Garlic Jam

A few weeks ago, I was at the farmer's market, and I noticed an entire table of jams and jellies in all different flavors, with little popsicle sticks for sampling. Not surprisingly, there were many flavors I hadn't tasted before. And I do have some shame, so I didn't want to sit there and sample them all -- instead, I tried to pick the one that intrigued me most.

Garlic jam. Hmmm. Interesting idea, not sure about the taste. But that's the one I went for -- and it was delicious. Sweet but still garlicy, a really interesting flavor. I have to learn how to make this, I thought to myself.

And so I did. My breadmaker has a "jam" setting, so all I had to do was throw in the ingredients, push a few buttons, and an hour later, I had liquidy mush. Two hours later, I had my very own garlic jam!  I've also included non-breadmaker instructions below, although I can't vouch for them personally.

Let me impart a bit of internet wisdom on the jam/jelly distinction. The difference between jam, jelly, and preserves is as follows: Jelly uses fruit juice, jam uses fruit pulp or mashed fruit, and preserves uses fruit pieces and a fruit syrup. Obviously, jam is best.  This doesn't actually use fruit at all, but I still think it's more of the "jam" process than the others. Garlic juice? Um, no thanks.

Finally, you could spread this jam on toast like a fruit jam, obviously, or use it as a glaze for roasted vegetables, or even serve it with pork chops. Yum!

Garlic Jam

INGREDIENTS:

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup white vinegar

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp pectin*

1/4 tsp canola oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place all ingredients in a breadmaker on the "jam" cycle. Press start and wait about 70 minutes.

2. When the breadmaker is finished, transfer the jam to a plastic container and refridgerate for 2-4 hours, or until cooled and set. Tranfer to a glass jar.

OR:

1. If your breadmaker doesn't make jam, bring the garlic, pectin, water, canola oil and vinegar to a boil.  Add the sugar and boil for about 2 minutes.

2. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes and then stir well.  Pour into glass jars and refrigerate to store.

*I used Pomona's Universal Pectin, which I found at Whole Foods, which also required a calcium solution dissolved in water to activate. I used 1 tsp of the calcium solution, as directed by the pectin package. Use the directions on your pectin box for this step, as needed!

Makes about 3/4 cup of jam. Will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.