I was sick last week which prompted me to take stock of my tea collection. I noticed that I had a bunch of raspberry hibiscus tea that had been just sitting around for a long time. I didn't like it enough to drink 20 cups in quick succession, so I decided to experiment with it. After some reading, I landed on the idea of making jam. I bought some commercial pectin expecting to use the manufacturer's recipe, but the amount of sugar required (7 cups!) was terrifying. So, I read a bunch of articles on natural jam making.

The main issue is that raspberries are a low pectin fruit, which means I would have a difficult time gettinga properly set jam. I also learned that citrus fruits are critical in jam making both for the acid balancing sweetness and for the large amounts of pectin in their rinds. In the end I made about a quart of raspberry hibiscus tea, boiled that down for a while, added a pound of frozen raspberries, the juice and rind of a lemon cut into strips, and sugar equal to 60% of the weight of fruit. I continued to cook the jam with the intention of hitting 220°F, the temparature at which certain pectins need to reach to form a gel. However, I pulled my jam while still at 212°F because it was already a thick jammy texture in the pot and I was afraid of burning it.

The final product tastes a bit more of hibiscus than raspberry and has a hint of bitterness from the lemon rinds. I think it's quite a good combination. The texture is perfect as well, and I was really glad that I could avoid the commercial pectin.

Eating jam by itself is a bit crazy so I combined it with my favorite way to make cheesecake, Immersion Circulator Mini Cheesecakes. The method produces perfectly portioned little mason jars of very light, airy cheesecake. I don't make the Graham cracker crumble in the recipe, instead using the crackers to scoop the cheesecake out of the jars. It's less work and more fun. At the very end of mixing, I added some jam and mixed it just enough to provide some streaks.

This was a fun project to use up some of my pantry items so they aren't wasting space or being thrown out. The commercial pectin has a recipe for "freezer jelly" where you just mix the pectin and fruit juice and leave it to set in the freezer. I want to try this with some other teas that I have lying around.