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HARDY PLANTS

Sudachi harvest and jam

By mid-October the Sudachi are ready for harvest.
It’s time to pick them for jam.

This tree was planted in 2023, and is now in its third growing season.
It’s still very small, less than a metre tall, but fully covered with fruit.
Fruits are small limes, acidic and fragrant limes.
When they start to feel a little soft to the touch and turn just a little yellow, it’s the ideal time to pick.
Always pick with a chisel to keep the zest intact.
In just a few minutes, the shrub is stripped bare.
He was carrying just over three kilos of Sudachis, not bad for such a young plant.
Sudachi can be stored for over a week in a cool place. They will slowly turn yellow but retain their fragrance.
This time we let them rest for two days and they are already less green.
We take about 1.2 kilos of sudachis for the jam.
The first step is to extract the juice and pulp.
All sudachi are cut in half.
Then they are pressed for the juice, keeping the zest separate.
You should also collect any pulp that sticks to the device and add it to the juice. Nothing should be lost.
If there are a few seeds, you can leave them in and remove them during cooking (they float).
Sudashis generally contain very few seeds.
The zests are completely cleaned of pulp, possibly by scraping with a knife. All membranes and remaining pulp are added to the juice.
The only part of the sudachi to remove is the stalk.
This can be done with a knife or a cookie cutter.
Next, chop all the zest into thin strips, less than a millimetre wide if possible.
This is the most time-consuming part of the jam-making process.
If we ever need to make a lot of jam, we’ll need a suitable machine.
The next part removes the bitterness from the fruit. If you like bitter jam, you can skip this step.
The zests are heated, just covering with water, until they gently reach boiling point.
When the water starts to boil, let it simmer for two minutes, then discard the cooking water.

To eliminate the bitterness, this procedure should be carried out three times:
boil, then discard the cooking water, return to cold water, boil again, etc…
We can now collect and mix the pulp and juice with the zest.
Now it’s time to weigh the total to determine how much sugar to add.
There are 950 grams here, so we’ve lost a little weight.
The proportion of sugar may vary according to taste.
For one kilo of fruit we use 600 grams of sugar.
Stir well before heating over low heat and bringing to the boil.
Keep boiling gently, still over a low heat, for around 20 minutes.
Then test the consistency as for any jam (drip a drop of jam onto a plate until it solidifies).
Pour the hot jam into pre-sterilized jars.
Leave the jars upside down for an hour before turning them out.
This jam can be kept for over 6 months without any problems.
We obtained 1.2 kilos of jam with 2/3 fruit content.

For those who like citrus jam, Sudachi is extraordinary, sweet, acidic and floral, with flavors that linger on the palate.

This year’s sudachi harvest is already over.
But other harvests continue, like the Feijoa guavas here.

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