Confettura, Marmellata

As in Britain, the Italians make a preserve similar to marmalade that uses oranges, lemons, tangerines, mandarins, clementines, grapefruits or limes. To earn the name marmellata, the preserve must only be made with the pulp, juice and rind of the fruit. By contrast, confettura, or jam, is made only with the pulp and juice of the fruit. The two are often confused, but to add to the problem there is a third type of preserve called gelatina, a fruit jelly made with the strained juice of the fruit.

To make perfect jams and marmalades it is essential that the balance of sugar and the ripeness of the fruit are right, so it is important to use the ripest and the most perfect fruit you can find. If you add less sugar than the fruit needs, more water is extracted from the fruit in the cooking process, making it stronger in flavour but also more prone to fermentation and turning mouldy. My mother used to make a jam called mostarda (or cugnà in Piedmontese) from freshly pressed red grape juice and pears, prunes, peaches, quinces and even walnuts. The fruit was mixed with sugar and vanilla and then cooked until it resembled a deep brown jam with a thick consistency. The taste was heavenly and we used to spread it liberally on buttered bread and Crostata di Cugna for merenda.