I love jams, especially the one below. Not only does their jam tastes good, I also like their classic colours of red and white on the bottle, matched with back and white label.

I decided to make my own jam, to see how it tastes in comparison to store-bought ones.

It's actually very simple. The key ingredients are fruits, sugar and pectin (in this case, it comes from the fruits used). You just have to disinfect the jar, and put together all the ingredients to boil. The whole process takes about 30 mins, and you'll have your own home-made jams :)


Recipe: (took reference from Happy Home Baking and Cuisine Paradise)

Ingredient
(recipe yields about 1 cup of jam; I ended up with 1.5 cups =P)

100g bananas, mashed
200g frozen / fresh blueberries
230g granulated sugar
juice from 1/2 a lemon

Method:

Preparing the Glass Jar

• The glass jar used to contain the jam must be sterilized. *Sterilizing the jar: Boil the jar, and its cover in boiling water for 10 mins. Take out and wipe dry using a clean kitchen towel.  

Preparing the Jam

• Give the blueberries a light rinse. With a fork, crush the berries so that some berries are mushed up, leaving others only lightly crushed.

• Place the mashed bananas, lemon juice, sugar and blueberries in a pot or a large saucepan. Mix well.

• Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture starts to boil, skim away the excess foam or bubbles that will gather at the top of the mixture (refer to pictures above). Keep the mixture boiling for another 8 to 10 mins, stirring constantly, until there is no more foam. As you continue stirring, you will notice the mixture thickening, and there will a shine / glaze to it. This means it's ready!

• Remove from heat. *The jam may still be a bit runny, but will thicken up when cooled.

• Ladle the hot jam into the sterilized glass jar, leaving a gap of about 1~2cm from the top. Secure lids. Let cool before storing in the fridge or a cool, dark cupboard. Once opened, jam must be stored in the fridge, and best consumed within 3-4 weeks.

After-thoughts
The whole process is fun! I much enjoyed it, especially the part where I get to lick off the jam from the wooden spoon =). However taste wise, I can't quite taste the blueberry in the jam... felt that it has been overwhelmed by the flavour of the banana. Hmm... guess I'll still be sticking to my favourite brand of store-bought jam for now.

Lately, I borrowed a book from the library. An amazing woman by the name of Sarabeth actually started her business from making jam. I heard that their jam is so nice that even Oprah Winsfrey is a fan of theirs. It will my dream to try Sarabeth's jam... and I know a place that sells it in Singapore... but at $12 plus dollars, I can't bear to pay for it!  (>,<)