This is an easy recipe for pink guava jam!
Ingredients:
3 cups pink
guavas, seeded and chopped
1 Tbsp apple cider
vinegar
1 ½ cups sugar
(1 tsp salt)
This recipe is a
combination of two other recipes: Basically, I started using one and then, when
doing a last minute search, ended up finding one specifically for pink guavas –
the kind that the tree in our back yard produced in abundance this year! We were pretty happy with the results of the combined recipe, so I’m posting it
here.
Pink guavas, as we
can testify from experience, are ripe when they either fall off the tree on
their own or when they come off the tree when barely touched. When ripe, they
will be pink on the inside and quite soft. The inside pinks range from light
pink to bright pink.
Directions:
After washing the
guavas, cut them in half and spoon out the middle sections containing
the seeds. (The seeds are quite hard and
unpleasant when accidentally bitten!) Chop the half guavas into “cubes” and
measure the required quantity. (I tripled this recipe on our first try.)
Put the cut-up guava
“meat” into the blender, add lime juice and cider vinegar, and pulse until
relatively but not completely smooth. Pour into saucepan, add the sugar (and
salt, if desired) and stir until well-mixed. (I had an eager 4-year-old
assistant for this part!)
Bring the mixture to
a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The jam will be become a more intense pink at this point – and the whole house
will smell wonderful!
After simmering
for 30 minutes, remove from heat and let cool. Pour into jars and refrigerate
until use. The jam will thicken as it cools.
OR: Pour into
sterilized jars and process in boiling water for ten minutes (with at least one
inch of water over top of jars). Remove from canner pot and place on a towel,
allowing jars to cool. Listen for lids to pop, signifying airtight seal.
Note:
Last year the
guava tree in the back yard gave us about 15 guavas. One year later, we’re
“guesstimating” that we’ve harvested about 100! Very exciting! If I’d realized
the harvest was going to increase almost ten-fold, I would’ve followed the
advice given in one of the recipes I consulted: “Freeze if you cannot make jam
on the same day – a good option as guavas mature at greatly varying times.”
Making jam brought
back memories of three of my favorite people: my Mommy and my Grampa &
Gramma in-love!
I “canned” the guava jam in a less-than-professional way, recycling jam jars I had on hand, hoping the seals would reseal – just like Grampa did
during our last visit with him. I figured that whether they
truly “sealed” or not, I could keep ‘em in the fridge – just in case… But they sealed – just like Grampa’s! Sweet memories…
