Mango Jam.....Homemade!!!

Guam has mango trees galore!! And when it's mango season, like right now, we have so many mangeos they are literally falling on the ground. We can only eat and give away so many. But when we do harvest we find no shortage of recipes using our mangoes.

Fresh mango jam is one such island favorite and here is how I make it...

Here is our mango tree. This one tree provides us with more than enough mangoes for our needs.

These are the flowers that will eventually turn into mangoes.

And here are some of the mangoes hanging on the lower branches.

This is just one mornings pickings. All these came from the ground. Gotta be early or the chickens and wild pigs beat you to them.

Lupe slices the meat off of each mango and preserves it. There are layers of mangoes in this freezer.

Here is the basic recipe and directions...

Ingredients: 

• 40 ounces of fresh mango chucks, pureed
• ½ cup of mango juice
• 6 hot peppers (optional)
• 1 pkg. of Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin
• 1 envelope of Knox Original Gelatine
• About 1 cup of sugar (to taste)

Directions: 

1. I pureed the cut mango pieces in the blender (Ninja Blender does a fantastic job);
2. Then I cook the mangoes in a non stick pan over medium heat, stirring constantly;
3. I add in the pectin and continue to stir until it dissolves well;
4. I bullet blended the ½ cup of mango juice and gelatin with the hot peppers and stir this to the mixture;
5. I then add in the sugar incrementally, to taste. I ended up adding about 1 cup of sugar. I didn’t want the jam too sweet;
6. I cook this for about 10 more minutes while it boils (still at medium heat) stirring constantly. You will see it start to thicken up;
7. Then I turn it off and pour into canning jars and refrigerate. As it cools, it really starts to thicken up.

Mango puree cooking.

All jarred and ready for chilling.

That's all there is to it. And once the jam sets up in the refrigerator, it is the perfect consistency.

Make this and try it out yourself. I think you will love fresh, homemade mango jam.

Until next time....