While jams have become readily available in supermarkets and grocery stores, nothing replaces the unique flavour of home-made apricot jam, or quince and azarole jellies, the three classics in my repertoire and traditionally Palestinian.
3 kg (6 lb 8 oz) quinces
5 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves
Wash and dry the fruit. Cut each quince in four without peeling it, remove the seeds from the centre of the fruit, soaking the fruit immediately in water in a large cooking pot. Save the seeds for later use. Make sure that the quince are covered with water and cook them covered on a high heat until they are soft and you can mash them with the back of a spoon. It takes about one hour. Allow them to cool for one hour then pour out the contents through a fine sieve into another pan. You can crush the pulp in order to obtain more juice. The strained juice will serve as the base for the preserve.
Do not waste the pulp. Save it in a glass bowl and use later to make a dessert.
Strain the juice for a second time by passing it through a fine cloth into a third pan. Measure the sugar and add it to the twice-strained juice then put the pan uncovered on a high heat until it boils. You have to be careful not to let it boil over. Put the seeds you have reserved with two cloves inside a piece of cheesecloth. Tie a knot and throw it in the cooking preserve. Let it cook uncovered for one hour, stirring it every once in a while and at 45 minutes into the cooking check it for consistency. When a small cooled amount in a tilted glass plate rolls without dripping, it is an indication that the preserve is ready. Add the lemon juice and cook for another five minutes then remove it from the heat. Pour out as soon as possible in jars and close them tightly. It makes five or six 175 g (6 oz) jars. If you have saved the pulp, add to it a cup of milk, sugar and cinnamon and serve it as a snack for the children instead of having them under your feet waiting until the jelly is ready to spread into sandwiches.
Beit-Jala apricots are regionally famous for their special aroma and sweet flavour. It is the fruit which emigrants from the Bethlehem area miss the most. They have ascribed to it such qualities that ‘eat mishmish mistkawi and die’ is not an overstated expression of their longing for this fruit. In their memory, it has come to embody everything good that the earth can provide and the pride that Beit-Jala people take in this ambrosial delicacy is reflected in the price they charge. The whole Bethlehem area all the way south to Hebron cultivates this apricot but cultivators in Beit-Jala will always consider their product of superior quality and flavour.
The buzz around a season’s harvest starts at the onset of the month of May when prospective buyers start canvassing the orchards as to see who has the biggest and sweetest fruits for the best price. Many drive south to the villages to pick the fruits themselves at a special price.
When it comes to the jams, the secret lies in getting it just the right colour. Indeed, the lighter it is the more praise is due. I remember as a child, when my mother boiled the jam in a big pot, her anxiety as she checked the consistency and watched for the right moment when she could remove it from the fire. She then poured it in big trays that she covered with snow-white thin fabric and laid out on the terrace in the full sun. For four to five days we were forbidden from playing on that terrace so as not to disturb the rows of trays with the luscious jam basking in full sun from morning until dusk. My mother has always prided herself in making the lightest jam in the whole of Bethlehem and her secret was simple: the cooking process was completed outdoors in full sunshine!
I remember in previous years when I cooked 8 ratls (24 kg) of apricots and distributed them to family and friends.
This recipe is enough to make twelve 175 g (6 oz) jars.
3 kg (6 lb 8 oz) fresh apricots
1.8 kg (4 lb) or 8 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
The basic quantity of fruits for the preparation of jams is three kilos (6½ pounds), which is equivalent to one ratl, a minimum weight measure in large families.
Wash and dry the apricots on a clean kitchen towel. Halve them, remove the stones and put them in a large deep pan. Measure the sugar and add to the apricots stirring very well with a big wooden spoon until they are thoroughly mixed. The mixture should not fill more than half the pan as it may overflow on boiling.
Put the pan on medium heat and stir constantly until the sugar melts. At this first stage of the cooking it is important to make sure that the sugar does not form any crystal lumps. Once the sugar has thoroughly melted, increase the heat and bring to boil – it takes between 10 to 15 minutes – but be careful not to let it overflow. Cook uncovered for an hour, skimming the foam that accumulates on the surface. Add the lemon juice 5 minutes before removing from the heat.
The traditional way of preserving the jam was to let it cool thoroughly before putting it in the jar then pouring hot wax over the surface in order to seal the contents. It is now possible to find preserving jars in speciality shops. I pour out the jam in the jars while it is very hot and seal them immediately.
There are two ways of finding out when the jam is done: if the jam separates upon stirring, revealing the bottom of the pan, it is a sign to proceed to the second test. Spoon out a very small quantity of the jam on a glass plate and put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes to cool; this will allow you to test the consistency and decide whether you should remove it from the heat or cook it some more.
Your undivided attention is necessary in the last stage of the cooking, as it will determine the successful outcome of your endeavour. If you want to try the ‘sun technique’, do it with a small quantity of jam the first time. Measure a small quantity into a glass bowl when the jam is just starting to have body – about 45 minutes after it has started to boil – and set the pan out in full sun covered with a light cheesecloth for a few hours, every day for three days. The resulting jam will be lighter and tastier! Your success should give you enough confidence to go ahead with a whole batch the next time. At a time when commercial jams were not as available as they are today, an average family cooked some 15 kilos of apricots for the whole year. Nothing has changed today, as any commercial apricot jam is an understatement compared to home-made tatli mishmish mistkawi!
The season for cooking quince and azarole jellies coincides with the bustle of the olive harvest and the many tasks associated with the preparation of olives for pickling and for the press. The best azaroles grow wild on bushes that can reach two metres. Local lore would have it that when the olives are abundant, azarole bushes yield poorly and vice versa.
Azarole jelly can be used instead of honey or syrup to sweeten tamriyyeh or zalabiyeh. A spoonful of it in hot milk is supposed to clear the nastiest sore throat. I love to serve it with vanilla ice cream.
3 kg (6 lb 8 oz)
azaroles
6 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Makes about seven
175 g (6 oz) jars
Wash the fruit under running water. As they are small, the biggest the size of a large olive, they are cooked whole. Put them in a pan and cover them with water. Make sure that the fruit is covered with water and cook it covered on a high heat until the azaroles are soft and you can mash them with the back of a spoon. It takes about one hour. Allow the mixture to cool for one hour then pour out the contents through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth into another pan.
Measure the sugar, add to the pan and put it back on a high heat. Cook uncovered for 40 minutes, skimming the foam whenever it appears on the surface. At this point start checking the consistency by spooning a small amount on a small plate and letting it cool in the refrigerator for two minutes. When the sample rolls slowly on the plate without dripping it is an indication that the preserve is ready. Remove from heat and transfer to sterilised jars that you close immediately.
