Finding exotic fruits is quite difficult in the United States. Supermarkets only sell some of the more popular fruits like apples, pears, peaches, and if you’re lucky, you’ll occasionally see starfruit or jackfruit. That’s why it’s always interesting to discover something different for sale.

On my last trip to Miami, I visited a nursery for exotic fruit trees. In addition to selling trees, they occasionally sell fruits. This time I was lucky because they had persimmons, or caqui as they are known in Spanish, for sale. I went home with four pounds of this delicious fruit. We ate some, and the rest we used to make jam.

Here is the step-by-step recipe in case you want to try it. It’s very easy, and I guarantee the jam is truly delicious.
Something important: persimmons are divided into two categories—astringent and non-astringent. The first type can be eaten or used for jam even when they are not fully ripe. However, you need to be very careful with the astringent varieties because they can only be eaten or used in the kitchen when they are fully ripe and soft to the touch.

In my case, the variety I used was Triumph, which is classified as astringent.

Instructions.
Servings: 16
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Time to let it cool.: 30 minutes
Total: 1 hour

Ingredients:

–12 ounces of persimmon pulp, cut into small pieces.

–3 ounces of persimmon peel, also cut into small pieces.

–5 ounces of white sugar.

–2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

–3/4 ounce of lemon peel, cut into small strips.

The lemon juice and peel will add the pectin needed to thicken the jam mixture.

First, you’re going to combine all the ingredients, as you can see in the photo, in a small pot.

With the heat set to medium-high, stir continuously until the mixture begins to boil.

When the jam is boiling like in the photo, lower the heat to a simmer and let it cook until the persimmon pulp softens, and the liquid thickens. This last part will take you about 10 minutes.

Something we should say, white sugar was used for this recipe, which made the jam less thick and lighter in color. If you prefer, you can use brown sugar, which would make the syrup thicker and the jam darker in color. Well, it’s a matter of taste.

Then let it cool slightly, and it’s ready to be jarred and placed in the refrigerator. You can use Mason jars for this.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the article and making your own jam as much as I did. I would greatly appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have.