The Spicy green mango jam brings you the flavors of five Indian spices,
   - The Spicy chili jam as you can imagine, is really spicy,
   - The Spicy ginger jam is the most Filipino and spicy of the four.


The weekly recipe:
We classified jams as Classic (the one you eat with bread) and accompaniment or garnish (spicy and non-spicy). In Tagalog, the name is "saw sawan". This refers to a simple use of the jams, without any kind of cooking: "Open the jar, eat with something and enjoy your meal!". That's simple and good.

Meanwhile, cooking with jams opens a new door of culinary pleasure. From the simple addition of jam in the middle of a "Génoise", the improvement of a simple sauce vinaigrette" to more sophisticated desserts coming from Austria (Linzer torte) or England (Trifle), dozens of recipes use jams.
The gourmet will adjust the mixing from totally sweet to sweet and sour, adding, for example, vinegar to make a chutney. Here is the reason of the launching of our spicy and non-spicy accompaniments. All this set of jams will help you to realize rapidly marvelous recipes coming from all the world. You will surprise your family and guests!

Here a first idea to improve a marinade (a marinade is a mixing where you soak fish or meat for preserve or before cooking in oven or grill):

- mix one jam (spicy or not) with soy sauce, vinegar, chopped onions, pepper and marinate tenderloin of pork during 3 hours. Then, cook on the grill. You have to adjust the quantity to your taste, more or less spicy, sweet or sour.




The question of the week:

I do my jam at home. Sometimes, I find molds when I open the jar. What is my mistake and is it dangerous for health? (continuation)

Rule #3: At the end of the cooking

There is a right moment to stop the cooking. More you cook, more you evaporate the water and more you concentrate the sugar. If you don't cook enough the concentration of sugar is too low, the jam can be very liquid and the risk of apparition of mold is great because of the quantity of water. If you cook too much you will evaporate too much water and during the cooling, the sugar will crystallize. In the worst case, you get candy instead of jam! If you have no refractometer to control the concentration of sugar, you can use a thermometer for cooking and wait until a temperature of 105 to 107 degree Celsius.

 If you have no thermometer a simple trick will inform you the jam is ready. Put a small plate in the fridge. Pour few small drops of the hot jam. Wait a few seconds the jam cools. Hold the plate vertically. If the drops are dripping, the jam is not ready. If the drops don't move the jam is ready. But don't forget the jellification needs pectin. If there is no pectin the jam will never jellify.

Pour the jam as hot as possible in the bottles. Close and turn it up down 10 mn to "sterilize" the cover. Clean with water, let cool, stick a label with name and date and stock at least 6 month to one year in a dark fresh place.

If you apply strictly the 3 rules, the risk of contamination is very low.

 Available this week (bottles 300g, 8oz):

CLASSICAL JAMS
Guyabano-calamansi              130P

Jackfruit-calamansi                130P (available in few stores)

Pomelo-orange                        130P

Papaya-Buko                           130P
Breadfruit                                130P (available in few stores)

Tomato-apple                          150P

Watermelon                             140P

ACCOMPANIMENT NOT SPICY
Batwan                                     140P
Kalumpit, (Sarali)                   150P

SPICY JAMS

Chili                                          180P

Ginger                                      150P

Green mango (Chutney)        180P

Sweet pepper                          180P

     Minimum order for home delivery: 6 bottles mixed,

     Free delivery in Bacolod (payment at the delivery)

NOTE: this prices are not applied in local selling places

Send your remarks and orders to:

lolasgardenjam@gmail.com
or Text: 0919 3555 424

THE GREEN MANGO JAM: AN ACCOMPANIMENT INDIAN CHUTNEY

Open a bottle of Spicy green mango, taste it with a meat or a fish or crackers and you will be transported in India with the aromas of the spices, the cumin with its distinctive and strong flavor, the cardamom intensely aromatic with a resinous fragrance, the red chili (see next update), the cinnamon which gives sweetness, the cloves you can find inside the chutney with, also, a very strong aroma. It will be a new way to eat green mango!

Young farmers learn jam processing in La Carlota:

At the creation of this blog, I explained our concept of Natural Farming teaching based on the trilogy: "To produce, to transform, to sell". Actually we apply this concept in a one year weekly seminar in the Gerry Ledesma's Dos Marias farm in La Carlota, in Ara-Al. After the theory of the jam processing last week, the farmer-students cooked their first batch of mango jam. Everybody enjoy the processing and went back home with samples of their production. 


The question of the week:

I do my jam at home. Sometimes, I find molds when I open the jar. What is my mistake and is it dangerous for health? (continuation)

Rule #2: Respect the quantity of sugar and control the pH:

That's a very important rule because with the right concentration of sugar and an acidic medium you will avoid the development of micro-organisms. To know the concentration of sugar you need a refractometer. If you have not, you respect the recipe (generally same quantity of pulp and sugar) and you wait until the jam is really cooked, meaning ready for jellification (see later to know when the cooking is finished).

For the pH, it is not so easy. The pH should be between 3.5 and 3.0 and this cannot be measured with your tongue but with a pH-meter (expensive) or special paper pH (not expensive). That is why, when the fruits are not enough acid, the recipe says to add lemon juice. As a good jellification of the jam with the pectin also needs the same level of pH, this parameter is a fundamental for good jams.

 Available this week (bottles 300g, 8oz):

CLASSICAL JAMS
Guyabano-calamansi              130P

Jackfruit-calamansi                in some stores

Pomelo-orange                        130P

Papaya-Buko                           130P
Breadfruit                                in some stores

Tomato-apple                          150P

Watermelon                             140P

ACCOMPANIMENT NOT SPICY
Batwan                                     140P
Kalumpit, (Sarali)                   150P

SPICY JAMS

Ginger                                      150P

Green mango (Chutney)        180P

Sweet pepper                          180P

     Minimum order for home delivery: 6 bottles mixed,

     Free delivery in Bacolod (payment at the delivery)

NOTE: this prices are not applied in local selling places

Send your remarks and orders to:

lolasgardenjam@gmail.com
or Text: 0919 3555 424