Coconut jam is a familiar and beloved food during the Lunar New Year. Instead of buying it outside, which is expensive and not guaranteed to be safe, you can make it at home with this simple recipe.
1. Coconut Jam Ingredients
– Coconut meat: 800 grams
– Sugar: 400 grams
2. Making Coconut Jam
Step 1: Prepare the ingredients
– To make coconut jam, you should choose fresh coconut meat, not too old but not too young either.
– After removing the brown skin, you can shred or shape the coconut meat as desired.
– Then, soak the coconut in diluted saltwater for about 10 minutes and rinse it with clean water several times to remove the excess oil.
Step 2: Blanch the coconut
– Boil a pot of water and let it cool slightly. Then blanch the coconut in the water to remove the excess oil.
– Continue to soak the shredded coconut and rinse it clean. The more careful you are, the drier your coconut jam will be and the longer it will last.
Step 3: Soak in sugar
– Take a large bowl and add the coconut and sugar.
– Use kitchen utensils like chopsticks or spoons to mix well and soak the coconut with sugar for about 6 to 8 hours until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Step 4: Cook the coconut jam
– Transfer the coconut soaked in sugar to a large pan and cook over high heat.
– Then, reduce the heat to medium and stir constantly to evenly coat the coconut with sugar and prevent it from burning.
– Keep stirring until the coconut jam thickens and becomes slightly heavier. Then reduce the heat to the lowest setting and continue to stir until the sugar crystallizes into small, smooth grains that stick to the coconut strands.
– Keep stirring until the coconut jam is dry, then turn off the heat and let it cool before putting it in a zip bag or glass jar for storage.
3. Tips for making coconut jam
– To make the coconut clean and have a beautiful white color, you can soak it in a basin of water with 1 tablespoon of salt and the juice of 2 lemons for about 30 minutes.
– It is recommended to use a non-stick pan for cooking the coconut jam to prevent the strands from sticking and ensure a beautiful sugar coating on the outside.
– Depending on your taste and preference, you can add natural ingredients like pumpkin (gấc fruit flesh) for orange color, pandan leaf for green color, purple leaf for purple color, turmeric or curry powder for yellow color, etc.
4. How to store coconut jam without it becoming watery
– After cooking the coconut jam, you can dry it in the sun or oven to ensure it is completely dry, as moist jam can easily get moldy.
– Before putting the coconut jam in a bag or glass jar for storage, you can sprinkle a thin layer of sugar at the bottom.
5. Common mistakes when making coconut jam
Sugar doesn’t crystallize
When making coconut jam, some people encounter the problem of cooking for a long time but the jam doesn’t crystallize. This is because there is not enough sugar, so you need to make sure the ratio of sugar to coconut is appropriate. If you notice that the jam is not crystallizing due to insufficient sugar, you can add more sugar and continue cooking until the coconut strands crystallize.
Coconut jam becomes dry and hard
Not everyone knows that if the sugar has crystallized while cooking and you continue to stir, it can make the coconut strands dry and hard. This is because stirring for too long causes the crystallized sugar to turn yellow and lose its beauty. Therefore, you should only cook the jam until it becomes slightly heavier and the sugar has crystallized, then immediately turn off the heat and continue stirring outside until the coconut strands are completely crystallized.
