Guavas...guavas...and more guavas!

I mentioned that my mom bought 3 boxes of guavas from the farm. We have given away 1 box to friends and the other two we processed today. There are a few things you need for this:

A mom (you will need companionship)
Sieve
Wooden spoons
Sugar
Water
Guavas
Patience
Lots of big pots
Consol jars and lids
Place 2 clean saucers in your fridge (yes really!)

The nice thing with this recipe is that there are no specific kg's that are needed. Just follow the ratio and it works out well. Sterlize your bottles in boiling water or the oven and then leave them in the oven until you need them.



Choose green and just ripe guavas for this as the green skins have a high percentage of pectin that you need for setting. Wash them well and top and tail them.

We peeled half for stewed guavas which are so nice in my oatmeal pie and just with custard. The first part of this blog is this recipe.



Place your peeled guavas in a pot with 2 cups water and 1/2 cup sugar. Steam until just soft.



Place them with some of the syrup in the sterilized jars and then seal.

For guava jam, use unpeeled top-and-tailed guavas and boil them in a little water until just soft.



Then place them in a sieve and press them through until you just have the peels and pips left. This is a tedious job and I would have broken out in tears if I didn't have my mom to keep me company and alternate with!



Keep the pulp in a seperate pot but make sure to keep count of the number of cups you press through. We got 23 cups of pulp from all our guavas.

When you have all the pulp you need to add 1/2 the amount of sugar. In fact I did 1 cup of pulp to 3/4 cup of sugar.

Heat the pot of pulp and sugar to a gentle simmer, stirring all the time so that it doesn't catch. Another tedious part. It will start to thicken and darken after 20 minutes.



You can check whether it is setting by taking a little and dropping it onto a saucer. If it gels a little when you push it with your finger it is done.



Bottle up and seal. You can water bath them but I didn't.



We have enough jam now for many months, and it is so delicous we may even eat it on our oatmeal tomorrow.