Jam (Moraba) is a category with plenty of varieties in Persian cuisine. Moraba is an Arabic word that means nourishment. Most popular jams are rose jam (Morabaye Gol), black cherry jam (Morabaye Albaloo), and strawberry jam (Morabaye Tootfarangi). Cranberries are not available in Iran, but if you have access to them, you can make a Moraba from a mixture of strawberries and cranberries. The history of making Moraba does not go so past. Sugar, which is the primary ingredient of this dish, has paved its way to Persian cuisine just 300 years ago.
Historians claim that before that, it was common to cook the fruit for keeping it for more time. Sometimes they cooked it, to keep it for other seasons. However, nowadays, with the amount of sugar added to this cooked fruits, we cannot call them fruit anymore. Their characters change entirely during the process of cooking and making jam. Strawberry cranberry jam or Morabaye Tootfarangi (مربای توت فرنگی) has plenty of fans all over the world. In this article, we are going to learn how to prepare berry Moraba like Persians.
Different kinds of Strawberry Cranberry jam:
Jam (Moraba) has a wide variety in Iran. I can claim that Iranians make jam with almost every kind of fruits. You can find berry jam, quince jam, rose jam, kiwi jam, and even melon jam in Persian cuisine. However, there is no variety in strawberry cranberry jam. You can make Moraba (jam), Marmalade, and Sharbat(syrup) with them. You may also experience different tastes because of adding some flavours, for example, one might add some vanilla to the recipe, and that would change the final flavour a little bit. But, totally strawberry jam is made with water, sugar and berries and there is not much variety of it.
Important Nutrition Facts:
Moraba is one of those super delicious foods that have a high calorie. Moreover, it is not rich in nutrition. But, you cannot cease eating it because it has a very delightful taste. 100gr of strawberry cranberry jam has 120kcal energy. It has 30.81 gr carbohydrates, 0.19gr protein and 0.06 gr fat. Moreover, it contains 1.16 mg vitamin B4 and a little amount of some other vitamins such as vitamin C. Furthermore, it has 44mg potassium, 6.22 mg phosphor, and 4.87 mg calcium. Although fruits usually have lots of vitamins and minerals but cooking and adding sugar faints those values. If you have diabetes, you’d better avoid eating Moraba.
Vegetarian tips:
Moraba is an entirely vegetarian dish. Moraba (jam) is made with fruits and sugar and water. Therefore if you are a vegetarian or vegan, you can enjoy strawberry cranberry jam in your meals as a dessert or breakfast ingredient confidently.
Serving style of Strawberry cranberry jam:
Iranians serve Moraba in breakfast with butter. Butter and jam sandwich is considered a famous Persian breakfast. Moreover, you can use it as a garnish on your yoghurt, or ice cream. Strawberry Cranberry jam is an excellent favourable jam to choose for breakfast. Moreover, it is a unique garnish for Shir Berenj, a famous Persian dessert. In colder places of Iran, like Azerbaijan, they serve a cup of jam after food as dessert. You may also find a dish of different kinds of jams in official ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.
What are the ingredients of Strawberry cranberry jam?
The primary ingredient for making jam(Moraba) is sugar. Most of the jams need water, too. Sometimes in some regions, they make some kinds of Moraba without water. For example, Azeri people make apricot jam without water and just by adding sugar to the apricots in a particular method. The other ingredients depend on the fruit you are making Moraba out of it. Here we need, strawberries and cranberries. You can also add some vanilla.
How to cook Strawberry cranberry jam?
To cook strawberry cranberry jam, wash and clean the berries. Then place them on a towel or tissue to dry. After they completely dried pout a layer of berries and a layer of sugar. Continue this job until the berries finish. Put the pot in the fridge and wait for 24 hours. In this method, you do not need to add water. The berries produce water themselves during the time they are in the fridge. After 24 hours put the pot a high heat until it boils and makes foam on the pot. You should extract the foam regularly to make a clear, bright jam.
After the juice started to boil, you should turn down the heat and cook it on medium heat. If you don’t want to wait for 24 hours, you can add some water to the pot after you added berries and sugar. You need to cook the jam for one hour, and if there was any extra juice left, you could use as syrup.
Recipe:
This recipe is for cooking strawberry cranberry jam in Persian style. The preparation time is about 24 hours, and the cooking time is about 30 minutes.
Strawberry cranberry jam
Ingredients
- 2 cups cranberries (washed and cleaned)
- 2 cups strawberries (washed and cleaned)
- 4 cups of sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Wash and clean the berries.
- Place the berries on a piece of cloth, like a towel and let them dry completely.
- Pout a layer of berries and a layer of sugar in a pot
- Cover the pot with a lid
- Place the pot in the fridge for 24 hours.
- Then, put the pot on high heat, until the water inside the pot starts boiling.
- Collect the foam on the pot regularly and take it out
- After it boiled, turn down the heat and cook the jam on low heat for 30 minutes.
- Add vanilla
- If there is extra juice left, you could use it as syrup.
- Pour the jam in proper jogs with lids and keep in the refrigerator.
- For longer and better maintenance, keep it in the freezer.
Notes
Uniqop’s Advice:
- You can 2 cups of water instead of waiting for 24 hours, but the final taste won’t be as delicious as this recipe.
- You can make strawberry or cranberry jam alone using this recipe. The amount of sugar and berries should be the same.
