I was talking to a friend the other day about carrot canning recipes. She’d just inherited (for lack of a better term) 10 pounds of carrots from a relative’s house. They’d been moved to a nursing home and had been in possession of a large stash of carrots at the time. Since she cans, everyone thought she should have the carrots. And thus she was searching about for carrot canning recipes since consuming 10 pounds of carrots forthwith seemed a bit challenging.
I suggested carrot cake jam! Because jam is delicious and who doesn’t like jam? She said, “We’re not jam people.” WHAT?! How is this even possible and did I know her AT ALL? Okay, sure, there’s butter, honey, molasses, even sausage gravy, but what’s a biscuit without some jam, too?
Are you jam people? Or non-jam people? I need to know. Well, not really, but it’s SO STRANGE.
If you are jam people, you’ll need this recipe. I didn’t have 10 pounds of carrots, but you don’t need that many for this recipe, and in discussing carrot recipes with her, and her non-jam-people-ness, I got so worked up I had to have some jam right away, and it had to involve carrots. It was like a carrot jam emergency, if you will.
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How to make Carrot Cake Jam
1 1/2 cups finely shredded peeled carrots
12 ounce can of pears in juice/no sugar added
16 ounce can crushed pineapple in juice/no sugar added
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 package powdered pectin
6 cups sugar
Shred the carrots and dice the pears, reserving the juice from the can. Combine everything down to the pectin in a large pot except for the sugar. (Including the juice from the pears and pineapple.) Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add the sugar all at once. Bring to a rolling boil. Fill half-pint jars leaving an inch of headspace. Adjust lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath or steam canner for 10 minutes.
For me, this made 7 jars in the canner with about half a jar leftover to consume immediately. Since I was having a carrot jam emergency, you know.
By the way, my friend ended up canning glazed carrots, which sounds really delicious and if I had 10 pounds of carrots, I’d make some of that, too. What would you make if you had 10 pounds of carrots? Glazed carrots or carrot cake jam? Or both? Are you jam people?
rurification says:
LOL. Definitely jam people here and that carrot jam recipe sounds divine! When I have a bunch of carrots to put up, I can them in chunks, plain and they make super fast carrots for actual carrot cake. Just drain and stir them in – they’re so soft they fall apart into bits perfect for cake.
On March 24, 2018 at 12:38 pm
hawkswench says:
Not really a jam person, more of a butter person. Carrots belong in a cake 😀
On March 24, 2018 at 2:56 pm
Goatldi says:
Jam yes especially apricot. But here is the thing.
I was gifted two quart jars of fruit one cherries and the other of pears . Both from the gift givers home orchard. No brainer on the cherries but the pears? Thought of a well loved old recipe of pear bread but now I have visions of Carrot Cake Jam in my head!
:woof:
On March 24, 2018 at 4:02 pm
ginakenney1 says:
We ARE jam people at our house, but I have given homemade jam to people and had them tell me the same thing. Unbelievable LOL!
I think lots of folks only eat processed items for breakfast/lunch (poptarts, granola bars, commercial sweetened yogurt) OR they don’t eat bread at all – so don’t use jam. I have been told, “if I made homemade bread or biscuits all the time, we would be as big as the side of a barn!” To which I always explain that if you make them all the time, it’s not a big deal and you just don’t overeat. We don’t anyway! LOL.
I think folks have also lost the inclination to eat simple items for breakfast like TOAST! So cheap and so good!
I make all sorts of homemade jams. We use it on toast, biscuits, waffles, homemade bread. I have recently discovered that it’s amazing in plain yogurt and makes plain yogurt better than commercialized sweetened yogurt. I also like it on oatmeal (apple butter, specifically YUM!)
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Looks like a fun little Easter thing to try, too.
Thanks for sharing!
On March 26, 2018 at 1:41 pm