Fresh, homemade, and prepared from scratch, this mango jam will surely satisfy your taste buds and make your breakfast scenes easy and effortless.
If you love fresh jams, you can also try Peach Rosemary Jam and Vanilla Strawberry Jam with your favorite bread for a delicious weekday breakfast.
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About This Recipe
Mango jam is a super easy jam recipe that is made with just three ingredients. You just have to put all the three – lime juice, mangoes, and sugar in a pan and cook till you get the desired consistency, easy right!
Loaded with tropical flavors, mango jam is quick and easy to make at home. But it is very important to cook it till the right temperature so that your jam sets beautifully and is not loose like a jelly.
No pectin, no preservatives, and no artificial ingredients, this homemade recipe is fresh, healthy, and can be used in many ways.
Ingredients
You will need just three ingredients to make this delicious jam – ripe mangoes, sugar, and lime juice.
Mangoes – Ripe and firm mangoes are best to make this jam. Choose the less fibrous ones. Since mangoes are low in pectin, which is an essential ingredient needed to set the jam, we will be using citrus loaded with pectin to boost the setting.
Sugar – Sugar acts as a preservative in this recipe and also helps to set the jam. In this particular recipe, do not reduce the amount of sugar.
Lime Juice – Citrus in lime juice is rich in natural pectin. Adding lime juice to this recipe helps to set the jam without adding any artificial pectin.
If you like some variations; you can add in some ginger for a nice flavor and make a mango ginger jam. You can also make popular habanero mango jam by adding a few whole habanero chilies along with mangoes.
How to make Mango Jam?
Start by preparing 2 kg mangoes; this will be good for about 3 cups of jam. Wash them with water and wipe with a kitchen cloth. Peel the mangoes using a paring knife. Cut the flesh away from the pit and discard the pit.
Chop the flesh into small cubes (½ inch). Mangoes do not break well while cooking so cutting them into small pieces will be better.
Place the chopped mangoes, 2 cups sugar, and ¼ cup lime juice in a large pan. The jam will splutter a lot while cooking. So it’s best to use a deep pan.
Bring this mixture to a boil on high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan with a lid and cook the mixture for 80-90 minutes. Keep stirring at regular intervals. Be very careful while stirring as the mixture tends to splutter a lot and you can get burned from the warm mixture falling on you.
When the temperature of the mixture reaches 220 Degrees F, the jam is ready. The surface of the jam will have a shiny appearance once it is ready.
If you don’t have a thermometer, you can do a plate test to check if the jam is ready. Put a dish or plate in the freezer before you start cooking your jam. Once you think your jam is done or has reached the desired consistency, using a spoon, put a bit of the jam on the cold plate and tilt it vertically so that it runs. It should move forward slow, and should not be a runny mess.
Also, once you put it on the frozen plate, if it forms a skin on top that wrinkles a bit when pushed, it is done. If it is still runny and liquid, it’s not done yet.
Pour it into clean glass jars. Close the lid tightly and refrigerate for upto 1 month.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use Alphonso or Kesar mangoes to make this recipe, as they are sweet and juicy and thus, taste great when made into jam. You can also use raw mango, to make a raw mango jam. Just follow the same recipe and substitute ripe mangoes with raw mango.
A mix of sweet and tart mangoes also works great.
You can store this delicious jam in an airtight glass bottle or jar for about a month in the refrigerator. If you know how to can, you can store it for over a year.
Yes, you can follow the same process and make jam with other fruits such as apples, pineapples, strawberries, blueberries, etc. You can also use other fruits along with mangoes to make a mixed fruit jam.
One of the main reasons for the jam being runny is sugar. Sugar plays an important role in giving mango jam the right consistency and therefore if you are not using pectin, use the right amount of sugar. If you want the sugar to be less, you have to compensate the amount with pectin.
Also cooking it until it reaches the right consistency is also very important. So do not hurry up on this step.
There might be a few reasons your jam is hard. You have to cook jam at the right temperature. Overcooking it will result in a hard jam. This is a pectin-free recipe. But if you are adding pectin, don’t add too much of the same.
The right setting temperature for Mango Jam is 105 Celsius/220 Fahrenheit. Drop 1 degree of ready jam temperature for every 500 feet above sea level.
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Recipe Card
Mango Jam Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 pounds ripe mangoes (peeled and cubed)
- 2-2.5 cups sugar
- ¼ cup lime juice
Instructions
- Start by preparing 2 kg mangoes. Wash them with water and wipe with a kitchen cloth. Peel the mangoes using a paring knife. Cut the flesh away from the pit and discard the pit.
- Chop the flesh into small cubes (½ inch). Mangoes do not break well while cooking so cutting them into small pieces will be better.
- Place the chopped mangoes, 2 cups sugar, and ¼ cup lime juice in a large pan. The jam will splutter a lot while cooking. So it’s best to use a deep pan.
- Bring this mixture to a boil on high heat.
- Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan with a lid and cook the mixture for 80-90 minutes. Keep stirring at regular intervals. Be very careful while stirring as the mixture tends to splutter a lot and you can get burned from the warm mixture falling on you.
- When the temperature of the mixture reaches 220 Degrees F, the jam is ready. The surface of the jam will have a shiny appearance once it is ready.
- If you don’t have a thermometer, you can do a plate test to check if the jam is ready. Put a dish or plate in the freezer before you start cooking your jam. Once you think your jam is done or has reached the desired consistency, using a spoon, put a bit of the jam on the cold plate and tilt it vertically so that it runs. It should move forward slowly, and should not be a runny mess. Also, once you put it on the frozen plate if it forms a skin on top that wrinkles a bit when pushed, it is done. If it is still runny and liquid, it’s not done yet.
- Pour it into clean glass jars. Close the lid tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 month.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!