Ham Jam
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1.5 hours
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 star anise
- 5 cloves
- 4 cardamom pods, bashed to release seeds
- 4 slices fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
- 4.5 cups pineapple chunks or 3x425g tins pineapple
- 2 cups white sugar
- Seeds and peel of 1 lemon, placed in a muslin bag
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Step 1 - Heat the cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, cardamom pods, ginger and mustard seeds in a large heavy bottomed pot without adding any oil. The mustard seeds will start to pop-just toast everything briefly. Then add the pineapple chunks, sugar, lemon juice, orange zest and muslin bag with the seeds and peel of lemon.
Step 2 - Bring to a boil and simmer with the lid on, on medium heat for 1.5 hours or so, until the pineapple becomes soft and the juice becomes syrupy - if you put some of the syrup on a cold plate and run a knife through it and the part holds, then it is ready. Add the rice wine vinegar and salt to taste. Serve with ham at Christmas or on sandwiches with leftover ham (with aioli-yum!).