Winter-Autumn Jam

Spring seems to be a bit lazy this year and summer fruits are still very expensive to make these exuberant and delicious jams, so today I decided to make the jam I usually make in autumn and winter.
One of the reasons is because I'm soon visiting my friend Josette in France. She is an excellent cook and her jellies are glorious, so I'm making this to take some to France.

These are the ingredients I used:





2Kg of apples
1Kg of pears
Two oranges
One lemon peel
A piece of ginger
1 and 1/4 Kg. of brown sugar cane (the darker and purer the better!)
150gms of nuts

How did I proceed?




1. Peel, core and chop the pears and the apples.
2. Cut the orange with the skin in small chunks. Remove the seeds if there are any.
3. Peel and cut the ginger in small bits.
4. Put everything together in a big pot, add the sugar and bring to boil.
5. Keep the stove low for about 45 minutes and finally blend everything. Do not make the jam too fine, leave it a bit chunky, so you can feel the different fruits.
6.If you want your marmelade thick you may add a small spoon of agar-agar.
7. Add the nuts already cut into very small pieces. Stir.
8. Put the jam into sterilized jars.
9. Seal and process in boiling water bath for 30 minutes.

Just look! These are the jars that travel back and forth...




If you like really sweet marmalades you can add raisins and other dried fruit in step 4. It helps thickening the jam as well. The result is heavenly!!!