Jammin' With Jen
Jammin' With Jen
Introduction: Making Hibiscus Jam
(0:01 - 0:22)
Hi, this is Dr. Jennifer Daniels, and this is the Sunday, January 16, 2022, podcast, Jamming with Jen. And today we're making hibiscus jam. Dr. Daniels, why hibiscus jam? The reason for this is many of us understand that we need to eat chemical-free food. Some of us refer to this as organic, and many people say, "Oh, I can't afford it. It's not possible." So, I'm going to go through my process of making hibiscus jam.
Gathering Ingredients and Preparation
(0:22 - 1:58)
The first thing I start with is organic hibiscus. Can you see that? Organic hibiscus. Yes, but these have dried out a bit because I just saved these from when I picked them. You can buy this organic hibiscus in the store for $5 a pound, or you can get your exercise, go for a little hike, and just pick them yourself, which is what I did. Wherever you live, you have a fruit or a berry that's in season. This hibiscus is in season only once a year, even though, as you can see, it's the tropics. So, I start my jam by picking my hibiscus berries.
Recipe and Adjustments for Perfect Jam
(1:58 - 2:31)
What's the recipe? You pick your berry, whether it's blueberries, strawberries, hibiscus, whatever, and you measure how many quarts you have. Divide it by two—that’s how much sugar and could be that’s how much water you use. When I followed that particular recipe, I got this jam. It did not gel. Why? Too much water. However, this jam’s flavor is much less concentrated because I did add this much berries, half as much sugar, and the same amount of water. I did it again, and I added no water. Now, this jam gelled all by itself.
Flavor and Consistency
(2:31 - 3:45)
As you can see, it gelled all by itself. Now, this jam, though, the flavor is much more intense, much more concentrated. For those of you who would like to flavor your jam with spices, I am all for that. Whatever berry you use is going to be an amazingly healthy antioxidant type situation. Now, the other thing I want to remind people of is why people even bothered to make jelly in the first place. We modern first worlders think that jelly was made because it was sweet and tasty. No, there's a reason why they call it preserves. It was a way to preserve the once-a-year crop so you can enjoy it all year round. Once you understand that, then you realize the importance of using sugar. It's a preservative. You can't use a sugar substitute—it’s nonsense because the purpose is to preserve the fruit.
Uses and Low-Calorie Option
(3:45 - 4:41)
Then, throughout the year, you can take a teaspoon of this, add it to a glass of hot water, and you have instant hibiscus tea. You can take a quarter cup, add maybe a half cup of water to it, and you have hibiscus syrup. You can make your favorite cheesecake, spread it over the top, and you have hibiscus topping. This is the purpose of making this sweetened hibiscus food. So then, what do you want to do if you want a low-calorie situation? You can cut your calories in half. How? By taking your hibiscus jam and putting it through a blender like a Vitamix. It aerates it, so this is literally half air, and what happens? As you can see, it still gels.
Adding Spices for Flavor and Health
(4:41 - 6:15)
Now, this one, I got smart. I added hibiscus, half as much sugar, no extra water—yay! And what happened then was it gelled up, but the flavor is super concentrated. That’s the simple jam recipe—you can’t mess it up. Simmer the fruit plus sugar mixture for at least half an hour, and then keep stirring until it’s as thick as you want. Put it through a blender—bam! Refrigerate it, and it will gel up just like this—no fail. But what if you want to kick it up a notch, which I love to do? Then you use spices. The first spice you can use in any jelly is cardamom. It’s my favorite—it’s the “I love you” spice. Anyone who eats it will fall in love with you—it’s amazing. Really wonderful for making friends. How much? For every two quarts of fruit, put in a pinch, somewhere between a pinch and a quarter teaspoon of cardamom. My next favorite spice is cinnamon. I take cinnamon sticks, put them in the blender, make my own cinnamon powder, put it through a strainer—bam! Done. So I have cinnamon powder or sticks—it doesn’t matter. You can throw in the cinnamon sticks and just pull them out before you blend it up, or you can throw in the cinnamon powder. It doesn’t matter. That would be a teaspoon of cinnamon powder per two quarts of raw fruit.
Additional Flavor Enhancers: Cloves and Citrus
(6:15 - 7:12)
So, why do you use cinnamon? Use cinnamon because it gets whoever eats it feeling good for no good reason. If you’re going to feed this jelly or jam to kids, put the cinnamon in, for God's sake. The next thing to put in, if you want, is cloves. Cloves add an interesting dimension to the flavor, but they are also a very powerful anti-worm, anti-parasite additive. Cloves have a pretty strong flavor, so for two quarts of fruit, maybe use like three cloves, four cloves. And then finally, lemon peel or orange zest. I just take a potato peeler, peel—not a lemon, I’m sorry—an orange. Peel the orange and throw it in there and simmer it with it. I would recommend blending the orange peel, the whole cloves with the fruit at the end in the final step.
Vitamin C and the Importance of Jam
(7:12 - 8:09)
I’m just simmering it all together—do not try and pick it out. Don’t do that. Blend it all together—it’ll taste great. It is literally hypnotizing. Now again, I put water in this to make the flavor less intense. What else can you do as an additive? Vitamin C powder—this is awesome. When you add vitamin C powder—one teaspoon of vitamin C per two quarts of fruit—the vitamin C powder makes sure that those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are not constipating. A lot of things that you put jelly on are inherently constipating, and adding the vitamin C helps with that. Vitamin C is also very healthy, antiviral, and strengthens the immune system. This is a basic way to make jam, and jam is so, so important to really eat throughout the year. During the fruit season, eat all the fruit you want, all the fruit you can get in, and make your jam. Use it throughout the year to have your blueberry tea or your hibiscus tea or strawberry tea or whatever. So, jam is super important—put it in your life and add it throughout the year.
Spreading Joy with Jalea de Amistad
(8:09 - 8:49)
Just because you have one brief fruit season, you can now extend it year-round. Another thing I do with my jam is I get about 20 of these bottles, fill them with jam, and give them away. I call it “jalea de amistad”—that’s Spanish for “jelly of friendship.” I give it to people, and it’s friendship jelly. They absolutely love it, and I have a great time. It cheers them up, and it adds a lot of happiness to my day and theirs. So, I would definitely recommend making jam and using this jam as a way of entertaining yourself, adding more organic things to your life, adding helpful herbs to your day, and expanding your sphere of happiness and friendship.
Questions and Final Thoughts
(8:49 - 10:20)
Okay, that brings us to questions. Let’s see—we can do this one question. Dr. Daniels, thank you for liberating me from the vortex of fear, anxiety, and confusion. I no longer fall prey to my ignorance. My goal is to listen to every single podcast you have recorded—thank you. Each one is more eye-opening than the previous one. I’d tell anyone who’s willing to listen to you about you. Which of your podcasts or interviews might be best suited for a beginner listener who might not be ready for the shock of it all? If you’re not ready for the shock of it all, just tell them to go watch Bugs Bunny. I mean, just—I don’t know what to tell you. But just have them start anywhere—maybe start with something out of 2012. That’s what I would recommend. Do you have any advice for occasional under-eye twitches? Yes, black squid ink. If you have a shellfish allergy, you can’t take it, but if you don’t, then do take it. Anywhere from a quarter teaspoon to a teaspoon a day, stirred into some soup is best, and yeah, twitches will be gone in a day or two. But that is the dose.
Alright, well, that’s it for Jammin’ with Jen. As always, think happens, and we will see you next week.