How to Make Banana Jam

Do you like jam? Do you like bananas? Get ready to be happy!

When it comes to eating bananas, my family is annoyingly inconsistent. I’ll buy a bunch and they’ll be gone in two days, while another bunch will wither and turn brown. We ended up with a large number of bananas sitting in the fruit bowl yesterday, past the point where anyone would possibly eat them, and I probably would have mashed them and put them in the freezer for later if my husband hadn’t happened upon this: a recipe for banana jam on FOOD52.

What? Bananas can be made into jam?? I’d never heard of this! I’ve never really been a fan of jams, jellies, marmalades, or anything like that, but I suspected that I might like this! So first thing this morning, I made it. 

I think my bananas were on the small side, and since six of them were under the estimate of 20-22 ounces called for in the recipe, I added the good parts of one more, to bring it up to exactly 22 ounces.

After cooking the mixture for ten minutes, it really hadn’t seemed to thicken at all, so I raised the heat a little bit, which brought it to something approaching a slow boil rather than a simmer, and cooked it for five more minutes, at which point it had thickened a bit. It still wasn’t the consistency of jam, but I was hoping it would thicken up a lot while cooling.

I ladled it into containers and let it cool in the fridge for a couple of hours. Based on what I licked off of the ladle, it was tasty!

The good news? It tastes AMAZING. Seriously. I cannot possibly oversell this. I had some on toast with creamy peanut butter, and it was absolutely delicious.

The bad news? Even after cooling completely, it was not very thick. This was what the recipe said:

Continue to cook at a steady simmer—stirring occasionally—for about 10 minutes, until slightly thickened. 

And I had done exactly that, but “slightly thickened” is pretty subjective. Had I not cooked it long enough?

Then, I noticed a link near the top of the recipe, a little article where the author expands on the recipe a bit. And it contained this bit of info, which would have been helpful in the actual recipe:

Cook over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until a spoon starts to leave a trail in the pan.

I commented on the recipe post about what had happened, and the recipe’s author, Emma Laperruque, suggested that I put it back on the stove and cook it some more. So I did just that with about half of what I’d made, but I kept the other half as is. It’s more of a sauce, and it will be absolutely delicious on yogurt, pancakes or crepes, ice cream, or maybe as a filling in some kind of pastry. It would also taste great with a little cinnamon.

As for the half that I put back into the pot, I ended up having to cook it for another 18 minutes before a spoon began to leave a trail.

Now that it’s cool, it definitely has a more jam-like consistency, and still tastes like banana, not caramel. In Emma’s article, she makes it clear that she’s avoiding a long cook time, but I had to cook mine for about 30 minutes to get it thick enough (I knocked off a few minutes from the total time since it had to warm back up from being fridge-cold).

But other than the cook time, it’s a great recipe, and I think I’m going to make some almond scones to spread it on!

Do you like bananas? Do you like jam? Get ready to be happy! Click to Tweet