Banana Passion Fruit Jam Recipe

Hey, if I title the post appropriately, maybe Google will find it!!

Well lookie here... QT is making good on her word and posting a recipe for Banana Passion Fruit Jam!

You may (or may not have) read my ramblings a couple-days ago about my neighbor's Passionflower Vine, and how I attempted to pick enough fruit to make jam-making worthwhile.

I did end-up gathering a big bowl-full, but - as I suspected - they didn't yield much in the way of "usable" fruit. So I figured I'd stick with the Banana Passion Fruit Jam idea.

As I'd mentioned previously, I really couldn't find ANYTHING recipe-wise for Passion-Fruit Jam. And even the Banana Jam Recipes I found were kinda lacking. So yes, I "winged-it!" Scary territory for me since I really don't "invent" recipes as a rule.

I basically started with reading/adapting several different Banana Jam Recipes; Stuck with the 5:1 Ratio of Bananas to Passion Fruits (from the ml/gm recipe site I found earlier); Determined that Bananas have lots of pectin (so I didn't need to add any); Decided that the "blandness" of the passion fruits really *did* require add'l sugar; And figured that the whole thing was probably pretty "low-acid" (and would have required Pressure-Canning - something I *can't* do); so I added Key Lime Juice to acidify it.

And, since I'm attempting "Traditional Jamming" (as opposed to Freezer Jam), I figured I'd stick with (:::GASP:::) Real Sugar!

:::Deep Breath::: Here goes!!!

QT's Banana Passion Fruit Jam

Yields appx 7 x 1/2 pint jars of jam (and a whole lot of dirty dishes!)

• 1 cup Passion Fruit guts
• 5 cups Mashed Bananas (neither green, nor overripe - but "just right") (I think it took 10-11 bananas to make 5 cups mashed)
• 1/2 cup Key Lime Juice (I used Nellie and Joe's bottled - from the grocery store)
• 2-1/2 cups Sugar
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract (the "real stuff" - not "vanilla flavoring" - ICK!!)
• 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon (I think you could easily double that)

Slice open the passion fruits and scoop out the innards with a spoon. Each fruit seems to yield appx 1 tsp of innards.

Peel and slice the bananas. Put 'em in a bowl and mash 'em up with Lime Juice (prevents them from browning and acidifies the mixture). I started out by pouring appx 1/4 cup of Lime Juice in the bowl, then slicing some of the bananas, mashing it up, added more bananas, mashed some more, then kept drizzling Lime Juice as I was adding the bananas...

Add the passion fruit innards to the mashed banana/lime juice mix and stir it up.

Put 2-1/2 cups of sugar in a large pot with half a cup of water. Heat it up, stirring constantly, til it turns into syrup. Put a lid on the pot and let it cook for a couple of minutes (so any sugar stuck to the side of the pot will easily scrape into the syrup mix).

Add the Banana Passion Fruit mix to the Sugar Syrup in the pot. Cook on medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. I think I cooked it for appx 20 mins. It's "done" when you can scrape your spoon across the bottom of the pan and it leaves a "line" that doesn't fill back up immediately (you can see the bottom of the pot for, maybe, half a second. I attempted to photograph it below!)

Once it's nice and thick, remove it from the stove and start filling your (heated) jars with the mixture. Leave appx 1/4"-1/2" headspace in the jar.

I just ran my jars/lids through the "Sterilize/Heated Dry" Cycle in my dishwasher and filled 'em while they were still hot.

Put the jars in the canner and process for appx 25 minutes.

Okay, in my case, I used a Steam Canner - which is not an "Approved" method of canning - but I can't generate enough heat on my (ceramic cooktop) stove for a proper water bath (I've tried!!!), and I don't own a pressure canner. The 25 mins is "just a guess" since I couldn't really find any guidelines - anywhere - for how long to process Banana Jam! So here is where the requisite disclaimer kicks in: I am not responsible for you making yourself (or your friends/family) sick if you follow my instructions! I am not a chef, nor a professional cook, so if you choose to take my advice - you do so at your own risk!!!

If you do happen to have a water-bath canner, by all means use it! If you have a pressure canner - better still! And if you can find anything, anywhere, that tells how long to "process" Banana Jam - please let me know and I will gladly update my post!!!

Okay... Pictures!

Big Bowl o' Passion Fruits

Close-up of icky Passion-Fruit Guts

Appx 1 cup of Innards

Mashin' the Nanners!

Starting the Sugar Syrup

Mashed-up Nannas and Passion Fruits, starting to cook...

Starting to thicken!

It's done when you can drag your spoon across the bottom of the pot and leave a visible line behind...

Filling the sterilized jars

Jars going into the canner...

Processing the jam in the Steam Canner

The Steam-Canner has tiny holes on the sides of the lid (near the base of the lid). When you see an 8-10" plume of steam coming out, the jars are "processing" and you start timing at that point. I let 'er cook for 25 minutes from the point that it was really steaming...

The MOST important part of jam-making!

Sampling the leftover pan-scrapings.

Deeeeee-lish!

So the jars are cooling now. I'll let 'em set for 24 hours and I really-really hope that they sealed up properly (I'll take the rings off, tomorrow, and make sure the lids are solidly stuck-down). If not, I'll probably re-process them tomorrow - using the steam canner on my Cajun Cooker (propane cooker dealy-bobber)...