RECIPE Chinotto Jam from Savona
I acknowledge that until very recently I had always associated the word Chinotto with the famous fizzy drink that I adored as a child and in my ignorance had never associated it with a fruit.
Recently I was invited to the inauguration of the first indoor zero-mile market in my city (Genoa) where a few select producers displayed and sold their specialties and, much to my surprise, I discovered the Chinotto of Savona, a Slow Food presidium.
Since I like to value the extraordinary products of our beautiful Italy, and even better if they are little known, I brought home a nice bag of these fruits, mistakenly considered the “ugly duckling” of the citrus family.
The Chinotti of Savona are exclusive to the western Ligurian Riviera, and it is hypothesized that they arrived on the Ligurian coast thanks to a sailor from Savona who transported them from China in the 16th century.
A few years ago, the cultivation was disappearing because it was not sufficiently profitable for the very few cultivators in the area, but thanks to the recognition of Slow Food, which established a presidium for the product, new trees have been planted, and now the fame of the product has crossed national borders and has admirers worldwide.
The jam derived from this rare and precious citrus is very fragrant and aromatic, with a contrasting taste of sweet and bitter, making it particularly suitable not only for spreading on strictly whole wheat bread but especially to accompany very aged or fresh but strong-tasting cheeses such as goat cheese.
In Liguria, the chinotto found its natural habitat and developed new characteristics, enhancing its organoleptic qualities. With its aromatic scent and flavor, with unique bitter notes, it is an ideal fruit for being transformed into syrup, candied fruit, but especially jam, or better, marmalade since it is a citrus fruit.
What we will prepare together today is indeed the Chinotti of Savona Jam, following an ancient, well-proven recipe that was kindly given to me by a friend of my mother, who has been making it for years. It is very easy and just a little laborious, but I assure you it’s worth it, and once ready, it can be stored in airtight jars for several months.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 2 Days
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: about 6.6 lbs
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 127.25 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 33.32 (g) of which sugars 32.55 (g)
- Proteins 0.23 (g)
- Fat 0.09 (g) of which saturated 0.01 (g)of which unsaturated 0.02 (g)
- Fibers 0.57 (g)
- Sodium 1.09 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 1 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs fresh fruit (Chinotti of Savona, weight raw with skin)
- 5 cups granulated sugar
- 2.2 lbs oranges (untreated, weight raw with skin)
- 4.23 cups water
- sugar (equal weight of oranges after soaking, about 2.64 lbs)
Tools
- 2 Pots
- 2 Bowls
PREAMBLE
Since Chinotti are a particularly bitter fruit, the jam usually prepared is not made exclusively with this citrus but another is added to counterbalance the taste. Of the various versions I have tried (Chinotto-Mandarin, Chinotto-Orange, Chinotto-Lemon) I chose to present you with the one paired with orange because I find it the most balanced.
To eliminate the bitter taste of both Chinotto and Oranges, these citrus fruits must be “treated” before proceeding to prepare the Jam through a washing process. I will, therefore, indicate below the various phases divided by days (it takes two days in total, of rest obviously, not work!)
Wash the oranges, cut them into wedges, remove the seeds but don’t throw them away. Put the oranges, without peeling them, in a pot along with 4.23 cups of water and the seeds collected in a net, and leave them to soak for 2 days.
Wash the chinotti, prick the skin with the tines of a fork, place them in a pot with plenty of water and bring to a boil. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes from when they start to boil. Drain them and soak them in clean water in a bowl. Leave them to soak for a whole day.
Take the oranges back, drain them from the water (but don’t throw it away!), weigh them, and when you have obtained the exact weight, put them back in the soaking water along with equal weight of sugar, but remove the seeds that were in the net (in the meantime they will have released their natural thickening power).
Also drain the chinotti from the water (you can throw this away), cut them into pieces and remove the seeds. Add them to the pot where the oranges are already along with 2.2 lbs of sugar.
Place the pot on the stove, bring to a boil, and continue cooking over medium-low heat for another 45 minutes from when the jam boils. As soon as it is ready, pour it into glass jars, seal them with an airtight lid, and let them cool upside down so that they create a vacuum.
NOTES
With these doses, the Chinotti jam comes out quite soft; if you want it firmer and more compact, you can add a teaspoon of agar agar (a tasteless natural thickener) during cooking.
Depending on your tastes, you can substitute oranges with an equivalent amount of mandarins or lemons.
STORAGE
You can store the Chinotti jam in the pantry for up to 5 months, but before consuming it, check that the vacuum has been maintained over time.
In fact, homemade jams have shorter storage times than those you find in stores.
Once the jar is opened, store the jam in the fridge and consume it within 3 weeks.
FOR A CORRECT PREPARATION OF HOMEMADE PRESERVES
For a correct preparation of homemade preserves, to avoid health risks, I refer you to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health: it is a list of kitchen and tool hygiene rules, and on pasteurization and storage.
