Prep Time : 10 Minutes | Cook Time : 10 Minutes | Total Time : 30 Minutes | Difficulty : Easy
Hello my lovelies! This is a recent addition to my preserving repertoire but it’s too good not to share. And it’s dead simple to make a small batch so it’s a great gateway drug to preserving. I had heard about banana jam before but had put it in the “umm that’s weird because bananas aren’t like other fruit” category. Well. I have been converted. You may (probably) have heard the story of the delicious banana toast at a recent event I went to. It inspired me to make a copycat which led me to these recipes. And once I tried the jam on it’s own I loved it! Suspend your disbelief and give it a go. I made this recipe with raw sugar which adds to the caramel sweetness. If you want a more banoffie toast experience, try using brown sugar. As you know cardamom is one of my great loves but please try cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg or other spices that you like. Cardamom adds a buttery note to the banana which is just divine. You can make this with fresh or frozen bananas. I am clearing out the banana graveyard in my freezer one batch at a time! I find that frozen bananas break down really well into a smooth mash once thawed. Make sure the bananas are properly ripe to get the best flavour.
Wash your jars in hot soapy water and rinse them with the hottest water you can. Let them dry. Put a couple of saucers or small plates in the freezer. Trust me.
In a small saucepan heat the mashed banana over a medium heat. Use a wooden spoon to smush any lumps that remain.
When it starts to bubble add the sugar and salt. Don’t accidentally add the cardamom now like I did. The cardamom can get a bit scorched in the hot sugar if you add it now.
Stir to dissolve the sugar. Turn the heat up to medium high and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so. I tried to get shots of it but it kept steaming up the camera! As the mixture is quite thick it will spit a little bit – you can use a paper towel to keep it at bay in between stirring.
It will be ready when small dollop dropped onto a cold saucer thickens nicely. When you push it with your finger it should be thick and ‘spread-like’.
It won’t form a wrinkled skin like a regular jam. Regular jam is set by the interaction between pectin (present in varying amounts in different fruits), acid and sugar. This jam is setting because we are cooking the starch in the bananas and evaporating their water. It will take at most 10 minutes to cook.
Turn off the heat and stir in the cardamom. Pour the jam into a prepared jar. You should have approximately 1 cup.
Leave the jam to cool. Now you can stop here and use the jam on the carbohydrate vehicle of your choice. OR. You can forge ahead to make the most melty indulgent toast topping ever invented.
Take half a cup of your prepared jam. And half a cup of softened salted butter. And cream them together.
That’s it. Transfer this to a clean dry jar and keep in the fridge until you use it up. About 3 hours from now. Hope you have some toast handy….
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Banana Jam + Banana Butter
Prep Time : 10 mins | Cook Time : 10 mins | Total Time : 30 mins | Difficulty : Easy | Makes : 1 cup banana jam/butter
Gooey addictive banana jam is perfect for toast, take it to the next level by whipping it into banana butter!
Ingredients:
For the Banana Jam
- 1 cup mashed banana
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
For the Banana Butter
- 1/2 cup Banana Jam
- 1/2 cup salted butter
– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients –
Equipment:
- Small Saucepan
- 2 clean dry 1 cup jars
- a couple of small dishes/saucers for testing
Directions:
Wash your jars in hot soapy water and rinse them with the hottest water you can. Let them dry. Put a couple of saucers or small plates in the freezer. Trust me.
In a small saucepan heat the mashed banana over a medium heat. Use a wooden spoon to smush any lumps that remain.
When it starts to bubble add the sugar and salt. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Turn the heat up to medium high and simmer until a small dollop dropped onto a cold saucer thickens nicely. When you push it with your finger it should be thick and ‘spread-like’.
It won’t form a wrinkled skin like a regular jam. Regular jam is set by the interaction between pectin (present in varying amounts in different fruits), acid and sugar. This jam is setting because we are cooking the starch in the bananas and evaporating their water. It will take at most 10 minutes to cook.
Turn off the heat and stir in the cardamom. Pour the jam into a prepared jar. You should have approximately 1 cup.
Leave the jam to cool. Now you can stop here and use the jam on the carbohydrate vehicle of your choice. OR. You can forge ahead to make the most melty indulgent toast topping ever invented.
Take half a cup of your prepared jam. And half a cup of softened salted butter. And cream them together.
That’s it. Transfer this to a clean dry jar and keep in the fridge until you use it up. About 3 hours from now. Hope you have some toast handy….
Cook’s Notes:
- If you don’t like cardamom swap it out for a banana loving spice that you like such as cinnamon
- Use however you would use any other jam, it is particularly good swirled into oatmeal
- These recipes can be scaled up, if you wish to make a large batch and store it out of the fridge, follow proper canning/preserving safety steps as you would with any other jam
– Keep both of these in the fridge for up to a month, because we are making such a small batch we haven’t used sterilised jars –
Adapted from the Internet.
© 2017 The Winsome Baker. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
This looks really interesting. I have a feeling ot tastes spectacular ~ especially with the cardamom! 💖
It is delicious! I put cardamom in everything – it gives this jam a buttery taste which I love – I have been sneakily having it stirred into oatmeal lately since the weather has been getting colder here 🙂
good idea with the oatmeal. I usually put the kitchen sink in my oatmeal lately. I had a few strawberries left. added them to my morning oats..was it ever good. I pop in whatever I have around! 💖
Me too – I always have some kind of fruit and some greek yoghurt – blueberries are great with the touch of banana!