I saw the beautiful, striking dragonfruit at Market Basket and just knew I had to try and make it into a jam. I did a lot of research and learned some things, but found very few recipes for actual jam/jelly using the fruit.
I did learn there are two colors of dragonfruit. While both have the brightly colored pink outside, only one has a pink inside-the other is white. Its pretty hard to tell what color it is inside, and the kid in produce had no idea when I asked. So I decided to just be brave and buy one. Sadly mine is white inside and not pink. It does have the beautiful black seeds though, both colors of dragon-fruit do.
After peeling and smooshing the dragonfruit (best done like a kiwi-just halve then use a spoon to scoop out the flesh) I didn’t have much so I decided to use the fresh picked wild blackberries to give it color and flavor. I used the directions on the box of pectin for blackberries to decide proportions. I started with two cups of fruit combined.
Blackberry Dragonfruit Jam
Ingredients
- Flesh (crushed) from one dragonfruit (mine was about 3/4ths of a pound)
- Blackberries (crushed) to make 2cups of fruit total
- 3.5 cups of sugar
- 1/2 pouch of certo liquid pectin
- tablespoon of lemon juice
- Sterilize jars, set lids in hot water to activate rubber compound.
- Prepare fruit by crushing, then measure two cups of combined fruit using all of the dragonfruit and enough blackberries to fill measuring cup. Add to pan with lemon juice.
- Stir in sugar. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter or margarine to reduce foaming if you’d like (I find it doesn’t always help).
- Bring to full roiling boil (shouldn’t be able to stir it down from boil) on high heat, stir constantly to prevent sticking.
- Stir in pectin quickly and return to full roiling boil for exactly one minute, continuing to stir constantly. Remove from heat and skim any foam before ladling into jars. Alternatively you can stir as the jam cools slightly, which will incorporate back some of the foam and help keep fruit from floating as much.
- Ladle into prepared jars, leaving 1/8th inch of headspace. Wipe rims and threads before placing lids and bands, and tightening with fingers. Process in hot water canner for ten minutes. Refrigerate any unsealed jars for up to three weeks and store sealed jars for up to a year in a cool, dry, dark place.
