Make jam with your leftover red wine

Yesterday’s last meatball goes on a sandwich, leftover fruit goes into a smoothie and the remains of the cheese board can all go on a pizza. And what can you do with a little leftover wine? Into the jam it goes, of course! Really: this is how you make delicious jam with the last bit of yesterday’s wine.

Some readers will now be staring at their screens in complete disbelief: huh, leftover wine? Does that exist? They always drink the whole bottle and that is, of course, absolutely fantastic when it comes to preventing food waste and all that. But it really can happen that you have some wine left in the bottle. If it sits on your counter for a few days, it’s really no longer nice enough to serve with dinner, so what are you supposed to do with it? It’s always liquid gold in a stew, of course, and poached pears don’t get their colour for no reason either, but there are more elegant ways to use up that wine. For example: make jam.

Even a monkey can do it

Making your own jam sounds very homely, and it is. And easy, because even a monkey could do this. To make jam with wine, you also need red fruit. Redcurrants, strawberries, plums, blueberries, elderberries or blackberries—it doesn’t matter, whatever you have on hand. And if your supply has completely run out, pick up a box or bag of frozen fruit, because that works perfectly too.

How to make red wine jam

• Mix the sugar and wine in a heavy-based pan. Bring it to the boil and reduce until half the volume remains.
• Add the fruit. Let it cook until the berries burst and the fruit softens. Continue cooking gently until the jam starts to thicken. Want to test whether your jam is ready? Place a drop on a saucer and let it cool. If it is thick and jam-like, you’re done.
• Purée the jam if you don’t like jam with large pieces of fruit in it.
• Pour your hot jam into spotlessly clean jars (let them bob in boiling-hot water for a while first). Screw on the lids and place the jars upside down to cool.
• This jam is absolutely delicious on a cheese board or with some charcuterie, but if you want to spread it on your croissant first thing in the morning, we won’t say a word.

Also read:

• Recipe: leftover wine cookies
• 10 things chefs like to keep in the freezer
• 7 facts and myths about wine

Source: MyRecipes