Papaya Jam with lime is one of my favorite fruit tropical jams. The lime lends the papaya fruit a lovely aroma, which you will surely enjoy. Spread the jam over your bread for breakfast and enjoy.
Learn how to make a papaya jam. Get the complete papaya jam with lime recipe below with step by step instructions to guide you along the way.
We have been growing a little garden at home with fruit trees and herbs. We have Papaya trees and they are in full bloom giving fruits.
Papaya Trees In Bloom
We noticed our few papaya trees have been growing wild. Thanks to the little birds that have been eating the papaya and spreading seeds across our our humble paradise garden.
Few people do know that fruit trees are actually female or male. You can tell the difference between both by the way the flowers bloom.
A female papaya tree grows its flowers on the stem while the male grows flowers on branches. See picture…
Once the female tree has been pollinated by insects, the papaya fruits slowly emerge. Only the female papaya tree gives fruits!
I have been meaning to make a good batch of papaya jam with papayas growing in our garden.
If you are lucky enough to have an extra load of homegrown papayas then go ahead and try this papaya jam with lime recipe asap. The recipe turns out great too, of course, if you use quality store bought papaya fruits.
What do you need to look out for when preparing papaya jam and how will your homemade jam turn out well?
The fruit quality choice is very important for the perfect homemade jam.
That means using organic, non treated limes in this papaya jam recipe is a essential. The skin of the lime is used to give the homemade jam some natural pectin (and of course the lime lends the jam a lovely refreshing aroma)
Lime skin, and citrus fruits in general, contains lot of natural pectin, which helps in gelling the jam so to preserve it far longer, naturally.
Another step, to make sure that your homemade jam holds well without getting moldy, is to always work in a clean and hygienic environment! (Check out my recent tips on keeping your kitchen clean at Kitzine.com)
Also, the amount of sugar helps in the preservation, as does the cooking and rolling boil process.
At the end, just before filling your jars, make sure to sterilize the jars and lids in boiling water. Sterilizing will get rid of any germs.
Ensure you keep a pot with water to boil and place your washed jam jars into it for a few minutes.
Just before closing the lid, pour a small amount of rum into the lid, to kill remaining germs and to give your papaya lime jam a longer shelf life.
I always store my jam in the fridge once opened, simply because I live in a very humid climate and I would suggest you to do the same thing, so that you can completely enjoy your homemade jam.
Papaya Jam with Lime Recipe {without pectin} – How to make papaya jam below:
- 1 kilogram or 2.3 lbs Papaya pieces
- 600 grams Sugar 1.4 lbs (I use Sugar cane)
- 3 Limes
- To prepare the papaya cut into half and quarter and scrape out and discard the seeds and strings with a spoon. Cut and discard the peel as well. Cut the Papaya into one inch sized pieces.
- Place the papaya pieces in a bowl and add the sugar, juice of the 3 lime and the previously washed lime skins. Mix the content, cover with a lid and keep for 12 hours or more in the fridge. Stir the content every few hours.This will help the fruits to incorporate with the sugar better. If you are in a hurry, you can skip that step.
- After the fruits have been resting, place everything into a pot and cook on low heat for about 25 minutes. Keep on stirring frequently!
- Increase the heat and bring it to a rolling boil (lot of bubbles and foam are an indication). Remove from the heat.
- Test if the jam is set by dropping some jam on a cold plate. If the jam runs, it needs some more cooking time.
- With a sterilized clean spoon and masher, pick out the lemon peels and mash the papaya. I like to have a few fruit bits left in my jam for some texture.
- Prepare your jars and lids by sterilizing in boiling water and pour some rum into the lid. Place your jam into the jars, close and turn them upside down for a while. Store in a cool and dry place!
More decadent easy to prepare at home Jam Recipes:
- Tropical Mix Fruit Jam
- Mango Jam with whole Mangoes
- Homemade Persimmon Jam
- Pineapple Jam Recipe
- Caribbean Banana Jam
I love to spread my jams over homemade brioche buns or Indian Chapati flat breads for breakfast!
Or how about adding a dollop of jam to your daily fresh yogurt bowl?
Dear reader, do you grow your own fruits and vegetables?
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Oh Helene, how exquisite! Yes, we grow our own fruit and vegetables, but they are really suffering in this heat!
Hey Helene, I’ve never even thought of making jam from exotic fruits like Papayas as they are so expensive over here, but I bet that jam tastes truly divine.
Janie x
Gosh, I’d love to be able to get locally-grown papayas! They’re available here, of course, but a bit too expensive for homemade jam – it’s much cheaper it buy the commercial stuff. Fun recipe, though – someday I should just damn the expensive and make this jam!
My Mom grew beautiful papayas and she made amazing dishes with it. And I never ate them because I can’t stand this fruit. Such a shame, because this looks gorgeous and I am sure is a feast for all papaya lovers. I am going to save the recipe and pass it to Mom, she is going to love it!
How very interesting to learn about papaya, a fruit my parents love. It’s so sweet in India.
This jam is so interesting and I’m quite intrigued. I am gonna try making it sometime when I am in India, my parents will love it.
This jam combo looks fantastic, definitely beating marmalade 😀
Cheers
CCU
G’day Helene and what an unusual combination, true!
Spread the word and wish I could come through the screen and try some right now too!
Cheers! Joanne YUM!
My next door neighbours have two papaya trees. They rarely eat the fruit so maybe I’ll make jam! I love making jam.
What a fantastic way to use up your papaya. I would love to try this jam. 🙂
Wow, I’m in the habit of making (and eating) all types of jam but it had never crossed my mind to use papaya. Love the recipe!
I’m with Azita – I’ve made lots and lots of different types of jam, but never papaya. I love it and the lime sounds perfect for the flavor of papaya! Great jam Helene!
Wow Helene! That jam looks so awesome and why didn’t I ever think of a papaya jam! Very creative and delicious indeed.
Wow! I never thought of jamming papaya and I am a jam fanatic! What a wonderful recipe. Now to find some papaya!
hi!
I have made papaya lime jam today, it came out well but having a bitter taste. could u pls help me why is it so.
I suppose you used the same sugar and fruit amounts as described in the recipe. Did you taste the papaya fruit before using it, was it sweet or maybe a bit bitter? These days not every papaya fruit tastes sweet and the same. Did you cut close to the papaya skin? It happened to me too that when cutting papaya, I cut it to close to the skin so that the hard light yellow part is on the fruit and that part is bitter. Also it depends which lime you used, did you use the same once as shown in the pictures or bigger lime? If the lime are different, more intense in flavor (compared to common regular lime) or bigger, then I suggest to reduce the amount used in this recipe. Best is to taste the jam before filling it into the jar and then you can always add a small amount of sugar if there is bitterness, which is usually not the case. Homegrown fruits are often much sweeter and less bitter. Also, the jam didn’t burn at the bottom of the pot when you cooked it? A tiny amount of burned fruit while cooking can turn the jam bitter.
thank you. will give a try once more
Hi Helene : thank you for a wonderful recipe … I made a third of this recipe and it tastes delicious . And many thanks for a natural ingredient for pectin .. Am naturally wary of making jams and jellies at home coz of the artificial preservatives needed , but this is a winner all through. I shall post this on my blog with a link back to ur blog ..cheers, Kalyani
Hi Kalyani,
I know what you mean, I don’t like to use preservative and artificial pectin sugar. It kind of changes the flavor of the fruit. Thank you for your link back and for letting us know! 😀
This is the post on my blog with a link back to ur recipe 🙂 thanks once again for a wonderful recipe
Wow, this is really good
Wow this jam is fantastic…my new favorite! I was given a bunch of papayas and so went looking for what I could do with them since we couldn’t eat them fresh quick enough. I had never made jam before but decided to give it a go! It was sooo easy and so incredibly delicious!! I’ve actually made it 3-4 times already because we love it so much…even my son who hates fresh papaya, piles this stuff on fresh bread any chance he gets. We’ve also eaten it with oven pancakes…outrageous!
Hi Grace, thanks for your lovely comment. It’s great to hear that my addiction for making papaya jam has caught you. 🙂 We had the same problem, too many papayas growing in the garden and I was fed up of eating them raw. But the papaya jam really turns the fruit into a marvel by itself. I would love to try the papaya jam with oven pancakes, that would be a gorgeous breakfast! Thank you for your generous rating of the recipe and for taking the time and coming back to it. 🙂
Sorry I meant to rate this…
The Papaya jam sounds wonderful but I need to make it with Stevia instead of sugar. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Hi Patricia,
Stevia is a natural sweetener and it can’t preserve food as sugar does. Sugar sweetens and preserves and in making jam you need to preserve the fruits. A preserve can only be called a jam or marmalade if it preserves for a longer period without turning bad. So, you have one option if you need to use stevia but then it’s going to be a relish of sort, which you will need to consume within days. Also, you would need to add some sort of natural pectin, which you find in any citrus fruits such as lemon or also in green apple skin, as well as artificial pectin. I don’t use pectin in my jams so I wouldn’t know how much to use to make this papaya jam with stevia and artificial pectin. Another thing to consider is the type of fruit you would use. If you really want to try out stevia instead of sugar to make a preserve, then use a fruit high in natural pectin such as green apples, rhubarb, lingonberries etc. Basically sour fruits work best.
Why do you want to use stevia instead of sugar?
How should I cut the lime skins?
Hi Eli,
You can just cut the lime into half and throw them into the pot.
Hi Helene,
Tried your recipe today with some home grown papaya. Very simple, natural and easy and best of all delicious! Many thanks. Also I only had a few limes so I also used an old orange sitting in the fridge and it worked well:)
Eric, thank you for taking the time and leaving a feedback. I’m glad that you enjoyed the recipe and that the modification, by adding an orange to the papaya jam, worked out well. Next time I will try my papaya jam with orange too. 🙂
Hello,
Can you tell me how many cups of papaya are in a kilogram? I apologize for my ignorance.
Also, in one of the pictures it looks like key limes were used instead of p
Persian limes. Would either one work?
Thank you,
Vick
Hi Vicki, no problem. I am slowly adding to all my recipes cup and ounce measurements to make it easier for everyone.
I converted 1 kg (=1000grams) mashed papaya pulp to cups online. So 1 kg pulp should be about 4.35 cups.
The limes used are regular limes, not persian or key limes. Choose whichever lime you prefer.
How long will this keep in the fridge, if your methods of sterilization are used?
Hi Maryann,
The Papaya jam keeps good in the fridge a year easily. The papaya jam doesn’t turn bad in the fridge but the jam can get hard over time due to the cool and dry fridge environment. Keeping in the fridge is not the problem. Keep the jars outside in a cool and dry place until you open the jar (cellars can be rather humid and are a great jam storing spot). Once you have opened the jar, store in the fridge.