Guava jam is a tropical fruit preserve.
Here is how to make this jam from scratch at home.
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📕 What is it?
Guava jam is simply a guava fruit preserve.
Guava is a tropical exotic fruit. Varieties exist and you might have come across round or pear-shaped guavas.
The pulp is hard like an apple and can be white or pink on the inside. The skin is green to yellow.
🍈 Ingredients
- guavas - fresh unspolied fruits. They can be any variety. I used white tropical guavas because that's what I got at the time, you can use pinks ones too.
- sugar - regular white sugar or brown sugar.
- lime or lemon - treated without pesticides.
You can add flavors to your guava jam too as for example vanilla (vanilla bean paste added), cardamom ground, or cinnamon.
🔪 How to make it?
Here is an overview of how to make guava jam from scratch.
This is to give you an idea of what to expect. The full recipe with step-by-step instructions and the US and metric measurements can be found further below in the recipe card.
Step 1
Cut the fruits into chunks.
Boil the fruits soft, blend and take the mass through a strainer.
Step 2
Pour the guava pulp into a large jam pot with the sugar, lemon/lime juice, and lemon halves.
Bring to a boil, cook, and reduce.
Step 3
Test if the jam is set. Take out the lemon halves.
Pour hot jam into clean jars, close with a lid, and turn the jar upside down to create a vacuum.
🥣 Uses
You can use this jam as you would use any other fruit jam.
I love it on my breakfast bread or mixed in plain yogurt.
The jam is great in pastries too, used as a filling or in cakes.
Also consider giving away a jar to your family, friends, and neighbors. They will love you for it!
🍱 Storing
Pour your jam only into clean sterilized jars. That means the jars and lids need to be boiled to kill all germs Or place into the oven to kill the germs with the oven heat.
Pour the jam when hot into the jar up to the rim and close tight with the lid. Turn quickly upside down to create a vacuum.
Turn them back when you can touch the jars again or else you will have air bubbles in your jam.
Store in a cool and dry area away from direct sunlight. We keep ours on a pantry shelf.
Once you open your jar, store it in the fridge, and use it up within a few weeks.
Unopened jars will be good for about 10 months. Of course only if your fruits were fresh unspoiled and if your jam was properly set.
Also, don't dip a spoon, that you ate from, back into the jam. Or else mold will grow.
💭 FAQs
Get fresh guava that didn't get spoiled. Spoiled parts can reduce the shelflife of your jam. You can use white or pink guava varieties.
You don't need to peel your guava because they need to be boiled first. The boiled guava is then strained because of the hard seeds. So, peeling would just be an unnecessary extra task.
Lime is naturally rich in pectin, which helps in setting the jam. Most of the pectin is in the skin and to release the pectin you need to boil the guava with the lime halves. The juice adds a lovely flavor that compliments the papaya fruit.
Your jam is runny if it didn't set properly. If your jam is, runny take it back to the heat and cook it down further until set. Test if set with the help of an ice-cold plate. Drop some hot jam on the cold plate and move it around. The jam will cool down instantly and you will be able to see if it's still running or not.
Your jam is stone-hard if you overcooked it. To fix a hard overcooked jam isn't easy. You will have to take it back to the heat with some water, a small quantity to soften it again. Cook it down a bit and pour it into the jars. Use your jam within a few weeks because you had to add water at a later point and that water reduces the shelf-life because it wasn't cooked through for a long period.
You have two options and you can use either or both. Dip a candy thermometer into the cooking jam and wait for it to get to 220° Fahrenheit/ 150° Celsius. The second option involves an ice-cold plate. Drop hot jam on the ice-cold plate and turn the plate around. The hot jam will cool instantly and show its true face. If it is set it won't run, if it's running continue to cook and repeat the test. An indication if your jam is hot, is if the fruits appear translucent/glossy.
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📖 Recipe
Guava Jam Recipe
Instructions
- Rinse guava fruits to get rid of impurities and cut-off ends.3 pounds Guava
- Cut guava into manageable chunks and collect in a bowl.
- Cut lemon or lime into two.1 Lemon or Lime
- Place guava into a large jam pan with the water and boil guava soft.1 quart Water, 3 pounds Guava
- Blend guava smooth.
- Take the guava pulp through a strainer to get rid of the stone-hard seeds. Do that with the full batch.
- Take the strained guava pulp back to the heat with the sugar. Squeeze lemon/lime juice in and throw in lemon/lime halves too.3 pounds Guava, 3 pounds Sugar, 1 Lemon or Lime
- Bring to a rolling boil and then keep on a steady heat to reduce jam. When it starts to change color and it has reduced, stir because the jam will start to jump out. Stir frequently at the end when the jam is done.
- When the jam appears glossy or translucent, it might be done. Test if done, setting temperature with a thermometer is 220 Fahrenheit/ 105 Celsius. You can test if the jam is set too by dropping some jam on an ice-cold plate. If it's runny it needs to cook a little more. Repeat test until set.
- Take out lemon/lime halves and discard.
- Pour hot jam into prepared jam jars up to the rim.
- Close the jar with a lid and turn it upside down to create a vacuum. Turn it backup when the jar can be touched again to avoid air bubbles.
- Store in a cool and dry place.
Equipment
- 4-5 Jars (10z/300ml) with lids
