When I’m at the grocery store, I often can’t resist buying whatever produce is on sale. I find this forces me to be a little more creative, using ingredients I might not normally use and trying to combine what I already have around (to avoid another grocery store run). When I picked up a whole pineapple on sale, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do something savory or sweet with it – so I decided to cook a jam that could go either way. This jam is sweet, but not too sweet, and has an extra exotic flavor from the use of cardamom. My first use of the jam was as a topping on an Italian sausage (along with cheddar cheese and some hot sauce), and it was an amazing mix of flavors; as I’d hoped, the sweetness of the jam plays very nicely with savory foods. I’ve since put this jam on pizza, mixed it into black beans, and swirled it into yogurt – all delicious applications!
Pineapple Cardamom Jam
Yield: approximately 2 cups jam
Ingredients:
- 1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks
- the juice and zest from 1 lime*
- 1 cup brown sugar**
- 2 cardamom pods, crushed***
- a couple splashes water, if needed
*You can substitute 3 Tbsp bottled lime juice.
**Add a bit more sugar if your pineapple is less sweet.
***I used black cardamom which has a good smokiness to it, but green cardamom would also work well. If you have a tea ball (or want to make a little pouch out of cheesecloth), put the crushed pods inside there. Otherwise, you will have some cardamom seeds in the finished jam (I picked these out because I am picky about this sort of thing, but I don’t think it would be bad to leave them in).
Method:
- In a medium saucepan, combine 1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks, the juice and zest from 1 lime, 1 cup brown sugar, and 2 cardamom pods, crushed.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for 1 – 2 hours, stirring and mashing the fruit occasionally. If the jam starts to look too thick before the pineapple has fully broken down, add a couple splashes water. The jam is finished when the pineapple is completely broken down and is at your desired jam consistency.
- Let cool, then transfer to a jar, and store in the refrigerator.
