Summer is coming to an end, and many summer residents have no idea what to do with the rich harvest of zucchini. In addition to the banal zucchini caviar, you can try making zucchini jam with canned pineapples - a quick and tasty delicacy that friends and relatives will definitely like. It only takes a few hours to prepare a custom dessert. Such vegetables are healthy and contain a lot of fiber, iron, and mineral elements.
Features of the workpiece
The zucchini must be young, with the skin as thin as possible, otherwise you won’t get a soft jam that resembles jam in consistency. Pineapples can be taken either canned or fresh. A fresh and ripe pineapple emits a rich, characteristic smell, and its skin is brown and not too hard.
Jam jars are pre-sterilized and the suitability of the lids is carefully checked. Poorly sealed cans can lead to the appearance of a serious disease pathogen – botulism – inside. Cans with a neck diameter of 8-9 centimeters are suitable; the volume can be different - from 400 ml to 5 liters. Screw caps are only suitable if the percentage of sugar in the jam does not exceed 50%, otherwise they will not withstand the pressure.
Preparing the main ingredients
For 1 liter of jam you will need 1 kilogram of zucchini and 400 grams of canned or fresh pineapples. Vegetables do not need to be peeled if the skin is not too thick. The zucchini is pre-cut into small cubes, approximately the same size as the pineapple pieces in the jar.
Recipes for zucchini and pineapple jam
The recipes are amazing in variety, so you can always choose something to your liking. The three most popular and simple recipes for making jam are given below. Even a beginner can handle them.
Classic recipe
Required ingredients:
- Can of canned pineapples – 400 ml.
- Sugar – 100 grams.
- Zucchini – 150 grams.
- Half a lemon.
Open the can of pineapple and pour the sugar syrup into the pan. If you wish, you can make this syrup yourself - add 100 grams of sugar to 400 grams of water and simmer for 2-3 minutes.Place 150 grams of zucchini in another pan and sprinkle with sugar.
When the sugar syrup from the tin comes to a boil, add it to the zucchini and keep the mixture on low heat for 10 minutes.
Add a few more tablespoons of sugar (to taste) to the finished substance and squeeze out the juice of half a lemon. Add prepared pineapple pieces and boil for 4-6 minutes. For soaking, it is advisable to leave the jam overnight (minimum 12 hours). During this period, it will acquire a pleasant honey shade, and the zucchini will be saturated with a pineapple aftertaste. After soaking, the jam is put back on the stove and boiled for 10 minutes over low heat. Now you can roll the finished delicacy into jars and enjoy this extraordinary dessert throughout the winter.
Zucchini jam in pineapple juice
Required ingredients:
- Juice from canned pineapples – 400 ml.
- Zucchini – 1 kg.
- White sugar – 500 g.
- Lemon juice - to taste.
It often happens that after preparing a pineapple dish, there is tasty and sweet juice left that needs to be put somewhere. A useful recipe for making zucchini jam with pineapple juice will come in handy here. The recipe is very simple and suitable for inexperienced cooks.
It is enough to take 1 kg of zucchini, peel them and remove the too soft center, and then cut them into small pieces, about the same size as pineapples. For 1 kg of zucchini you will need at least 400 milliliters of pineapple juice.
Add 500 grams of white sugar to the pan with the prepared ingredients. The prepared raw materials are mixed and the mixture is placed on low heat. It is necessary to gradually heat the workpiece for 30 minutes, but so that it does not boil. The optimal temperature is 90 degrees.After this, add a few tablespoons of lemon juice (to taste) and roll into sterile jars.
Option with lemon
Required ingredients:
- Canned pineapple juice – 400 ml.
- Lemon – 1 pc.
- Orange – 1 pc.
- Zucchini – 1 kg.
- Sugar – 500 g.
Pineapples go well with citrus fruits, so lemon and orange can be used to add fresh flavor to the well-known jam. To do this, wash the lemon and orange thoroughly, peel them, and remove all the seeds.
400 milliliters of juice from canned pineapples is poured into a cooking pan. Granulated sugar is added there gradually as it dissolves. For 1 kilogram of zucchini there should be 500 grams of sugar. Finely chopped and pre-prepared zucchini are placed in the finished syrup. After the mixture boils, add slices of lemon and orange; if desired, you can add spices - saffron, mint.
Expiration date and storage rules
Jam can be stored in the refrigerator - the period increases to 12-24 months of trouble-free stay in the cold, at a comfortable temperature of 5 to 10 degrees. A cool cellar or pantry would be a good replacement for a refrigerator in a summer cottage. Some people prefer to store jam right in the room, but in this case the shelf life of the product is reduced to a maximum of 6 months. You cannot put the jars in the refrigerator - when frozen, the jam loses its properties, taste and color, and the glass container can easily burst.
Remember that the more seeds left in the finished delicacy, the worse it tolerates storage. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the pulp from zucchini, and the seeds from oranges, lemons and other fruits.
The product does not tolerate moisture and exposure to solar radiation. At the first sign of spoilage - a swollen lid, a change in the color of the jam, the appearance of mold or rot - you should immediately throw away the jar, even if there is only a small amount of fungus. Spoiled jam is prohibited from being eaten - it can cause serious damage to health and even cause death.
