Jams are instant crowd pleasers. Whether they are made from fruits or from berries, jams are popular with all types of foodies and can be used to prepare a quick snack or even the most elaborate desserts. The citrusy or fruity flavour of jam is what makes them oh-so appealing for almost everyone, but all we end up really doing with them is spreading them on breads, chapatis or parathas for a quick snack. Whether you like to use store-bought jams or make your own from natural fruits and berries, they can be put to numerous uses, besides just using them as spreads for sweet sandwiches. They deliver a huge punch of nostalgia, along with some happiness for your sweet tooth.
We list some innovative ways of using jams to spruce up a number of dishes and desserts:
1. Mix them with yogurt
Want to transform your cup of plain yogurt to fruit flavoured yogurt, add some jam to it and mix and voila! You can mix any jam of your choice with your yogurt cup to get flavoured yogurt instantly. Kids will especially like this foodie hack, as it instantly adds that much needed taste and sweetness to plain curd or yogurt.
Also Read: The Art of Making Jams: How to Preserve the Season's Best Flavours
2. Top your ice-cream scoops with them
Jams can easily double up as decadent toppings, and the best way to use them is to top your favourite ice-creams with any jam. Chocolate ice-cream will go great with raspberry jam, for example. If you want to spruce up your vanilla ice-cream, then the possibilities are endless and you can experiment with any flavour of jam that you like.
3. Stuff them inside French toast
Bored of your usual plain French toast recipe? Stuff your bread pieces with jam before coating them with the egg and milk bath and toasting them, to make some stuffed French toasts. The ooey-gooey warm French toast will light up your lazy weekend breakfast table!
Also Read: Flavours That Have Stood The Test Of Time: 6 Foods For A Nostalgic Walk Down Flavour-Lane
4. Use them as frosting for cupcakes
Don't have whipped cream to frost your batch of cupcakes? No worries - jams to the rescue! Just get a hold of your favourite jam or marmalade and get frosting! Jams are naturally sweet and can double up as the perfect frostings to add some fruity freshness to your banana, strawberry or any other fruit cupcakes.
5. Use them as ganache for cakes/cupcakes
Jams can also be added to cake batter to make swirly patterns in cakes or can even be added to a batch of freshly baked cupcakes as ganache. Cut a hole inside your cupcake and put some whipped jam inside a piping bag. Pipe the jam inside the depression in the centre of your cupcake, top it with the cut out part and frost it with frosting of choice. If you don't have a piping bag, you can simply spoon some of the jam carefully into the cupcake holes. Fruit jams add a burst of flavour to your cupcakes.
Also Read: 11 Best Simple Cake Recipes | 11 Top Easy Cake Recipes
Jam Hacks: Jam doubles up as fruity ganache
We bet you didn't know that that jam jar sitting on your kitchen shelf could be put to so much use. So get cooking and get 'jam'ming!