PAPaya Jam – Homemade jam

My parents never bought packaged food when we were growing up. We rarely got home ketchup, biscuits, jams, Maggie or any packaged food. My mom made mostly everything at home. Jam was also something that we never had that was store bought. Amma always made Papaya jam, tomato jam or pineapple jam at home. And Papaya jam is something that we loved and had it with Chapathi (as breads were also a rarity ). Papaya jam has a typical smell and is absolutely appetising . Caramelised, thick and perfect textured jam is super easy to make too. You could also try watermelon jam as watermelon is in season too.

Ingredients

4 cups – Papaya, ripened

2 cups – Sugar or adjust it according to your taste

1 tsp – Lemon juice

Method

Grind the papaya pieces into a smooth paste, with minimum water required.

Pour the Papaya paste into a heavy bottom pan and start cooking it on low flame.

Make sure you keep stirring it so that it does not stick to the bottom or burn.

Cover it and cook for almost half an hour to one hour till the raw smell of papaya is gone. Do not for to stir regularly.

Once the papaya has cooked well, add sugar and give it a good mix. Sugar will melt and the mixture will get watery again but keep cooking it till all the moisture is gone and the consistency is jam like. This will take at least an hour or more.

The colour of the jam will darken and the texture will be thick.

Add lemon juice and cook it for another 5 minutes.

Cool it completely and transfer it into a bottle and refrigerate it.

Have it with bread toast or generously smear it over Chapathi and roll it up.