Strawberry Tree Jam
In my perambulations I keep a sharp eye out for fruit and berries growing in public spaces. It's fun to collect blackberries, cherries, lemons, figs, and other fruit that are generally ignored by everyone else. I always veer towards the plants that have provided a pleasant snack in the past. The peninsula fruit currently hanging in ripe clusters of bright red are the fruit of the strawberry tree.
Also known as Arbutus Unedo, the name is attributed to Pliny the Elder who apparently claimed "unum tantum edo" ("I only eat one"). It's unclear if he meant the fruit was so good he only needed to eat one or so bad that he only ate one.
The fruit of the strawberry tree is sweet, but you never see them in the supermarket because fruit production is variable, the ripest fruit is soft, the surface is spiky, and the flesh is full of seeds.
The Portuguese ferment the fruit into a spirit called Aguardente de Medronhos and the Albanians use it when they make their Rakia fruit spirits. I'm not setup to make wine, but I can certainly make some Unedo jam.
After a test where I made sure pushing the flesh through mesh screen would filter out the tiny seeds, I biked down to a pair of trees near the aquarium and picked everything I could I could reach, jumping to get the higher fruits, but I was tormented by the perfectly ripe fruit still out of reach.
The Pacific Grove Library lends out infrequently used kitchen equipment. I biked down and borrowed a food processor. The holes in the mesh plates were too large for the tiny seeds, but I knew it would help turn the fruit into pulp.
As soon as I borrowed the food processor I knew I had two weeks to collect enough strawberry tree fruit to make this experiment work. It wouldn't do to spend my time jumping up and down like an ape.
This tomato can fruit collector is designed to screw onto the end of my extendible Crappy 300 lizard stick. Strawberry trees aren't very tall, but it's nice to be able to just extend the pole and reach the higher fruit. The tabs hold the fruit in, so I can hold the can over my collection bag and twist it to pour the fruit out.
With this tool in hand I made another foray out to a line of strawberry trees growing beside the golf course and community center near lovers point. The trees were laden with fruit, but I misjudged how many elderly pacific grove residents would be out and about that morning. Still I came home with another bag full of fruit and decided to get started on the jam immediately.
I immediately ran into several issues. In case you want to follow my reckless example, here's what I'm going to do differently next time.
Cut the firmer fruits into slices first. I had too many fruit rolling around in the food processor. They were too firm to get caught under the sweeping blade.
The holes in the food processor will give you a seed filled mash. Add water and blend this to make something you can put through the processor again. I think I wasted quite a bit of my fruit because everything was too dry.
The seeds don't feel good in your mouth and they have a bitter flavor. After running the fruit through the food processor, add more water until it resembles pea soup and push the mash through a fine mesh. I got the mash wet enough it would pour through the mesh and I used a scraper to stir the seeds until they had separated from the flesh. I still had a few seeds in the final mash, but it wasn't enough to spoil the taste.
Before boiling the mash I added very little sugar, less than a third of a cup. You might be able to get away with not adding any sugar at all. I wanted to make sure the result would turn into a jam and not burned fruit leather.
Whisk the mash as you boil it down. The mash seemed to foam up instead of clarifying like actual strawberries. When it started boiling it had the tendency to leap out of the pot and I have a few burns on my hand.
I followed the standard canning process of boiling my mason jars and sealing the lids. I'll probably still keep the jars in the fridge.
The final result is surprisingly good! The jam is creamy, like apple butter or whipped honey, and the taste is much better than I expected. It's kind of like a creamy mango strawberry mix.
Although the collection and preparation was a pain, I think I will start collecting fruit and freezing them for a future batch. The jam is delicious!
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