TIP OF THE DAY: Ways To Use Jelly
 Use jelly as a cake filling, or melt and drizzle it over an unfrosted cake. Photo courtesy HarlequinCandy.Blogspot.com. |
Beyond breakfast, look to jelly, jam and other fruit spreads for recipes and entertaining. They can be paired with just about anything to add a bright, sweet kick.
Chef Mark Dowling of LearntoCook.com has tutorials, recipes and tips to teach the basics to home cooks and families, including how to tailor each flavor of fruit spread to specific recipes and occasions. Here are some of his suggestions: Jelly Jelly combines fruit juice, sugar, pectin (a thickening agent) and acid into a clear spread that will hold its shape, even out of the jar. Jelly has a translucent color. |
|
|
Pair jelly with cake. Adding jelly to a slightly sweet, pound cake or angel food cake contributes color and flavor. Heat the jelly to melt it, before drizzling it on top of your favorite dessert. Jam Jam is a thicker mixture than jelly and is made with chopped or crushed fruit, as well as pectin and sugar. Despite the soft chunks of fruit, jam will spread easily. Pair jam with bread, toast and scones. Either bake jam into your favorite scone or muffin recipe by adding a 1/2 cup of jam, or serve it on top with clotted cream. |
||
|
Marmalade
Marmalade is most often a citrus spread that uses the peel and pulp of the fruit; sugar is added but marmalade does not contain pectin. It is cooked for a long time, and when finished, displays the different parts and textures in a clear suspension. Pair marmalade with salads and proteins. Vinaigrettes sweetened with a bit of marmalade are delicious atop side salads of bitter greens, such as arugula and kale. Marmalade is also excellent in a marinade or to glaze chicken. Fruit Butter Fruit butter is made by slow-cooking a mix of fruit and sugar until it is opaque, smooth and spreadable, with rich fruit flavor. Pair fruit butter with your favorite cheese. Enjoy fruit butter on top of tangy brie cheese, wrapped and baked in puff pastry or on crostini with creamy goat cheese. |
 Smucker’s Naturals, tasty new fruit spreads. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE. |
|
|
What a perfect segue into … SMUCKER’S NATURAL FRUIT SPREADS The famed maker of preserves has launched a new line of fruit spreads, called Smucker’s Natural. We enjoyed all four flavors: Concord Grape, Orange Marmalade, Red Raspberry and Strawberry. And as now have four open jars in the fridge, we’re going to implement Chef Dowling’s suggestions, above. |
||
