blueberry jam

I am not overly fond of jam because I prefer crunchy peanut butter. I have found some peanut butter recipes on the internet but I have not gotten round to trying them yet.

I have in the past made strawberry jam and kaya. The strawberry jam was made using my breadmaker whereas the kaya was cooked using a slow cooker and then blended in a blender.

Recently, I found out that jam can be used to bake cakes and bread. This piqued my interest and I decided to make blueberry jam with the intention to use the jam subsequently to bake cakes and bread. To make the jam "heavier" in taste, I added mashed bananas.

INGREDIENTS

140g over-ripe banana (mashed)

250g blueberries (at room temperature)

230g castor sugar

grated rind from 1/2 a lemon

juice from 1/2 a lemon

METHOD

1. Mash the bananas and place them in a small cooking pot.

2. Crush the blueberries and add them to the cooking pot.

3. Add the grated lemon rind, lemon juice and castor sugar to the cooking pot and mix thoroughly with the blueberries and bananas.

4. Cook the jam on medium heat, stirring constantly.

5. When the mixture has boiled, skim away any excess bubbles.

6. Continue stirring for another 5 minutes until the mixture thickens and there are no more bubbles.

7. Remove the cooking pot from the heat. Pour the hot jam into glass bottles and secure the lids of the glass bottles.

8. Let the jam cool before storing the jam in the refrigerator or in a cool place (eg. the kitchen cupboard).

TIPS

1. Once the bottle has been opened, the jam should be stored in the refrigerator and consumed within a month.

2. If you are using frozen blueberries, let the blueberries thaw before you crush them.