Canning Strawberry- Banana Jam

I was feeling inspired by the fact that I made banana-lime jam without burning it. I decided to make another jam that I really like but haven't made for a few years. The last time I made it, I quit stirring for a short while because I was distracted by something else, and it burned. I decided that one bad incident shouldn't turn me off forever.

This recipe is base on a recipe from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Cooking. This has some fun jam recipes in it. However, it was published in 1970 and still give instructions for canning with the paraffin wax method. Since this is not as safe as the water bath method, the canning instructions should be updated.


One time I made this with raspberry gelatin rather than strawberry. That was quite good. I suppose you could have fun trying it with all sorts of flavors of gelatin.

Strawberry-Banana Jam
(yield is about 8 half-pint jars)
(Printable Recipe)

6 cups mashed bananas
1 1/2 cups water
1 package powdered pectin
3 cups sugar
2 - 3 oz packages of strawberry gelatin

Combine first three ingredients. Heat to boiling stirring constantly. Add sugar and gelatin and bring to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat. Fill hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes


Read more...

Banana-Lime Jam

I had sort of lost interest in making jams that have bananas in them just because they seem to burn so easily. Then Retrogal sent me a recipe of her mother's. Naturally I was curious. I had never had a banana jam with lime in it before, so I had to try it.

It also had the interesting instructions to "boil until bananas turn pink." Well I cooked it down until it was the consistency of fruit butter, but the bananas still didn't look pink to me. I ended up deciding to change that to "cook until thick."



Of course if the goal is to cook it until it is thick like fruit butter, then I couldn't help but wonder if it would thicken faster if I simply started with less water. I didn't try it with less water, so I don't know. In any case, I definitely liked the taste.

Borneo Banana Jam
(Yield is approximately 4 half-pint jars)
(Printable Recipe)

6 bananas
1/2 cup lime juice
1 1/2 cups water
grated rinds of 3 limes
2 cups sugar

Chop bananas. Add other ingredients. Cook until thick. Stir frequently. It burns easily, so as it thickens, you should probably stir continuously.

Remove from heat. Fill hot canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Add lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

High altitude instructions
1,001 - 3,000 feet : increase processing time by 5 minutes
3,001 - 6,000 feet : increase processing time by 10 minutes
6,001 - 8,000 feet : increase processing time by 15 minutes
8,001 - 10,000 feet : increase processing time by 20 minutes


Read more...