Marmalade

Jam (of portug. marmelo for quince ) is the traditional name for a spread, which is made from boiled with sugar fruits, without fruit pieces remain visible in the finished product. In Germany, in the sale and advertising the name today - with local exceptions - only for citrus products allowed ( but where visible pieces of fruit may be present, and these are often shell parts ). The laws in Germany and Austria had to be adjusted accordingly. Since 2003, but is used in Austria on the basis of the derogation, the name as it used increasingly in official sales of products of any fruit.

Other regional names are Schmärsel ( in Palatine ), Gsälz ( in Swabia ), Schlecksl ( in Baden ), Sießschmeer ( Saarland ) and Gebêss ( in Luxembourg ), " configuration " or Gonfi ( jam - in Switzerland, where the word jam does not occur ).

In common parlance, the term has received despite changed regulations remain with products from all the fruits.

Etymology

In ancient Greece, the Greek melon quince with honey méli was boiled down to a thick juice called melimelon. In conjunction with the suffix- ata, are named with the food, the Greek word was mermelata and from the Spanish word for quince jelly mermelada. In Germany lets the Spanish name Marmalada for the year 1597 in Hamburg prove. The German word jam was borrowed in 1600 also from the port. marmelo.

History

The first jam -like substance can be traced back to ancient Rome. Excavations in 1937 have demonstrated in pottery residues of Plum Butter in conjunction with sugarcane. This plum jam is a precursor of today's jam.

Jam with oranges, so jam according to today's EU regulation, is mentioned as 1669 in London by Samuel Pepys in his diary entry dated 9 March: "I drank there for the first time orange juice, probably a pint and a train from the shells. make jam. Pour the juice they drink like wine, with sugar, and it tastes delicious ... " However, we can not determine whether it is already acted to sweet oranges or bitter oranges. Specifically, evidence can be the bitter orange marmalade for the first time in Dundee, Scotland. It was "invented" by the merchant's wife Janet Keiller. Towards the end of the 18th century, a Spanish merchant ship from the Seville region, was forced by gathering storm to proceed to the port of this city. On board there was a large amount of not-so- fresh bitter oranges, which, as a bargain had bought her husband, the Scottish merchant James Keiller. Since the fruits were almost inedible in the raw state, his wife cooked these smallest chopped with a lot of sugar to make them so successful in the end to turn in a good salable product. This jam was sold in their candy store along with other jams, which were called Jam. The rapidly developing overall demand soon had a factory-like production for the later famous Scottish bitter orange marmalade emerge and 1797 founded the family Keiller Dundee at the first jam manufacturer in the world.

Designation regulations

Pending adoption of the jam Regulation ( KonfV ) of 26 October 1982 in Germany, the term for preparations of many fruits such as currants, cherries, strawberries, apricots / apricot, raspberries, plums, pears, apples and other was used. The difference with the jam was that in the latter fruit pieces were still recognizable. It also differed Einfrucht - of mixed fruit jams.

Since the jam Regulation and in accordance with EU regulations ( Codex Chapter B5 jams and other fruit products ) Jam under the name may only fruit spreads are sold from citrus fruits. This is due to the English influence, because the English term marmalade designated beforehand the particular British ( sweet) orange marmalade. The new division between jam and marmalade can lead to misunderstandings, because the classification has changed and one "old" jam with fruit pieces may not be distinguished from "new" jam.

Jam in the manufacture of any whole fruit, fruit juice, but has been used is called the jelly. Nature Sweet products of a similar nature must be referred to in Germany as " fruit spread ".

Regardless of the Regulation, the traditional designation jam is maintained colloquially in many areas.

Exemption for small producers

The end of 2003 the EU Commission issued a special permit, may designate their preserved fruits such as jam sooner than after the small producers. This amendment was approved in June 2004 by the EU Parliament. This means that within Germany the previous designation jam is generally allowed only on packages for export must include the name be printed jam. The same exception applies already for Denmark and Greece.

Austria is exempt from this requirement, as the term jam is not common here. Therefore, producers may continue to use the typical Austrian designation, similar to tomatoes for tomatoes or potatoes for potatoes.

Jam recipes

In jam recipes in cookbooks traditional jam is further described. These recipes include, for example, mixed fruit jams such as strawberry and apple jam and marmalade from sour cherry, gooseberry and blackcurrant (see also Opekta ).

Production

After filling the preserved fruits in glasses, they should be turned upside down for a short time. This is primarily used to increase the pressure on the shutter. This ensures that, for the preservation of needful, negative pressure is created. A useful side effect is the sterilization of the lid by the hot fruit pulp.

Use in pastries

The jam is an important part of Austrian cuisine. So pancakes are smeared with jam and rolled it. The Sacher Torte is aprikotiert prior to glazing with passierter apricot jam. For the Linzer Torte is traditionally used red currant jam. Buchteln can be filled with both Powidl as well with apricot jam, apricot jam for donuts is common. The abundance of Punschkrapfen is also produced using apricot jam. Polsterzipfe are filled with jam, this is the most popular red currant jam. Also many Christmas cookies can not do without jam: Linzeraugen example, consist of two Keksscheiben that are glued together with red currant jam. For Bolzano buckwheat cake with cranberry has traditionally been used.

Find out more

• The painter Carl Spitzweg collected recipes, which he often sided with drawings or collages. For his niece Nina Spitzweg he created a series of illustrated recipes that according to his information came from at least five cookbooks. To " jam from strawberries " he remarked: Here the same applies as for the preparation of cherry jam. See this.
• A host in the Wachau, who refused to call his apricot jam " Apricot Jam ", sparked the " apricot affair " from. This led to an exemption from the rule name.
• In eastern Austria the joke name Marmeladinger for northern German is in use.