Apple Pomegranate Preserves

As stated in my earlier entries, I recently acquired the Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme Breadmaker, which makes, in addition to cakes and breads, jams and jellies.  My neighbor dropped by a week or two ago with a large basketful of freshly picked apples from their own trees.  Since then, I've been trying to incorporate apples into every meal so that I can use them up before they go bad.  Finally, after realizing that apple and cheddar cheese sandwiches just weren't going to cut it anymore, I brought out the Zojirushi and looked into their jams/jellies recipes.  Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I came upon a recipe for Apple Jam. 

The recipe for apple jam was incredibly simple: two cups of apples, enough water to cover them, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and 3/4 cup sugar.  The instructions asked to microwave the water-covered apples until tender, mash the apples, then pour the mashed apples and the rest of the ingredients into the bread maker.  I immediately began to peel and core several apples.

It was halfway into the cooking process when I realized that I did not have anymore lemons in the house.  "That's okay," I thought.  "I'll just substitute it with orange juice."  After mashing, I discovered that I was out of orange juice, also.

I began searching through the various bottles and jars in my fridge.  Finally, I came upon an unopened jar of deep red, Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice.  I substituted splenda for sugar and pomegranate juice for lemon juice. 

The resulting jam was more like an apple preserve, with a very distinct pomegranate taste.  It's a perfect combination of tangy and sweet, and I still can't believe how simple it was to throw in the ingredients and let the Zojirushi work its magic.

This Apple-Pomegranate Preserve was a perfect spread for the Muesli Bread, which was also baked in the Zojirushi; the bread recipe will come in the next entry.