Q for Mistral on your Spiced Banana Jam recipe (enclosed)...

mariadnoca

Moderator
My bananas are good and ripe now, so I'm thinking of making this, but I'm not 100% on how to deal with the citrus peels. Do they come out before canning? Do you break-up the cinnamon sticks?

......

I have a good recipe for Banana jam, easy to make, tasty on PBJs especially. One person described it to me as tasting like "banana bread in a jar"-- As for the cinnamon and spices, you can leave them in it:

Spiced Banana Jam

12 cups sliced bananas (about 20 medium, you may need less; full-flavored green tipped bananas are best)

6 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups orange juice

3 strips orange peel (about 3-4 inches long)

6 strips lemon peel (about 3-4 inches long)

2 sticks cinnamon

6 whole cloves

In a large kettle, combine sliced bananas with sugar, orange juice, orange and lemon peels, cinnamon and cloves. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Boil rapidly 10 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 15-20 minutes. When jam is thick, remove from heat and ladle immediately into sterilized canning jars. Fill to within 1/8-inch of the top.

Screw caps on evenly and tightly. Invert for few seconds, then stand jars upright to cool. If jam is to be stored for long period, place jars on a rack in large kettle and cover with boiling water. Boil 10 to 15 minutes to sterilize.

Remove from water and cool. Makes about 5 pints LA Times - Culinary S.O.S.

 
Answer:

I left the spices whole, and left them in. As for the cinnamon, I had the real thick, extra "barky" looking stuff and just broke it in to smaller pieces and left it in. You want to leave the spices in pieces large enough to pull out easily after opening the jars.

I roughly chopped the orange and lemon peel and left them in. They give a tiny burst of lemon or orange flavor when you bite into one, kinda nice.

I recommend boiling-water bath canning the jam.

This jam is really good on a pbj sammie!

 
Back
Top