The green walnuts jam a specialty of Armenian women of Anjar

The Daily Star newspaper published an article in its yesterday’s edition about one of Anjar’s culinary specialties namely the green walnut jam. The author of the article indicated that they first learned about walnut jam from the “Mouneh” cookbook by Barbara Abdeni Massaad, which is an extensive guide to traditional Lebanese preserves. The report describes in details the visit to Anjar and specifically to Madeline Nercisian Shkherdemian, one of the only 3 women in town who prepare the jam for selling and market consumption. Shkherdemian, sadly, pointed out that this year the already-rare jam will be in even shorter supply as the harsh winter has affected the green walnut harvest.  
Shkherdemian, described the whole process of jam preparation, saying that they pick the walnuts between the 25th and 28th of May each year, and use a needle to tell how ripe they are, then the green peel is removed by hand to expose the soft, inky black flesh, which proceeds to dye everything it comes in contact with for the duration of the process. Afterwards, thousands of peeled walnuts are soaked in a porcelain container for 12 days, while dumping and replacing the water each 24 hours to remove any bitterness. The walnuts are later boiled with sugar in several batches over a few days to infuse them with lip-smacking sweetness.
Source: The Daily Star 29 May 2014