Jammin'

Back when we bought our breadmaker, one of the features that the annoying salesperson chirped out to us was the jam setting. At the time, I was irritated and just wanted a moment without someone in my face to decide about the purchase, so I brushed it off as something I wouldn't need.

Flash forward 18 months when I was trying to think of handmade christmas presents I could give to people this year. I thought of all the tropical fruit we have at this time of year and wondered if you could make mango jam. A quick google indicated that you can, and then I had a lightbulb moment when I remembered the jam setting. That sealed the deal -- we were making jam for christmas presents.

We got packets of fruit pectin that make jam from 1.5 kilos of fruit, but that was too much for the bread pan. So first, we mixed 1 kilo of chopped mangoes with 500 grams of chopped pineapple, a kilo of raw sugar, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a packet of pectin.

Then we cooked the jam in two batches. The bread maker stirs for 5 minutes.
Then it cooks for an hour.
I stirred with a wooden spoon every five or ten minutes, and then simply poured into sterilised jars.

To seal, I used these plastic covers.
The idea of boiling jars kind of scares me, and these were really simple to use.
Then we made labels for our "Pango Jam".
Of course, 1.5 kilos of fruit makes a lot of jam.
So we had extras leftover for our own use. Anyways, we had to check for quality before we give it away, right? It's good on bread.

It's good on english muffins.

So good Andy couldn't wait to get to the table before he started eating.