Your summer guide to fruit jams and preserves

Summer is the ideal time to learn how to preserve the season’s fruits. This summer, make your own jams, or sample some of India’s artisanal, less sugary spreads

We know them as jam, jelly, compote, conserves and preserves. They inject hope into our toasts, dosas and rotis, fill up rolls, pies and tarts, and even turn up as relishes for grilled meats. Look closely at this sweet sensation and you will find not just a nifty lesson in kitchen chemistry, but also a pedigree that is linked to the history of cane sugar and the desire to prolong the enjoyment of fresh fruits beyond their growing season. With the summer in India bringing along a bounty of jam-friendly fruits like mango, pineapple, watermelons, apples and bananas, this would be a ideal time to re-examine how jams can be made healthier and with a little more heart for the personal touch. Boiling fruit at high temperatures breaks down pectin, the naturally occurring links of sugar molecules in the cell walls. When white sugar and the right amount of acidic elements (such as lemon juice) are added to this mix, the pectin forms a ‘gel network’ that traps the water content of the jam, leading to its ‘setting’. The chemistry is easy to describe, but difficult to execute perfectly, which is why newcomers to homemade jams are better off when the fruits are in surplus and therefore cheaper for multiple try-outs.