Pine Cone Jam

Pine Cone Jam is a classic and natural delicacy that captures with its unique taste and aroma. The jam is made from the most ordinary ingredients: fresh pine cones, sugar, and water, but the result exceeds all expectations. The jam has a beautiful rich color and texture, and its taste is filled with notes of pine forest. It is an ideal choice for those who appreciate natural products and want to add a special accent to their home culinary assortment.

Which cones are suitable for jam

For our purpose, young pine cones up to 5 cm long, collected in May or June, will do. During this period, they are soft enough and can be cut with little effort.

Attention! Do not take cones from sick trees, damaged ones, or those collected in areas with poor ecology.

Pine Cone Jam – Method 1

Ingredients

Show ingredients

We will need:

• young pine cones: 1 kg;
• granulated sugar: 1 kg;
• water: 2 – 2.5 l.

Cooking

1. Soak cones in water for 2 hours. If you start working in the evening, you can leave them in water overnight.

2. Wash and rinse under running water.

3. Cut them. Small cones are cut lengthwise into 2 parts, while larger ones are ideally cut into 4 – 6 pieces.

4. Pour water over the cones and bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium and boil for 3 hours. The broth will become cloudy, and the cones will lose their color. Try to remove the resinous film that will appear on the surface. You should also remove the foam that floats up.

5. After three hours of boiling, add sugar to the pot and stir. Continuously stirring, cook for about 3 more hours at a low boil. A not thick syrup of cherry color should result. Continue removing the foam.

If you prefer thick jam, increase the cooking time, but the syrup should flow easily from the spoon. Keep in mind that it will thicken further after cooling.

6. Remove the cones, and while hot, pour the resulting liquid into dry jars and seal with sterile lids.

Information. You can cook jam from whole pine cones, but chopped ones give off their substances more actively into the broth. Therefore, we cut them.

Pine Cone Jam – Method 2

Preparation Time: 200 minutes.

Yield: 3 jars.

Ingredients

You will need:

• green pine cones: 1 kg;
• sugar calculated at 1 kg per 1 l of broth;
• water: 2.5 l.

Cooking

1. As in the first recipe, the cones should be well washed, left in water for a couple of hours, and then cut.

2. Pour the cones with water and wait for boiling over high heat. Then lower the temperature and cook at a low boil for about 40 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

4. Strain the broth, determine its volume, and add the required amount of sugar. Stirring, cook over low heat, removing the foam for about an hour. But the cooking time is very conditional; it all depends on the intensity of the heat and the evaporation area. We determine readiness by the cherry-brandy color and thickness of the broth. The pine cone jam should not be thick. As soon as the liquid has thickened a bit, it can be removed from the heat. If the jam is thick and dark in color, it means it has been overcooked.

5. Pour hot into dry jars and close with sterile lids. Any cool room would be suitable for storage.

Pine Cone Jam is ready! Store the jam in a cellar or a cool room.