Pear & Rosemary Jam

Pear and rosemary a perfect arranged marriage between the two flavours, especially on a buttery piece of toast or a warm fluffy scone. 

I came across this recipe while looking for a pear jam online. This particular blog caught my eye for one key ingredient being used: rosemary flowers.

I had to use guess work with ingredients and measurements as this post was all in Italian, which I do not speak or understand. However, by looking at the pictures from the post I got the gist of what was needed.

I thought I’d give the combination of the two flavours a go because I was so intrigued by how they could work together.

I was blown away by the beautiful and subtle taste of the rosemary coming through in the pear jam. Highly recommend on a buttery piece of toast or a warm fluffy scone!

What You’ll Need

All you need for this delicious homemade jam are pears, rosemary flowers and lemon, sweetened with caster sugar and vanilla sugar.

How to Make Pear & Rosemary Jam

• Add diced pear to a large pot. Squeeze lemon juice over diced pears. Cut and collect the seeds from the lemon and tie into a cheese (muslin) cloth. This adds pectin to the jam which is essential to make the jam thicker. 

• Cook the pears without anything else on them on a medium flame. Keep cooking down as the natural juices are released from the pear. Once in awhile, as the pears are cooking down press the cheese cloth so that the lemon releases the pectin into the pan.  

• Firmly press the cheesecloth into a colander to squeeze all the pectin out into the pot with pears. Discard the cheesecloth and add sugars to the pears. Stir until well dissolved. 

• Remove pot from flame and, using either a handheld blender or regular blender, blend to a consistency to your liking. If jam is still too watery after blending, return to stove and cook down further with lid on. 
• Just before pouring the jam into sterilised jars add in rosemary flowers and gently stir through. 
• Pour jam into sterilised jars ready for canning and screw on the lid firmly. Turn jars upside down and allow to cool down naturally.

Notes

•  If you don’t have or can’t get a cheesecloth, use a muslin cloth. I use a baby muslin cloth that I have cut down. 
• Rosemary flowers are best foraged the day of or the day before making jam. Only the purple flower part is used in making this jam.

Optional Variations

• You can substitute vanilla sugar for 1 tsp vanilla extract.
• You can also use jam setting sugar instead of the regular sugar and lemons (this will give you the pectin required to set the jam).