Selai Rasberi Kemangi (Homemade Raspberry and Thai Basil Jam)

Okay, its been 3 weeks since my last posting, you probably think that I have been slothing around.. Well, that thought might actually not so far off. This past three weeks has been extremely enjoyable for me; the weather was lovely, work load at the office has been slowing down a bit since everyone is taking their summer vacation, and festivals were popping every weekend. All these things have kept me away from spending time in the kitchen other than preparing my daily meals. 

Another fun thing that happen on summer is the berries season is in full swing and the best bargain you can find is at the you-pick farms. This year is the first time I had gone raspberry picking and the raspberry orchard where I went has this endless and countless rows of ripe raspberry bushes. Altho the day was baking hot, I was super excited picking two big buckets of ripe raspberries (plus those which I ate a handful every now and then along the way).

The best raspberries were found underneath the leaves so I had to stoop a bit and squat here and there, a bit hard on the knees after awhile but it was all worth it. The luscious red raspberries just pop off onto you hand from its core with only a gentle pull, and this is how you know if the fruit is perfectly ripe. There is nothing like it, its the freshest you can get and the heat from the sun makes it even sweeter. 

I managed to whip out two recipes out of the two buckets of raspberries I have picked. Today I am writing the no-brainer raspberry seedless raspberry jam. If you have never made your own jam, you don't know what you are missing, seriously. Its super easy to do and it will give you the freedom from the super-sweet store bought jams dependency. 

Ingredients:
4 liters of fresh raspberries
3 cups of sugar (add more if you like it sweet)
a handful of fresh Thai Basil (daun kemangi)

Cooking step:

1. Gently rinse the raspberries under running water, 
2. Put the raspberries into a big pot and turn on the heat on to medium,
3. Add sugar into the pot, stir gently from time to time, 
4. Once the raspberries soften up, carefully pass it through a jam sieve, roll the pin carefully, dont put too much pressure otherwise the seeds will go thru (or break apart which makes the jam tastes bitter),

   

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5. Once you have filter all the raspberries through the sieve, put it back on the stove and bring to boil, scoop out the impurities that builds on the surface,
6. Let it continue boils for another 25 minutes,
7. Throw in the Thai Basil and let it wilt for 5 minutes, stir gently. The leaves will turn mushy and dark, pull it out of the jam,
8. Take a teaspoon of the jam and put it on a saucer, wait for a minute or two and push your finger through it, like Moses separates the Red Sea, if the jam stay separates, it means the jam is ready, if the mixture keeps coming back together, it means it still has too much water in it, continue boiling,
9. Once the mixture is ready, laddle it carefully into sterilized jars and screw the lids tightly. When the jam cools, the freshness button on the lid will be pulled down. You shall hear the pops as this happens. It means your jam is successfully preserved,
10. Keep the jam in the fridge once opened. 

Et voila! As simple as that!

PS: I got 4 masson jars (@ 250ml) for this batch.