Monday, September 5, 2011

Kudzu jam


Finally, I've made some. Only 6 half pints but it's a start.
To me it has the taste of strawberry and grape jam. It's delicious. 

To make......

Pick some kudzu flowers (make sure the kudzu plant hasnt been sprayed). 4 Cups of flowers equals to 6 half pints.
By the way, If you are not a fan of spiders and other creepy crawlies this will not be a fun step.

Next take the flowers and give them a good cold water washin' Again if there's an issue with bugs I'd do this outside with a waterhose. I'm only slightly unnerved by spiders but still all those little bugs had me watching where I put my hands.

The flowers are in long clusters. And you only want the flower so when they're cleaned off just pull the flower clusters through your hand and all the flowers will pop off. You will end up with something like this

Next, Boil up 4 Cups of water (If you are increasing the recipe it just goes a cup of water to a cup of flowers) and pour the boiling water over the flowers, then pop it in the fridge overnight.

After it's soaked for atleast 8 hours, strain the liquid into a pot and discard the flowers. The water should be a reddish brown. Add package of pectin and a tablespoon of lemon juice and bring to a boil constantly stirring.

Then add in 5 Cups of sugar and bring back to a boil, again stirring constantly. And allow to boil for 1 minute.

Take it off the heat and scoop off the foam. Then pour into hot jars, wipe lip of the jar, and seal.
Then process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

Cool on a rack.


. So delicious.

5 comments:

  1. I've never heard of this. Of course, I'm not from the south. That is the kudzu that's swallowing up the south, right? Sounds like it's pretty good. Makes you wonder who thought to make jam out of it...

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  2. Sue, Yeah it's that kudzu. It's everywhere here in the south. And Whoever thought of it I do thank them because it's delicious. It was probably the smell that tipped them off. You get anywhere near kudzu and you automatically notice that delicious grape smell.

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  3. I don't think I have ever heard of or seen kudzu! But anything that smells like grape can't be bad!

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  4. I remember when I was younger and we lived in NC, that stuff was like the scourge of the South. I'm sure there is some here, but it's not as invasive as it is elsewhere in the South. Great job on the jam. I shouldn't say this, but it almost makes me wish we had some kudzu growing here.

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  5. 1st man, Yeah I always thought that kudzu was a good for nothing weed. But after making the jelly, I've kind of changed my opinion.

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