sown & uprooted

I am not really a sweet tooth, so crafting homemade jams first of all placed the challenge for the jam not to come out too sweet but rather fruity and preferrably with a little pinch of lemony flavour. The easy Apple Beetroot Jam recipe that I will share with you today, is not only healthy and dismisses any preserving sugar or overload in sweetness but comes with a refreshing mix of sweet fruity down to earth sourish taste. Personally, I find this jam turns out absolutely delicious!

I invite you to utilise this experience as a chance for a wonderful self-care ritual, taking a tea or personal me time break in between, finishing the jam session with a fruity anti-aging facial treatment. Ones again, you might be surprised how simple it is to use natural ingredients at home for wonderful food creations, self-care rituals and skincare products – all that available to you at the same time.

A Delicious Apple Beetroot Jam Recipe & A Quick Anti-Aging Face Mask Recipe

If you have a kitchen knife, a big pot or pan, a big (kitchen) spoon and an empty jar or other sealable container, you basically have all the equipment you’ll need. Once you get started with your first homemade jam recipe, you might end up being inspired to craft all sorts of quick and healthy variations of fruit and vegetable jams! 

Personally, I prefer cooking smaller amounts as it keeps the jam special, eaten up rather soon and like this prevents us from ending up with too much food waste eventually awaiting us, hidden and forgotten about, somewhere in the back of the fridge. However, surely it depends on how many mouths you’ll have to feed and you could simply double or tripple the amounts of ingredients and store or gift a glass or two of your homemade jam.

Turning the procedure into a ritual of self-care removes any stressing or obligation, creating a spiritually inspired decelerating highlight filled with flavour and self-love. Along the way, we will actually have two options for easy but magical anti-aging facial treatments. If you are using biological apples, the apple peel can serve you as a side product to either munch while preparing the jam or to apply onto your face for a nice 10 to 15 minutes relaxation time after finishing your jam. Furthermore, we can craft a quick and easy face mask along the way which I am going to describe in detail with a simple anti-aging face mask recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 to 1 1/2 Granny Smith Apples
• 1/3 to 1/2 of a good size precooked Beetroot
• 1/2 a Lemon (we use the juice)
• 2 Cinnamon Sticks
• 50g (1/4 cup) to 75g (1/2 cup) of Brown or Granulated Sugar 
• a pinch of salt
• (optionally a bit of Orange Juice)

Directions 

1. Peel the apple (Simply add a second apple to peel but put around half an apple aside for the face mask recipe.)
2. Remove the core of your peeled apple and cut into small cubes
3. Cut around half of the precooked beetroot into cubes
4. Place the apple and beetroot cubes in a large pot or pan. Add the lemon juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt and the cinnamon sticks and stir it well
5. Bring the mix to boil on a low flame while stirring it frequently
6. Check every now and then that there is a bit of liquid on the bottom, so that the mix won’t burn. Add a little bit of water or orange juice whenever it gets too dry. You’ll see it rather clearly when it is running out of liquid and about to burn. Make sure not to drown the mix in liquid though.
7. Boil for around 15 minutes while you continue stirring, until the apple and beetroot pieces are soft
8. Turn off the heat. Put a lid on the pot or pan and leave the mix to rest for 30 – 60 min. Alternatively, you could skip this step. It is solely to enrich the flavours and give the cinnamon some more time to spread into the mix. Our self-care event starts here with a tea break
9. Remove the cinnamon sticks
10. Add the brown or granulated sugar. Add a bit of orange juice. Heat the mix on a low flame
11. From now on, make sure you stir even more frequently while cooking it on a low flame for another 10 to 15 minutes. Add a bit of water or orange juice just like you did it in the first part, whenever it runs out of liquid
12. Remove the jam from the heat
13. I prefer the mixture to be finer, so I puree the jam with a hand blender. It will also look prettier but it’s totally up to you
14. Pour the warm jam into prepared screw-top jars or other sealable container and leave to cool

Voilà! 

You have successfully crafted a delicious homemade apple beetroot jam!

Ingredients

• Half an Apple
• approx. 1 tablespoon of Honey

Directions

1. Grate the apple
2. Mix the apple mash with a bit of honey
3. Apply to the face, neck and décolleté. A brush will be easiest but you can also apply the mask using your hands. (Ideally put a small towel around your shoulders and apply the face mask over the sink as it can be a little watery, otherwise spilling a few drops on your clothes or on the floor around the feet.)
4. Leave the face mask on for about 15 minutes
5. Rinse off with lukewarm water
6. The skin feels tightened and looks nicely nurtured and rejuvenated

A wonderful facial treatment for the aged skin, after a night out in smoky bars or after sun bathing!

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food – Health Benefits of Apples, Beetroot and Cinnamon

Did you know that apples belong to the standards of a well-kept herbal medicine cabinet? The popular Hippocrates quote above rings particularly true for a fruit so accessible and simple as an apple. Oftentimes, we underestimate the fruit’s diverse health benefits and the fabulous herbal remedy that it is! Apples carry anti-inflammatory and antioxidant qualities, contain a multitude of healthy vitamins, minerals and enzymes such as Vitamin A, C, B1, B2, B3, B6, Pantothenic acid, Potassium, Calcium, Sodium, Phosphorous, Zinc, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Selenium and Pectin. “Pyrus malus”, “Malus domestica” or “Malus sylvestris”, so their botanical name, are powerful herbal healers, famous for their abilities to remedy an upset stomach, as a boost to the immune system, beneficial to our heart health, lowering cholesterol levels and providing anti-aging benefits to our skin. Although especially the vitamin C is sensitive to heat, our apple beetroot mixture is still a nicely healthy spread or topping.

Beetroot and cinnamon are furthermore adding various benefits to our health and well-being to granny’s jam. Beetroot is rich in antioxidants, has anti-inflammatory properties, may have anti-cancer properties, could lower blood pressure and heart disease risk, may improve exercise performance and support energy levels, improves digestive health, protects the gut, may support brain health and reaction time and is an particularly often recommended food addition to issues with menstrual health and as a post-menopause diet.

Cinnamon is appreciated as a spice and medicinal plant with high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities having been used since ancient Egyptian times. It’s high in cinnamaldehyde, a compound that is nowadays of interest for it’s various health benefits and positive effect on our metabolism. In clinical studies, Cinnamon has shown to reduce triglyceride and total cholesterol levels, both of which are risk factors for heart disease, while furthermore positively impacting high blood pressure, lower blood sugar and even protect our brain health by protecting neurones, normalising neurotransmitter levels, and improving our motor function.

In ancient times, the apple was a symbol of fertility and a symbol of love. Bear in mind though that when we are talking about “apples” in these contexts, quinces and even pomegranates could have been referred to. Which kind of “apple” was meant seems open to interpretation in most available ancient sources. According to the University of Regensburg, theologians in late Christian antiquity identified the etymological similarity of mālum (“apple”) and mălum (“evil”) as obvious indicator that the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” must be an apple tree. As the forbidden fruit of paradise, the apple eventually became a symbol of sin and sensual lust.

I hope you enjoyed this homemade jam / self-care session!

-with love-

Lina

sown & uprooted

https://for-a-better-living.com

Resources 

German: Phytotherapie in Theorie und Praxis: Das große Buch zur Pflanzenheilkunde – das neue Lehr- und Nachschlagewerk: Heilen mit Johanniskraut, Schafgarbe und Spitzwegerich

Die Kräuter in meinem Garten: 500 Heilpflanzen, 2000 Anwendungen, 1000 Rezepte, Botanik, Anbau, Magisches, Homöopathie, Hildegardmedizin, TCM, Volksheilkunde

Blog University of Regensburg

English alternative: Medical Herbalism: The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine

Pubmed Article Cinnamon and health

Please note: As with all things in life, some things will have ripple effects and the amounts make the difference. So please don’t overdose herbal teas either. Especially if you are on medication, suffer a medical condition, are prone to allergic reactions and during pregnancy it’s recommended to seek medical advisory before starting any self medication.