Carrot Cake Jam

This year we are having our very good friends come over to help us celebrate Easter. The two mommies put our heads together and decided that a kids table would be a good idea. The kids' table is going to have a Easter Bunny and Carrot theme.  I decided to make a batch of carrot cake jam to put in little jars so I could use as name cards for each of the kids at the table.  On Thursday I'll show you how the whole table came together.  For now, I'm going to show you how I made the yummy favor.



I found this recipe here.  I decided to try it since it worked with my table theme.  I was not expecting it to be so good.  I like it because it is so different.  It's sweet, thick and so yummy. I am going to make sure this recipe is made again and again in our house.  The board of ingredients is pretty easy to find.  The green box is liquid pectin.  You can find it by the canning supplies at your grocery store.  You need one pouch per batch.  The box I bought had two pouches in it.  I also forgot to add two lemons to the board.  You need some fresh lemon juice for this recipe. 
 



Here's my fresh lemon juice.



Start by putting the whole can of pineapple in a large sauce pan over medium heat. 

Add the shredded carrot and diced pear.  Next time I would chop the pear more finely. 

I used freshly grated nutmeg. I buy the nuts in a jar and just grate them on my micro plain as I need it.  I love freshly grated nutmeg. 

Add the lemon juice, nutmeg and cinnamon to the pan.

Stir it all up and wait for it to come to a boil. 

When it comes to a boil turn the heat down to medium low and let it simmer for twenty minutes.  It will look like this.  Sorry for the steamy picture.  Try imagining how good that steam smelled. 

After simmering for twenty minutes, stir in a pouch of pectin and let it come back to a boil. Liquid pectin is cloudy, thick and the secret to really thick jam when you are making jam with low acid ingredients.  Carrots are pretty low acid so do not skip this ingredient.  It is important.

Next, add all the sugar and stir it in.  Keep stirring until it comes to a full rolling boil.  When it comes to a boil, you are finished.  You could can the jam at this point, or you could stick in your fridge and eat it all right away.  

This is what it looks like.

I am using 4 ounce canning jars here. I am not going to can or process the jars of jam, just putting the jam in the jars which will need to be refrigerated.   

Fill each jar with a half cup of the jam.

Put the flat lids on the jars. 

I used one of the flat lids and traced around it on scrapbook paper.  I cut out one circle for each jar.

Put a piece of the scrapbook paper on the lid.

Then, to keep everything in place, screw the ring onto the jar.  It's already getting cute.

I found these cute little carrots at a local shop.  The green carrot top is made out of dyed grass.  They are shedding like crazy, but they are so adorable. 

I chose three different ribbons to embellish the jars.

For these jars I measured out roughly nineteen inches of ribbon for each jar.  If the ribbon is any longer the ends don't look as cute and you have to trim the ribbon....so just measure and that way you don't waste the ribbon.

Tie the ribbon around the rim of the lid.

An extra super cute finger comes in very handy.

Tie the carrot to the jar where the tops meet the top of the carrot.  I just love this cure little jar.

Here is our patch of carrot cake jam favors.  Come back on Thursday to see how they look on the table.