Back To Work Tomorrow = Less Feijoa Fun

I had to make up for the lack of feijoa-related activity yesterday, so I went wild this morning!

I baked this recipe for a feijoa, ginger and coconut loaf (my love affair with ginger continues).  The only thing I'd do differently next time is a touch less ginger (I used 2 tbsp - I'd use 1 1/2) or a heaped cup of coconut.  I can't really taste the coconut, and the ginger is super strong (but I do like it!)

Mini-loaf lovin.

I made 6 mini loaves + 1 almost loaf - the recipe makes a lot!  Cooking time was about 20 minutes less than the recipe called for.

A small slice with a dollop of Greek Honey yogurt.  Divine!

See?  Div.  Ine.

And because that wasn't enough, as it baked in the oven and I chatted on the phone with my mum and sister-in-law, I just whipped up another batch of the amazing feijoa, vanilla and ginger jam (as you do.)

I think I'm a bit in love with the combination of feijoa and ginger... How sad I have to go back to work tomorrow!  There are still so many recipes to play with! 

Feijoa, Vanilla and Ginger Jam (In A Pot)

There was a time in my life when I hated ginger.  There's been more than once where I was out for dinner and couldn't finish my meal, simply because of the gingery taste.

This jam completely changed my mind.  Holy crap!  It's amaze-balls!  The ginger taste is perfect with the feijoa and vanilla.  It's subtle enough so that you only get a hint of ging, but it's definitely there.  And the vanilla... heavenly.  Funnily enough, I never really used to like the smell of vanilla either, but that's also changed recently. 

The stars of the show!  I also used a fresh lemon from my tree.

 After my friend left yesterday, I went out and picked another bag, as I mentioned.

I picked out the most firm feijoas for the jam, as they have higher pectin levels.  I gave the rest away (some to the census guy who came over last night to survey us - there's no WAY he was leaving without a bag full of fruit and the rest went to work today.)

I left work around lunchtime today, just so I could come home to enjoy the last day of my holiday jam making.

A lot of sugar... I find that because I'm more aware of how much sugar is in jam, I'm eating less of it and really savouring what I do eat.  Does that make sense?   This recipe basically had you pop it all on the pot and go with it... pretty easy.

Double bubble toil and trouble...

Glossy goodness.

I tried another jam set test.  I put the plate in the freezer as I was making the jam - after 10 minutes of hard boiling, I put a blob on the plate and stuck it back in the fridge for a couple of minutes.  When I took it out and pushed it around with my finger, it wrinkled and was gooey (like jam is meant to be.)

 

That being said, I'm not sure it's set properly - I've been either boiling my jam too long and it sets too hard or it's not boiled long enough and it doesn't set.  We'll see how it goes once it cools. 

If I wasn't feeling too lazy to wash up the pots I used, I would have promptly made another batch of this jammy goodness!  (Oh, and I'm nearly out of jars...)