Recipe for a delicious and subtly sweet Japanese apple jam that can be easily made at home. Preserve to enjoy it with yoghurt, Shokupan toast, an apple pie filling and more.
Peel and core the apple. Retain the peeled apple skin to use later.
Fill water in a large bowl and add a teaspoon of salt. Add the peeled and cored apple as you work. *2
Remove the apples from the salty water and finely cut them up.
Place the cut apple into a enamel-coated pot and add the peeled skin as well. *3
Put the sugar over the apples and apple skin and leave it for about 2 hours. The moisture in the apples will be extracted and you will see liquid at the bottom of the pot. *4
140 g caster sugar
Place the pot over medium heat and add the lemon juice.
1 tbsp lemon juice
Bring the apple and apple juice extract to boil. Skim off any scum on the surface with a little sieve.
Simmer it for 20 minutes or until thickened, stirring often with a wooden spoon. Once the colour of the apple skin comes off in the liquid, remove all apple skin before the liquids get thickened and discard them. *5
While the jam is hot, ladle the jam into a sterilised jar and close lid tightly.
Cool it down at room temperature then refrigerate.
Notes
*1 Any variety of apple can be used. I used 4 small royal gala apples weighing 350g. Measure the apple weight because it determines the amount of sugar you need. *2 *3 Around the apple skin and core it contains more pectin. For adding a little bit of colour and more pectin, I added the peeled skin and then removed it later. If you peeled as long strips, it is easier to remove. *4 Due to sugar's penetrating action, pectin inside the apple comes out with moisture. It can be left longer than 2 hours. I often prepare the apple a night before and leave at this stage over night. *5 Apple jam can be mashed if you like that kind of texture but I like the apple to retain its shape so I usually use firm flesh apple for that reason. *6 The length of preserving the jam is depends on the sugar content and the method you use to sterilise the jar. For this method and sugar content, it will keep about 3 weeks in the fridge.