Rosemary Della Robbia Jam

The other day I was given a lot of grapes. Now I can only eat so many and my bf wont eat many either. So I wandered online looking for recipes to use them in. I was looking to preserve them. There's really not many recipes out there for grapes other than Concord and those kind. The grapes you get from the store which is plentiful for me, I never see any canning recipes for. So I gathered the few I did find and went into my kitchen to do what I do best....play Mad Scientist.

I had two nice Honeycrisp apples left I wanted to use up so I decide to add those and I'm glad. These grapes really don't have much substance, there's more juice than pulp. And I didn't want skins in this either, I don't like them. But once I cooked up the grapes and apples they had a sickly pale beige color. Yuck. And so I had some plums here yet and decided to add just one for color and it worked. Its a nice rosy color now. But again I wanted more, I wanted spice. So I added cinnamon. It was good but needed more so I added orange zest.........okay NOW we're talking! Yum. But again I wanted more so I added fresh ground black pepper....lets get this thing spicier now. That gave it a little bit of heat, not alot. And finally I decided to try an herb and I picked rosemary cuz I know its yummy with orange.

This turned out really  yummy. Even my bf tasted it and said its really good. I picture this for the holidays for entertaining........with some nice goat cheese or even a brie on crackers. I have just a bit left chilling in the fridge now that I'm hoping to snack on later. So for those interested , here's my recipe. You could add more pepper if you want it hotter but since I wasn't sure what would happen with cooking and canning, I didn't want to overwhelm it. Right now it has a nice bite but something you don't notice right away.

Rosemary Della Robbia Jam Makes 3 pts.

6c. assorted grapes off the stems
2 Honeycrisp apples, quartered, cored
1 Italian plum, pitted 
1c. water
1 lg. orange
1tsp. cinnamon
1tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 4 in. long sprig of fresh rosemary
4 tb. low sugar pectin
1 1/2c. organic sugar
3 extra sprigs of rosemary about 2in. long each

Cook grapes, apples and plum in the water till soft and skins are tender. Cool a bit then run thru a food mill to remove skins. I used a plum to add a better color. I was given a big batch of red and greens grapes and the color was a pale pink beige and just didn't look too appetizing, so I added the plum to give it more color.

Put juice and pulp back in pan and heat. Add one tb. of zested orange peel, chopped fine and the juice from the orange. Add the cinnamon and pepper and bring to a boil.

Add pectin and stir in quickly. Let come back to a boil and boil for 1min. a boil you cannot stir down.

Add sugar and bring to a boil and let boil for 1min. with a boil you cannot stir down. Remove Rosemary from pot.

You should have your jars hot and ready to go. In each jar put a piece of Rosemary about 2in. long and pour hot jam over and seal. Water bath for 10 min. Turn off heat and let sit 5min. more then take out and let cool on counter for 24 hrs. Check seals.

This has a sweet, orangey, herby taste with a bit of heat you don't feel right away. It would be yummy with cream cheese or goat cheese on crackers for the holidays.