Mango Jam

     There was a time when my father owned a small plantation of mangoes and not a summer goes by without baskets and baskets of mangoes. Daddy doesn't sell the mangoes, so all the fruits are for our personal consumption, which means that one of our bedrooms will be filled with green mangoes for ripening. I don't remember whether we eat them all or give them away, but mama would always make jars of mango jam from the overripe fruits. But one typhoon later and all the mangoes were gone, and so was the mango jam.

     One morning I went to the market and found a fruit stall that sold overripe mangoes. I bought about 3 pounds for only P50 (a little over a dollar) and was so excited I made jam when I got home. I forgot the mango to sugar ratio mama used when she made her jam, I was thinking maybe 1:2, but I was torn whether which one was the mango part or the sugar part. In the end I added sugar as I go, so i think it was about 1 part sugar to 2 parts mango. I made about 800 ml of mango jam that filled 2 jars.

     You can have mango jam on it's own or on toasted bread or crackers. Today I had them with ibus (steamed rice cakes) and boy were they soooooooo good. Mangoes in itself is great with ibus, but mango jam was even better. 

Ingredients:

  ripe mangoes

  sugar

  salt

Cooking instructions:

  1. Slice the mangoes into 3 along the flat side of the seed.

  2. Remove the flesh by spoon the flesh the mango cheeks and scraping the seed.

  3. Puree with a food processor or mash with a fork. I prefer to just mash it roughly because cooking it with still soften them.

  4. Place the puree on a skillet with the desired amount of sugar and salt (I added 1 tsp) and allow to boil using medium to high heat.

  5. Stir with a wooden spoon and lower the heat as it thickens. Stir until desired consistency is reached, about 20-25 minutes.

  6. Let it cool, bottle and refrigerate.