Try this tasty and intriguing carrot jam with parsnip; our easy small batch recipe is a perfect introduction to making vegetable jams! 
One of the things that I really love about making small batch jams is that I can really play with ingredients and flavours, and if it goes wrong I wouldn’t have wasted too much food. This recipe only makes one jar of carrot jam, so a perfect amount for experimentation. If you like it, success! If not, it’s no great loss.  Also you do not end up with stacks and stacks of preserves in the cupboard – I made so many at one stage that it has take about 7 years to work through them all! Aged is better, but my stash was slightly over the top.
At first thought carrots are not really that obvious a choice for a jam, but once you remember that they really are quite sweet; and often used used in sweet baked items such as carrot cake and Indian desserts like a carrot hawla, it becomes a less odd choice.   I’m not entirely sure that carrot jam jam is a legitimate way to my general diet of philosophy of Extra Veg – but every little counts surely?
In fact, carrot jam has been around for at least 150 years: Mrs Beeton included a recipe for it in her 1861 book of Household Management but there is no sign of it in the 1,200 recipes in my copy of her 1890 Cookery Book (the Victorians had the right approach in my opinion, few books with far more recipes). She describes the recipe as a poor man’s substitute for apricot jam; I can see what she means – my jam did have a hint of apricot, but we thought it tasted far more of marmalade than apricot.
I used both carrots and parsnips interchangeably in many dishes; carrot cake is just as good with sweet parsnips, and grated parsnips works just as well as carrot in salads and ‘slaw. Given there was a spare parsnip languishing at the bottom of the salad drawer, I made this vibrant orange carrot jam with a mix of carrots and parsnips.
The end result is more of a sweet vegetable spread. It’s doesn’t really have a jammy consistency, instead there’s plenty of texture from the grated carrots, and it’s certainly delicious. Serve on toast at breakfast, with cheese, on yogurt or porridge, add a spoonful to a fruit pie. I think it would be especially good mixed into the mincemeat for your Christmas mince pies too.
I’ve made this using the macerating, conserve method where I cover your fruit (or vegetables) with sugar and leave it overnight to draw out the juices and form a thick syrup.  Some recipes suggest cooking the carrots, passing them through a sieve to make a puree, then using this puree to make the jam.  I think this is an unnecessary further step, so skipped it in favour of blitzing most of the carrot to a smooth puree half way through cooking, either in the food processor or with a stick blender.  Less faff and certainly less washing up!
Variations for Small Batch Carrot Jam with Parsnip
I like the flavour of this (and most jams) as it is – celebrating the main ingredient, and in general I’m not a fan of lots of extra flavours being added.  But if you must ….
Add spices at the maceration stage – lightly crushed cardamom pods, a piece of cinnamon, slice of fresh ginger – remove before cooking or before spooning into jars, depending how strong you like the flavour.
Add a little vanilla extract, grated nutmeg or ginger.
Take out a tablespoon of the sugar and add a spoon of honey.
As usual I’ve converted the recipe to ratios to make it even easier to scale up and down
Small batch carrot jam with parsnip – Ingredient ratios
- Approximately three times the amount of carrot to parsnip
- 2/3 the weight of sugar to that of the carrots
- 1 lemon (or lemon and orange mix) per 4 medium carrots
Carrot jam with parsnip
Ingredients
- 160 g carrots ((peeled and finely grated))
- 50 g parsnips ((peeled and finely grated))
- 205 g white granulated sugar
- 1/2 lemon ((juice and zest))
- 1/2 orange ((juice and zest))
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Cover and leave overnight to macerate.
- Place in a saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of water, bring to a simmer, cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, use a stick blender to blitz to a puree, leaving some of the grated carrot whole to add texture.
- Use a jam or sugar thermometer to measure when the jam reaches 105C.
- Allow to cool for a few moments and then spoon into a warmed jam jar using a jam funnel and seal. Store in the fridge. Keeps a good few weeks.
Notes
Sarah
I would have never thought to use carrots to make jam, but you’re right – they are sweet! I’ll have to try making jam one day, doesnt sound ridiculously difficult! :)
Helen
jam is so easy – go for making a batch
Jenny
This sounds so intriguing, I would love to try it. I might have to save this recipe and make it!
Helen
It certainly is a jam with a twist!
Rhian Westbury
I’d have never thought about carrots and parsnips for something like this x
Helen
so good, and such an easy way to get some extra veg into your diet.
Kara
Carrot jam? Not something I have heard of before, sounds interesting
Helen
so delicious Kara!
Ali - We Made This Life
I’d never heard of carrot jam before but thinking about it, it does sound nice! Perfect for autumn too!
Helen
it is so good as a topper for the first porridge of the season
Olivia Thristan
I’ve never tried carrot jam, or heard of it for that matter. But this looks beautiful, I am a huge fan of carrots and it looks divine on crumpets. Definitely one to give a go!
Helen
so good, and a good twist on fruit jam.
Leigh at Fashion Du Jour LDN
Carrot Jam! Who would have thought it but I really want to try it after seeing it!
Thanks for sharing!
Leigh at Fashion Du Jour LDN x
Helen
it is so good, and a definite hint of apricot.
Jeni @ Biscuits & Booze
I love the idea of this! I make small batch jams too because I love to experiment. And it’s fun to have a few jars of homemade around all year I think. Carrot would work perfectly in a jam!
Helen
Homemade is so good for gifting. and by making a little you can make more batches
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry
I would never have thought to use carrots for a jam but you are right, they are often used in sweet things so it actually makes a lot of sense! Will have to give this a try myself.
Helen
so delicious! Extra Veg all the way!
Debi at Life Currents
Veggies can be sweet, and this recipe helps prove that! What a fun and creative use for plain ol’ veggies!
Helen
exactly. You can add a grated carrot to so many sweet dishes.
Iryna
I’ve never tried carrot jam especially with parsnips. But I love these vegetables so I imagine the jam should taste amazing!
Helen
it is so good, I am all about the veggie jams at the moment.
Calleigh Keibler - TheForkBite
Never heard of carrot jam as well.. but this looks so yum to me. I guess I can tackle this recipe and anything about carrots is a winner to me.
Helen
it is so good, and such a good colour too?
Amanda
What a fab recipe! I totally agree that it should count towards your 5-a-day ?
Helen
Absolutely!
Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness
So true!! Although I have never made any batches of jam, but I can imagine making a small batch when recipe testing is the way to go. What a combo, I seriously want to try this!
Helen
Small batch is not just for recipe testing – it means you can make a batch per week for fun.
Thena
I bet that this is super yummy, and it just screams fall. I would eat this all up and ask for more.
Helen
It is perfect for the autumn!
Stephanie Merry
I’ve never thought of making carrot jam before but it looks and sounds delicious! x
Helen
So tasty Stephanie, and good with lots of foods.
Maria
Brilliant recipe and so easy to follow