Golden Banana Kiwi Jam

Golden Banana Kiwi Jam

Super-yummy! This tropical jam is easy to make and tastes wonderful, spoon a yellow splash of sunshine on your toast!

Note: I’ve had a chance to perfect the recipe a bit more.  Here is my best-so-far recipe, but it does make a large batch.  You may reduce it proportionately.  Please see pics below.  And if you’re looking for another tropical tasting jam, I’ve just posted my recipe for Strawberry Guava Jam or Jelly.  And this recipe has both banana and golden kiwis in it: Tropical Jam: Guava, Mango and Banana

Ingredients

20 gold kiwi (seasonally available), peeled and chopped

4 apples (I use Gala or Fuji), chopped

5-6 ripe bananas, peeled

7 T. powdered pectin

5 c. sugar

4 T. butter (reduces foam, optional)

Directions

1. Peel and chop into bite-size chunks the apple and kiwi, leaving the bananas peeled but unmashed (you can leave the apples unpeeled if you want). Add all to a large pot and heat over medium.
2. Get your canning pot full of water and get it started boiling (note: if you don’t want to “can” your jam you can make “freezer jam”- but the jam must always remain cold; if you don’t can it properly seriously nasty bacteria grows at room temp.  Also, prepare your jars – they must be clean and sterilized.  I leave my clean jars in a 250 F oven for at least 10 min to sterilize them.
3. As the fruit heats, the juices will come out.  Mashing of bananas can take place now, with a potato masher (doing it now to avoid banana browning).
4. Once it begins bubbling, add the pectin.  Bring to a roiling boil.  You might need to use the masher on the apple chunks while it cooks.  When the bubbles can’t be “stirred down” anymore, add all the sugar at once and stir it in.  If you’re adding butter, add it now.
5. Bring to a boil again and when it’s fully boiling, time it for a minute.   Remove from heat.
6. Add jam to jars, leaving at least 1/4″ head space.  Put lids (that have been warmed in hot water) on the jars and hand-tighten.  Place into your canning pot of boiling water (carefully!) and allow to boil for 10 minutes.  Remove and cool to room temperature.  I like to put the jars upside down for a few minutes, then right side up (to help with sealing).  The lids should “pop” down indicating a good, safe seal – if they do, your jars can be stored at room temp for up to a year.  If they don’t, please refrigerate them!!!! (my husband almost died once from food poisoning from one spoonful of bad jam.  seriously. ps – not my jam!!  😉
7. The jam is a golden yellow with black flecks from the kiwi, and just delicious! You can adjust the ingredients to taste.  It can be a little runny so add more pectin if you like a firm jam.

This is what the jam looks like at the beginning, after initial heating and mashing.

After adding pectin (you can see my apple chunks were rather large, I had to mash them a lot).

Jam ready to be canned.

canning jar

It is necessary to have a jar-holding tool for this step, or your fingers will get burned!

Jars upside down to improve seal.