Making jam from scratch in an old kitchen is one of the most joyful things you’ll ever do in the Karoo. And if you can somehow source red prickly pears, you’ll be blown away by the degree of satisfaction to be had from the experience.
This column is paired with this recipe
Makataan is a lovely word. It rolls off the tongue in three syllables, the third long aaa being accentuated as if in birdsong….
Ma-ka-taaaan, ma-ka-taaaan. You can almost picture a cocky little bird topped by a brightly coloured comb trilling it as an incitement to mate.
But makataan is the name of a fruit, and a wild one at that. It looks exactly like a watermelon. Which is what it is. But not the one you got to know as a child, running around the lawn with slices of its lovely sweet, red flesh and spitting out the pips.