Azerbaijan could easily be called "The Land of Jam". Azerbaijanis make jam from almost anything - walnuts, watermelon and even rose petals. Jam varies from region to region according to the availability of fruits. Each summer, Azerbaijani women buy large amounts of fruit and sugar in order to make a large supply of preserves to last throughout the winter.
The most popular jams are made from plums, raspberries, mulberries, pears, peaches, melons, figs, strawberries and cherries. Though, perhaps, regional, jams can be made from grapes, pumpkin and pomegranates. You can find preserved apricots stuffed with almonds. Even eggplants can be used as a base for jam. Another type of jam is made from "Paradise Apple", called "Jannat Almasi" in Azeri. This small fruit tastes like a cherry and has a stem, but it's really a tiny apple. Pictured here are quince and plum jams.
If you visit an Azerbaijani home, undoubtedly you'll be served homemade jam along with black tea. When tea is served, you'll discover that in the Republic, it's rare for Azerbaijanis to offer sugar. Instead they're more likely to offer jam. Azerbaijanis put a small spoonful of jam in their mouth and sip the tea through the jam.
Walnut jam
Shelled walnuts - 1 kg; sugar -1.5 kg; citric acid - 3 g; clove - 3 g or cardamon - 3 g.
Jam is made from milk stage nuts which have no hard shell.
Keep shelled nuts in cold water for 3 days, changing water twice or three times a day. After that keep them in lime water for 2-3 days, stir them up four to five times a day. Rinse the nuts, prick each nut in several places and leave in cold water for three days, changing water two or three times a day. Then parboil the nuts for 20-25 minutes, cover with hot syrup and cook with one or two intervals of 4-6 hours. At the end of the last cooking add citric acid, clove or cardamon. Leave to stand for not less than 20 days before packing.
To prepare lime water, take 500 g of pure lime, slake it in 3 litres of water and leave to settle for 3-4 hours.
Quince jam
Sliced quince - 1 kg; sugar -1.2 kg.
Slice peeled quince lengthwise into pieces 2 cm thick and parboil in boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Pour hot syrup over the quince, preparing it from sugar and the water in which the quince was parboiled. Cook the jam 3-4 times for 8-10 minutes with 8-hour intervals.
Cornel jam
Cornel - 1 kg; sugar -1.2 kg.
To make cornel jam you may remove or not remove the stones. Pour two glasses of water into sugar and make syrup. Join half of the syrup with the cornels before the first cooking and add the rest before the second cooking. Cook the jam with a 5-8 hour interval. You may pour in all syrup at once, bring it to boil and cool for 10-15 minutes. Repeat this procedure 4-5 times.
Water melon rind jam
Take 1.2 kg of sugar to one kilo of prepared water melon rind, 0.5 g of vanilin and 1.2 g of citric acid.
Use thick-skinned water melons for jam. Peel off the green part of the rind, cut into rectangular or diamond-shaped pieces (1.5x2 cm) or cubes (2-3 cm) and keep in lime water for an hour. Rinse well, pour in hot syrup and cook with two eight-hour intervals. At the end of the last cooking add citric acid and vanilin.
White sweet cherry jam
Stoned sweet cherries - 1 kg; sugar -1.2 kg; citric acid - 2 g; vanilin - I g or cardamon - 3 g.
Crisp-flesh sweet cherries are preferred for jam. Stone sweet cherries, mix with granulated sugar and leave to stand for 3-5 hours. Cook for 6-8 minutes on a slow fire, leave to stand for 5-6 hours and cook again. Repeat it three times. At the end of the last cooking add citric acid and vanilin or cardamon.
