Strawberry Jam (Çilek Reçeli)

In the farmers' markets in Turkey strawberries are sold in two different piles on the same stand. One pile is for small strawberries which are sold for "jam" (reçellik) and bigger strawberries, the ones for the table (yemelik), would be in the other pile. I haven't seen this at the American farmers' markets, but you can always go to a strawberry farm and pick up your "jam" strawberries. That is exactly what we did. Last weekend we were at the Washington Farms in Athens and picked up gallons of delicious strawberries for jam and the table.


























This easy and guaranteed strawberry jam recipe is from my mom.

If you are planning to keep the jam in the fridge, the ratio of stawberry to sugar is 1 to 1. If you will use 1 lb of strawberries, you need 1 lb of sugar or 1 kilo of sugar for 1 kilo of strawberries. However, if you intend to make multiple jars of strawberry jam and to preserve them in your pantry, than the ratio of strawberry to sugar should be 1 to ~1.2.


























5 cups of strawberries make ~3 cups of jam, ~18 oz jar

2 lbs small strawberries (if you start with big ones, slice them into two or three pieces), washed and stemmed
2 lbs of sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp water

-Place the strawberries in a pot and add 2 tbsp water and cook on medium. Once it starts boiling, start the timer for 10 minutes.
-After 10 minutes of boiling, add sugar and stir gently. Once it starts boiling again, turn it between low-medium and set the timer this time for 25 minutes.
-Stir infrequently and carefully skim any foam with a slotted spoon.
-At the 23rd minute add lemon juice.
-Turn it off and pour in a clean glass jar. Close the lid and let it cool. Store in the refrigerator.

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Pear Marmalade (Armut Marmelatı)

The other day my mom sounded highly enthusiastic on the phone about a new quince marmalade recipe. she insisted I tried it. I didn't want to say that I cannot find quince, one of my favorite winter fruits, here and crush her passion. I said sure, of course I'll try. After I hung up, I decided to apply the recipe to pears that were sitting on the counter for a long time. The result was a light fragrant marmalade perfect with cream cheesed bagels.

I had 5 pears and used all. You can use as many as you want. 5 pears made 24oz/1.5lb/~700gr marmalade.

5 grated pears made ~5 cups. For 5 cups of grated pears I used 2 1/2 cups of sugar. So, the ratio of sugar to pear is 1 to 2.


























5 d'anjou pears, grated (use the bigger hole), seeds taken out, not
peeled
2 1/2 - 3 cups of sugar
juice of 1 orange
juice of half lemon
3-4 cloves

-Put grated pear, juice of orange, and cloves in a pot on medium heat. Pear will first release juice. Cook off juice. (~1 hour)
-Stir in sugar and lemon juice and cook until it thickens.
-Pour in dry jars and let cool. Wait until it cools down to put the lid.

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Cornelian Cherry Marmalade (Kızılcık Marmelatı)

There are two Farmers markets in my hometown; one is on Tuesdays, the big one is on Fridays. We got these cornelian cherries from the Tuesday market so that my mom could make my favorite marmalade. My mom's cornalian cherry marmalade is the best I know, so here's the recipe--and this one is really Turkish.


























1 ½ kilo cornelian cherry (after you pit them, you’ll have approximately one kilo)

2 kilo sugar (approximately 8 cups) 1 1

2 cups water

1/4 tsp citric acid

-Wash cornelian cherries and boil them in a big pot with 2 cups of water for 15-20 minutes or until they are soft.

-Once they cool down, smash them in a colander in small patches. You’ll have cornelian cherry puree in the end.

-Mix 8 cups of white sugar and the puree in a big pot, and cook on medium heat. Once it starts boiling, check the time; cornelian cherry marmalade will be ready in 6 to 7 minutes. Do not let it boil more than 7 minutes.

-When it starts boiling, there will be pink foam on top. Remove the foam with a spoon.

-A minute before you turn it off, put ¼ citric acid (it preserves that magnificent color and prevents crystallizing)

Since cornelian cherry is one of those fruits that has a jelly-like structure, you need to put marmalade into jars when it’s still hot

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