Can we make jams without white sugar?

Of course, we can.

We get a lot of Jackfruits in the summer season. Ripened Jackfruits are a lot and we can only store this much and no one in the neighborhood would want it because every backyard would have one or two trees at least.

So, we make Jackfruit jams known as Chakka varatti where chakka stands for Jackfruit and varatti indicates the jam.

Without sugar- the white refined sugar which is a villain.

What do we use?

We use jaggery which is unrefined sugar.

The ripe fruits are peeled and cooked in a huge wok like utensil known as Uruli. It is kept on the traditional firewood stove. A long ladle is used to stir it otherwise the bursting bubbles will scald the hands.

Once the fruit is starting to cook, we add a little clarified butter and jaggery which you could compare to molasses.

The stirring should not stop and people usually take turns to stir it. It takes about two or three hours of non-stop stirring and meanwhile more clarified butter known as Ghee is added in between. Finally, when it starts to leave the pan, the utensil is taken off the stove and allowed to cool. The jam is then transferred to a steel container and stored in airtight conditions.

Jackfruit jams are very tasty and because of its preparation hardship, very costly to buy. As for eating, it should be consumed in moderate quantities only.

Jackfruit jam uses:

• as a spread
• can be used to prepare fillings
• can be used to make Payasam, ela ada

The ela ada where ela stands for a banana leaf. The ada is made by mixing the jam along with rice paste and spreading on banana leaf and steaming it. This pic is from last season and we were so busy eating it that we forgot to take the picture of the steamed sweet.

This jam if refrigerated will stay good for about two years. So, it is totally worth the effort. People in villages do it as a combined effort and this represents the goodwill of the countryside.

image source 1

image 2,4- sayee

image 3 source