A wholemeal cracker, a sliver of aged manchego cheese and a dollop of freshly made santol preserves. Yum. The santol is a stand-in for membrillo or quince paste, but it’s great on its own as well. The markets have been teeming with santols over the past few weeks so I made a batch of candied, preserved, sweetened santols and will keep them in the fridge for the next few weeks or so. They are great on their own, if a bit intense, but also nice served with some vanilla ice cream.
I have previous posts on preserving santol, but they involve multiple days of soaking and changes of water. If you want a simpler version, with very good results, try this version in a post written by Lori of Dessert Comes First, credited to Chef Ed Quimson that works rather nicely as well.
As I look back through 7 years of posts on marketmanila.com, I am definitely starting to see a pattern linked to fruits and vegetables that are in season, and I now find myself repeating favorites, if only with mild variations… Maybe it’s a sign I am running out of new material to write about, but I hope not. :)
31 Responses
I so wanted to try your mango jam recipe so I ordered No Sugar Added pectin from Amazon. Now after more than a month, Johnny Air still don’t have it. :( They keep on misplacing and losing my packages. Never doing business with them again.
Is santol different from mangosteen? I looked it up, and it looks like mangosteen except for the colour of the peel. Does it taste similar? I’m very curious about it now!
(I think you mean “manchego”, not “manchedo”)
Hi MM, your santol preserves made me travel backon my memory lane. Back in Gensan, I always prepare santol jams during its season. It is perfect for pan de sal and sandwiches for breakfast! Will try to make some if I can hit Carbon over the weekend.
@ Rona Y, santol is different from mangosteen. First on their color, the latter is much purplish black than yellow-brown for santol. I think they came from the same family; the seed arrangement are the same, both have luscious “cottony” seeds.
great combination!
after peeling the santol, my mom used to soak the pulp overnight in lye water so it would be firmer and chewier (“makunat”). the following day, she would rinse it several times before going on to the syrup step.
Rona Y, mangosteen and santol are two very different fruits.
I hope you will be around for a very long time!
I tried your recipe for the santol preserve last month as we have lots of santol every year. It is wonderful! Thanks a lot for sharing the recipe. Next year I will make more for relatives and friends.
Try ginataang santol. Yum!
I love your blog. :)
I’ve never had preserved santol, ever! And it sounds amazing. Hmm…must buy santol…
MM, is it me or did the santol turn reddish??
Hi Mr MM! Would there be a chance that you have a recipe for BINURONG SANTOL ? BURONG SANTOL? thanks
Yummy! Love your cheeseboard. Olive wood?
Nicey femme,
Don’t bother with no sugar pectin. I’ve tried it and it has a chemical after taste and results in a cloudy, chalky jam. It never sets properly either. Splenda or other sugar subs are not satisfactory for jam. If you can’t eat sugar do not bother with jam, it just doesn’t work well enough with substitutes. Eat fresh fruit in moderate amounts instead.
noticed the board special of santol shake too late hehe i still have 3 days to go thru the whole menu though! and then surrender and take on the same diet you went on MM! :D
my attempt at sweet santol preserve was a major fail!!! hahaha….so thank for posting this and I don’t mind your ‘repeating favorites’ since they are always relevant and interesting.
Nicey femme….apples contain pectin. Add grated apples to your jam and it will help set it as well. I made blackberry jam before and added grated apples to it and it set just to the point I want it. My family likes bordering on runny and set….Try it!
Millet…thank for the tip on lye water. Apog is the same right? Apog is made from what wood ash, Footloose? I am in the process of making Candied Salmon for everyone in our mini-EB and I wondered if the ashes from the wood chips can be put to good use instead of dumping it in the soil!
Tin…maybe it will work using the same recipe for the Tsingtao green mango pickle. Try it. I saw those Bangkok santol yeaterday at the Asian store. I will go back and make some and let you know!
Hi MM,
Am fascinated by the reddishness of the santol jam. I haven’t tried this version of santol and it’s been a long time since I ate fresh santol so I’m relying on my childhood memory – slightly tarty, pulpy, mushy like mangosteen and most of the time bordering on the sour. I hope to find the jam version in Manila in December.
Hi Sister, there is this sugar sold in Stockholm that’s got a bit of pectin and should encourage marmalades to set, good for fruits/berries with less pectin though I have not tried it as it’s a bit pricey. I’m quite happy with the regular sugar. It’s jam and mushroom season here and I have yet to do plums, rhubarb (newly harvested), apples in abundance, the nectarines and peaches from Italy are soooo very good this year. A neighbor gave me some gooseberries (now in the freezer, don’t know what to do with them yet). I’m counting the days when I can harvest aronia berries…
Hi, Rowi,
Yes, the “jam sugar” has a bit of pectin but that does not make up for the price differential.
I just think that people who can’t have sugar should just forget about eating jam or fruit preserves made with apple or grape juice. It’s just too much sugar for a diabetic.
If you are making plum preservers, specially damson, no need for additional pectin. We also have plums and fall rhubarb in the market although much of the produce in the tri state area has been wiped out by hurricane Irene.
Thanks, Rowi, for the great mushrooms!
Betty Q, you can try making your own pectin from green apples. Buy lye, your wood chips might have some other chemical residue. How I envy your mini-eyeball!
BettyQ, we use the wood ashes (clean-one) to soak the corn kernels – to take out the “skin”. This is then in preparation of usig the corn for binatog. Wood ashes is also what we use to build stone-stove inside our bahay kubo in Quezon. It will crack up eventually, so you have to re-apply it like mortar.
We cook santol with “balaw” and coconut milk. I do’t know exactly balaw is – but I think its dried fermented fish. Anyway, it comes out crumbly and so so good. Most Quezonian knows this.
MM, sometimes i find it a bit difficult to look through your archives before I go to the market, so it is nice when you post what are the fruits/veggies that are currently in season. gives me an idea on what I can include in my weekly menu. i also love it when you include links to previous posts related to the produce you are featuring– great for lazy people like me. =)
talking about preserved stuff, saw this article about pickled sitaw!
https://www.seriouseats.com/2011/09/how-to-make-pickled-chinese-long-beans.html?ref=carousel
thanks ms bettyQ.
bettyq, yes, lye water is apog. you can’t get lye water there? it’s available in some groceries here, and is often used for making cuchinta. will check if it’s possible to send you some. i used to make kamias and balimbing “prunes”, and a soak in lye water would make them chewier and firmer (not falling apart).
candied salmon? wow, i’ve never had those! am imagining it would be like honeycured beef jerky, tama?
AHH I’m jealous! Santol is my favorite. Sister, have you ever seen these in NYC? I always keep an eye out for them.
looks yummy!! I love Santol and Manchego cheese..
Millet…thank you for your thoughtfulness and generosity ! I have lye water (the Pinoy version) I use for making cuchinta. I just have soooooo much wood ashes from making candied salmon for the last few months that I do not know how much the soil in the backyard can take. if the soil is too alkaline, the rhodos will die. On the other hand, I can spread it on the lawn so the moss will not grow.
Candied salmon…same like the honeycured beef jerky but not as kunat. You have to remove it from the smoker bordering on still moist but not kunat yet. Do you have a smoker? If you do, I will teach you how. I have perfected the recipe and method. it is fool-proof and the spices my own concoction. You can just imagine how many candied salmon my taste testers have ingested before they said…”That’s the one, Mom!” As for the smoker, you can have someone who is handy with tools make a homemade or makeshift smoker using an empty old refrigerator. As for the fish…I use chinook salmon. Tuna won’t work for it is such a lean fish…something fatty like salmon will do. I cannot think right now of a good substitute if you don’t have salmon. Hey…maybe if I get the chance to go home, I will bring back with me a whole frozen chinook for you. My SIL’s brother brings back chinooks (frozen whole) in styrofoam coolers….or I can smoke it for you here and bring them back already candied!
I think this candied salmon will go well well with your snack up above, MM!
betty q – i have always been curious about candied salmon that you named earlier on in previous posts but never got around to asking. I live in Stockholm and my husband loves to do gravlax (salmons here come from Norway and could be bought fileted). I would like to venture into candied salmon but I don’t have a smoker nor access to “an empty old refrigerator” – that is so funny : )) but I’m sure I could find an alternative. Please could I ask for your recipe and specific smoking instructions? Maraming salamat!
sister – many thanks for your comments.
cheers!
Betty q and rowi – I tried making gravlax too, and it was sooooo good. It was just marinating in the fridge for a couple of days in salt and sugar. Like tapa :P But candied? Like smoked salmon? I want to do that too. But i don’t have a smoker too and my attempts at smoking salt (to use in the gravlax to copy the smoked salmon taste) was a failure. It just smelled of ashes. But I’m interested if there’s any other way. I’m a fan of Alton Brown and he has a “shortcut” way of doing smoked salmon using a cardboard box :D
I’ve been able to find atis, mangosteens, and even chicos here in China (the mangoes are from Taiwan and southern provinces, but nothing as sweet as our mangoes at home). Can’t find santols though and I do love how their flavor and texture. Pickled santol with slices of onions as a contrast to a roast, love it!
Thanks for sharing your recipe. :) May I ask how long this santol preserve lasts? Any preservatives perhaps that you can advise to make it last for more than 3 months? Thanks!
Neil, I suppose if you heat treat the preserves, they will last longer. That means putting the hot preserves into a sterilized bottle with rubber sealed cap, and submerging in boiling water for say 10 minutes to help prevent bacteria growth. I don’t use preservatives in fruit jams. You will see oxidation of the santol after a while, though, it will turn a darker color, and look less appetizing.