Caramelised Onion And Garlic Jam

We don't eat a lot of sweet jam in this house, but luckily for us, we have a Tassie friend who brings us her homemade cumquat marmalade every winter, which is great on toast, or in bread and butter puddings.  (I made a pudding the other night with leftover Hot Cross buns and Easter eggs and her marmalade!)  We do love a savoury jam though, and this one goes down a treat.  

I hunted up the 'Net for a recipe and found one by CSR (The Colonial Sugar Refinery), which was a big sugar-producing company here in Queensland (now owned by a Singaporean company).  Oddly to my mind, they are also a construction company!  Something to do with them making their own sugar mills, it seems.

And speaking of sugar mills ... there are sugarcane farms and a sugar mill just over the Queensland border in Northern Rivers.  I love watching the pure white smoke come out of the stack when they are processing the sugar.  And when they are burning the cane before harvest, the fires are huge and bright and burn into the night.  Very magical! though not very environmentally sound.  In fact, most Queensland sugarcane is harvested "green" (i.e. without burning), while New South Wales still burns the crops first.  I do like the fires I have to admit :=)

   

image Wikimedia Commons (author: Rob & Stephanie Levy)

They burn at dusk, when the winds have dropped.  The fires get rid of vermin, and the debris from the canes.  It is always a magnificent sight with flaming fields burning into the night.

   

delicious onion and garlic jam   (bronze kingfisher by Dion Parker)

Makes 2 smallish jars:

ingredients:

1.5 Tbs EV olive oil

3 large red onions, finely sliced

3-4 garlic cloves, crushed or finely sliced

65g./2.3 oz dark brown sugar

250 mL/1 cup red wine vinegar  (I used my homemade blood orange vinegar)

1 Tbs yellow mustard seeds

2 bay leaves

1.5 tsp sea salt flakes

1/2 dozen grinds black pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

a wee bit of cold water if needed

Method:

Grab a large and deep frying pan, and throw in the oil and onions over a low heat

Cook for about 15 minutes till tender and just turning colour, stirring now and then

Add the garlic, stirring for 3 minutes

Stir 1 Tbs of the sugar over the mixture for 1 minute, till it starts to bubble 

Now turn the heat up to medium, and add the vinegar, mustard seeds, bay leaves, salt, pepper, paprika and the rest of the sugar; let it cook for a couple of minutes then - 

Reduce the heat to medium-low to low, and let it simmer away for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, till you have a thick and luscious jammy mixture  (add a splash of water if it's starting to go too thick)

Take out the bay leaves, and spoon into hot, sterilised jars

Makes 2 smallish jars

Notes:

I halved their recipe, except for the garlic and bay leaves, so double this recipe if you want to make a full amount

ingredients gathered

stir that onion and garlic

and stir some more till jammy and fragrant

et voilà!   (figurine by Denise Murray)

(Joining up with Min from Write of the Middle blog - for the #WWWhimsy post.)

c. Sherry M.