Yesterday a truck came by, speakers blaring “mangoes 20 for a dollar”. So I bought a few bags full. They were very ripe and extremely flavorful and juicy but filled with fiber. Not a good eating mango in my opinion.
This morning I washed them up, read about 8 different recipes for Mango Jam and Jelly and decided my course of action.
The one recipe called for boiling, steaming or microwaving the entire mango. Because they are so fibrous I decided to try about 8 to see how it worked. Well after boiling for 5 minutes, I turned off the gas and dumped the mangoes into the sink and ran cold water over them until I could handle them. I peeled each mango, scraping the sweet flesh from the peel and squeezed the pulp in a strainer getting all the pulp but none of the fibers. Then squeezed the mango until I had collected all that juice as well. It looked great so I put the balance of the mangoes in my largest pot and started the process one more time.
I ended up with 10 cups of juicy rich mango purée.
The recipe is as follows:
Mango Jam
- 10 C mango purée
- 1 C water
cook this for 20 minutes in a heavy bottom pot then add:
- 1/2 C lime juice (I used limons the green small fruit found here in Ecuador)
- lime zest from the limes used to make the juice NOT the white pith
- pips in a cotton bag tied w/cotton string (this along with the juice is suppose to produce the pectin needed to thicken the purée to a jam consistency)
cook for another 5 minutes, remove the pips in the bag and then add:
- 2 C white sugar
- 2 C Azucar Moreno (Ecuadorina Brown Sugar NOT Panela the blocks of sugar)
cook this until a candy thermometer reaches 105C or 220F. You will need to stir this often during this part of the process.
Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for a few minutes and skim any foam off the top. Fill clean disinfected jars to the top, seal and let cool.
Joe is my tester and he says it is good. You know, “Oh Honey, I’m just not sure. Maybe I better try a little more?” That means it’s good!
Finding our Paradise in South America 
what is pips
Hi Joe, pips are the little seeds inside a lemon. They call them pips instead of seeds. Sorry I should have been more clear…Nancy
Ok I followd you until
•pips in a cotton bag tied w/cotton string (this along with the juice is suppose to produce the pectin needed to thicken the purée to a jam consistency)
What the heck is PIPS? and what is the cotton bag?
Hi Tom, sorry I was not more specific the term pips is used in place of the word seed when talking about fruit seeds…The cotten bags can be purchased in good kitchen stores, it is a small bag usually with a draw string that holds items that you do not want to leave in your food after cooking but you want their flavor, like pips or star anise things like that. I have not been able to find them here so I use a clean piece of cotton cloth and just tie a cotton string around it, like a little pouch. Nancy
You are one ambious lady – I need to get my kichen gadgets, bowls, etc. up to speed. One of my first priorities when we return. I think mango smooties would be great.
Audrey, Mango smoothy sounds excellent, but these were just to fibrous, you could not cut the mango it was all stringy and turned to mush.
Now I have one for you, have you ever tried an avacado smoothy? Let’s talk decadent!!! Next time I make one for Joe I will take some photos and put the receipe on the blog…easy but better than Mora or even Mango IMHO…I know what you are thinking an avacado is for guacamole or a salad wait until you taste this, out of this world wonderful!!! Nancy
Looking forward to the smoothie receipe for avacodoes – I just love all kinds of fruit and even vegetable smoothies.
Audrey, I just bought 3 big avacadoes for $1, now to get some milk and we will have that as part of our lunch today…yummy…should have a write up tomorrow. N
That looks wonderful. I am curious how you seal the jars? Or is a good twist sufficient? Do they require refrigeration?
Hi Mel, because we can not get boxes of canning jars, rings or lids here like back home and I have never seen parafin wax, I must improvise. That means I keep every single jar I can and reuse them. Those with a metal lid have a rubber seal already built right into the lid. If after you sterilize everything in boiling water you clean the rim of the jar, are sure the lids are clean and undamaged I reuse…once maybe twice. You are taking a risk but we have no canning jars here and so little processed foods like sauerkraut I need to make my own because I have not seen one can of sauerkraut in Eucador in my over two years here. I fill the jars and put them in a hot water bath just like I would do with regular canning. When you remove them from their bath allow them to sit to cool. Some jars will pop and you know that they are sealed. All the jars will have a slight indentation on the lid it will be concave. If you do not hear the pop or see the concave surface of the lid then yes refrigerate. I have been doing this now for the past 6 years and have only once had a bad jar and you knew it was bad even before you opened it. Thanks for asking, I have had to made do with what we have and what is avaiable here so I have had to be creative in my thinking…Helps the brain cells at the same time. Blessings to you, Nancy
Thanks, Nancy! I didn’t realize you could reseal those jars but that’s a pretty nifty trick!
Mel, it is not the safest thing to do but…when you have no jars to purchase a gal has to do what a gal has to do, ha ha Nancy
Awesome! I was thinking of making some spicy green mango chutney, but your post has me anticipating mango season here in Mumbai…can’t wait to make my own batch of jam:)
I was happy, suprised and humbled to see that you are reading our blog from Mumbai…I like the idea of the chutney but it needs to have the curry chicken with all the condiments…not easy to find the items to make a great homemade curry powder here so I have been depending upon my friends in the states bringing me green, red, yellow curry pastes…the jam is much sweeter than I would like, these mangoes were so sweet to start with so a little goes a very long way. Have a wonderful day, Nancy
It’s amazing how very little curry we eat here! I’ll be moving on in 4 months (not sure to where yet), so I should take advantage of all this delicious food while I can:)
I could sure use some really good Indian Curry. I love making roti and paranta, so I guess I need to make some Malasian Chicken Curry for Joe and I one day…that does sound great!!! Nancy