Mango Jam

I love fresh mangos but they are sometimes hard to find where I live. At our local store, they were selling a lot one day – like more than I have ever seen in that store. I knew they wouldn’t sell them all during the week so on the weekend I went back to see what was left. Just as I had expected, there was plenty of mangos left at a super-low price. So I went a little crazy and bought way too many. I knew they would go bad quickly so I had to do something with them. Since I was on this canning kick, they turned into jam. Perfect solution!

 6 cups mangos, peeled, cored and diced

½ cup water
½ cup orange juice
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup honey (or 2.5 cups of white sugar)
1 tsp no sugar pectin (if desired to help it “gel” up)

• In a food processor or blender, blend mangos until desired consistency. Pour mangos into a large stock pot or sauce pan over medium heat.
• Add in water and orange juice and bring to a slow boil. Stir in lemon juice and honey. Return to boiling and add in pectin.
• Cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
•  Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired. This recipe made about 6 half pint jars.

Cranberry Orange Spread

I usually create this spread over Christmas time. I love cranberries during the holidays but I always get too many. They freeze really well but I had some extra leftover that I thought I’d use up. While this spread is great for the holidays (especially to give as gifts), it is also good any time of the year. I love it on a turkey sandwich with lettuce and Dijon mustard. Serve it over cream cheese with crackers or even eat on toast.

1 20oz bag of fresh cranberries

2 whole oranges
¾ cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon

• In a food processor or blender, blend cranberries and oranges until desired consistency. We like ours with a few small chunks so we blended ours quite a bit.
• Pour fruit into a large stock pot or sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in cinnamon and honey.
• Bring to boiling and cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle spread into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.

Lemon Mint Jam

Here’s the start of week two of my canning recipes. Again – I have lots of mint. I also have a friend that is pregnant. She is still in her first trimester and is having a lot of morning (all day) sickness. Having two children myself, I know all too well about morning sickness. What my friend has found and what I knew to be helpful was lemon. Not sure exactly why the sour taste of lemon seems to calm the tummy but it does. In hopes to helping her feel better, I decided to try out this lemon jam recipe. It’s really more similar to a marmalade but it is tasty anyway! This is great on crackers or toast. My mother even put it over a cheesecake filling for dessert. You can always add more sugar or sweetener but if you make the recipe as I did, it is still pretty tart and that’s how we like it!

 

1 bag of lemons (about 12 large – you’ll end up with about 4 cups of blended lemon)

1 cup of honey (or other sweetener)
¼ cup of fresh mint, finely chopped

• In a food processor or blender, blend lemons, rind and all with the mint.
• In a large stockpot combine lemon mixture and honey. Bring to boiling and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.  The acidity in the lemons help preserve the jam and the rind helps give the jam some texture but doesn’t add a bitter taste. This recipe makes about 4 half pint jars.

Spicy Watermelon Mint Jam

I won’t lie-I was skeptically about this recipe initially. I have recently been using a lot of ginger in my new recipes I’m trying. My neighbor had brought over a watermelon and we couldn’t eat all of it; there was so much. I hated to see it go to waste so I gave this a try. I also have a TON of mint. All kinds – chocolate mint, spearmint, citrus mint. For some reason, mint is the only herb I have found that can and will grow anywhere. I first planted it a couple of years ago in my garden. It is now all over my yard in random places. By my house, in the back yard, in the front yard… all over. Anyway – I also hate to see it go to waste so this recipe was born. A little disclaimer: this is not just a sweet fruity jam. It has a lot of spice. We have served this with cheese and crackers. It is not bad on breakfast items, like toast, it’s just a little different!

6 cups watermelon (seedless), cut into chunks

½ cup water
½ cup watermelon juice
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup honey (or 2.5 cups of white sugar)
2 tsp fresh mint
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp no sugar pectin (if desired to help it “gel” up)

• In a food processor or blender, blend watermelon, ginger, mint and pepper until desired consistency. You won’t need to blend this very much as the watermelon is already soft.
• In a large stockpot combine watermelon mixture, water, watermelon juice and bring to a slow boil. Stir in lemon juice and honey. Return to boiling and add in pectin.
• Cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.

Peach Lavendar Jam

The next couple of weeks I’m trying something different. I’m going to be posting two recipes a week that involve canning-enjoy! Even though it’s quite a bit of work, I love canning. There’s something about creating something that lasts that I enjoy. I really like peach jam and I really like lavender so I thought- why not mix them?! I found some gorgeous peaches at the local farmers market and threw in some of my own lavender. This turned out great. The lavender really accents the peaches well and adds a nice little touch to the flavor. This is perfect over toast in the mornings.

6 cups peaches, peeled and diced

1 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup honey (or 2.5 cups of white sugar)
2 tsp lavender, finely chopped
1 tsp no sugar pectin (if desired to help it “gel” up)

• In a food processor or blender, blend peaches until desired consistency. We like ours with a few small chunks so we blended ours quite a bit.
• Pour peaches into a large stock pot or sauce pan over medium heat. Add in water and bring to a slow boil. Stir in lemon juice and honey.
• Return to boiling and add in pectin and lavender. Cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.
• I boil my jars, lids and rings. Then I dry jars and ladle jam in at this point. Then I put on the seals and rings and turn jars upside down to seal. Once the lids “pop” and seal, I flip back over and let cool. This recipe made about 6 half pint jars.

Also: Here's a sneak peek of some canning recipes that will be posted soon!