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Marvelous Mangos

By Cheryl Forberg, RD
Image of Mango Jam
Since we’ve moved to a farm and started growing our own food, I’m constantly learning new ways to preserve our harvests. I’ve dehydrated bushels of figs and tomatoes. I’ve grown and dried my own herbs. I’ve canned gallons of tomato sauce and we’ve even made wine.

My favorite though, is making jam from our berries. It’s so fun to pull out a jar on a cold morning in the dead of winter and taste the freshness of summer blackberries from our yard. But some summer days, I need really fast and easy ways to preserve our abundance.

This is a super easy jam recipe that doesn’t need to be canned. It would probably hold up well in the freezer, but ours has never lasted that long.

This works well with pears and apples, too. But today, I have too many ripe mangoes. There’s no pectin, and just a very small amount of sugar, which I rarely use. I like the addition of the sugar though because it caramelizes towards the end and lends a truly scrumptious flavor to this favorite at our house. Hope you’ll love it too!

Minute Mango Jam
Well, it’s more than one minute, but it’s quick and easy. Like any recipe, the quality of the result is a product of the quality of your ingredients. Buy the best mangoes you can find and be sure they’re perfectly ripe. This will disappear quickly, you may want to make a double batch. This is fabulous on toast, hot cereal, stirred into yogurt, over ice cream, or just plain.
Makes about 1 quart (4 cups)

Ingredients:
Image of ingredients
5 perfectly ripe mangoes, about 1 pound each
2 limes, zested and juiced
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla (or dark rum if you prefer)

Instructions:
Image of peeled and diced mangos
Peel and dice mangoes in ¾ inch dice. There will be 6 to 7 cups. Transfer to a 3-quart saucepan (preferably nonstick).
Image of diced mango in a pot
Add lime juice, zest, sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The jam will have thickened but will still be syrupy. At this point you want to stir continually so it won’t burn as the syrup begins to caramelize.

When the jam is thick and the syrup just starts to darken, it’s done. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla (or rum). There will be about 4 cups. Transfer to clean jar/jars. Refrigerate.

Nutritional analysis for 1 two tablespoons serving:

Calories 45
Calories from fat 0
Total fat 0 g
Sat fat 0 g
Trans fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 0 mg
Total Carb 11 g
Dietary fiber 1 g
Total sugar 10 g
Protein 0 g
Vit A 10% RDA
Vit C 30% RDA
Calcium 0% RDA
Iron 0% RDA
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