Persimmon & Orange Jam Recipe

It’s persimmon season again and my tree is laden with so many fruit that I have had to tie it to the fence to stop it falling over. What to do with them all? This time I made a Persimmon & Orange Jam recipe that was in the NZ Gardener magazine – it uses a teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice to really bring out the flavours.

3 oranges
2kg persimmon
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1.5kg Jam Setting Sugar

Halve and juice the oranges. Retain the juice.

Place the orange halves in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Drain, and repeat a couple of times. This blanching helps remove the bitterness.

Once the oranges are cool enough to handle, use a small spoon to scrape out the bitter white pith. Then slice the peel into thin strips.

Peel the persimmons and put the flesh into a food processor. Add a little orange juice if required.

Put the puréed persimmons, orange juice, orange peel and five spice powder into a preserving pan.

Bring it slowly to the boil, then add the jam-setting sugar.

Stir until the sugar dissolves, then boil briskly for 5 minutes.

Pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal.