Sri Lanka’s Natural Fruity Gifts – Homemade Papaya & Passion Fruit Jam

We’re lucky enough to have some wonderful fruit trees in our garden including two types of passion fruit tree, five types of mango tree, three coconut trees and a whole host of passion fruit trees.

An 11-month drought from September 2016 to August 2017 was a disaster for our fruit trees and we didn’t get good crops last year.  After 1 month of solid rain our garden has come back to life and we’re enjoying beautifully juicy papayas and two types of passion fruit.  Bombarded by fruit from the sky every morning you start to wonder how to make the best of the universal gift before it goes to waste.  So, it’s homemade jam preparation time at Fire Dragon Hideaway!

Recipe for Papaya & Passion Fruit Jam

Our first batch is an equal mix of passion fruit and papaya and we’re sharing our recipe with you.  Make your own at home – it’s so easy!

We make our Papaya and Passion Fruit Jam in 3 stages:

  1.  Make a passion fruit juice syrup.
  2. Make papaya and passion fruit pulpy jam.
  3. Mix together and pop into jars.

Stage One – Passion Fruit Juice Syrup

What you need:

  • 24 Passion fruit
  • 300g Sugar
  • Water
  • 3 Sri-lankan sized limes

How you make it:

  1. Cut the passion fruits in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds into a saucepan.
  2. Add equal volume of fresh filtered water to the saucepan.
  3. Add the lime juice.
  4. Add 300g sugar and bring to the boil on a low heat stirring regularly.
  5. Leave to simmer for about 30 minutes.
  6. We then strain this mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and any lumpy pulp.  If I was making the jam just for us I would not strain the mixture because I enjoy the crunchy texture of the seeds.  However, most kids don’t like seeds so for the guest house we remove them.
  7. Set aside the mixture in an airtight container in the fridge until the next day.
  8. You should be left with a liquid that looks almost like a thick fruit squash and has a sweet and tart taste to it.  The passion fruit smell is absolutely beautiful.

Stage One (B) – Preparing the Pulp

  1. Next you want to prepare the passion fruit casings to make the jam the following day.
  2. Place all the passion fruit casings into a saucepan and cover with water until you have about an inch of just water at the top of the pan.
  3. Add the juice of one sri lankan lime and then toss the entire lime into the mixture.
  4. Place on a medium heat and boil for about 1 hour until the pulpy remains inside the skins puff up and become soft enough to remove from outer layer.  They will darken in colour.
  5. Remove the pan from the heat and cool until the entire mixture can be placed in an airtight container in the fridge and stored overnight.

Stage Two – Making the Passion Fruit & Papaya Pulpy Jam

What you need:

  • 700g sugar
  • 1 large papaya
  • Cooled passion fruit skin mixture
  • Filtered Water (about 12 cups)
  • Juice of 4 Sri Lankan-sized limes or lemon equivalent

How you make it:

  1. Take the cooled passion fruit casings out of the fridge.  Take a teaspoon and scoop out the pulp into a blender and ensure all the skin is removed.  Blend for about a minute to ensure the mixture is as smooth as possible.
  2. Pour the blended pulp into a clean saucepan.
  3. Skin and remove the seeds from the papaya and chop into 1cm cubes.  Place the cubes in the same blender and mix for about 30 seconds until the mixture is smooth.
  4. Pour the blended papaya into the same saucepan as the passion fruit pulp.
  5. Add the sugar and water and stir.
  6. Then add the lime juice.  (The more citrus you add, the more gelatinous the jam becomes.  We prefer to make more of a fruit puree style of jam as it tastes lovely and you can also use it in smoothies, to top cheesecakes or to make a quick passion fruit and papaya croissant!)
  7. Place on a low heat and bring to the boil slowly.  KEEP STIRRING so that the mixture does not burn on the bottom of the pan.
  8. As the jam cooks you’ll want to take a metal spoon and scape off any scum from the surface.  If it’s not clear, scrape it off.  You’ll want to do this several times during the cook.

Stage Three – Mix, Cool & Store

  1. Once the mixture is boiling, pour in the Passion Fruit Juice Syrup you made the day before.  Bring the mixture back to the boil and leave it to simmer for about 15-20 mins (it will be bubbling away).
  2. When the jam has clearly thickened turn off the heat and leave to cool.  Make sure it is covered so that you feed only humans rather than any feasting flying insects!
  3. Next you want to wash your jam jars and lids in washing up liquid, rinse them and then boil them in a large pan of water for about 20 mins.
  4. Remove the jars and lids from the pan and leave to air dry on kitchen tissue or a cake rack.
  5. After about an hour, place the jam into the jars.  We place a layer of clingfilm and then a layer of tin foil before we secure the lid because we are always using recycled jars.

Once cooled and securely sealed you can keep your jam for up to 6 months either in or out of the fridge.

24 passion fruit and 1 Papaya makes about 5-6 jars of jam.

Yummy!  It’s not too sweet and it’s very, very fruity.  100% organic, 100% vegan, 100% delicious.

We hope you enjoy it – happy cooking 🙂

 

Fruity Goodness Facts – Papaya and Passion Fruit are really good for your health

Health benefits of Passion Fruit

  • Delicious, passion fruit is a rich source of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and fiber. 100 g fruit contains about 97 calories.
  • The fruit is an excellent source of dietary fiber. 100 g fruit pulp contains 10.4 g or 27% of fiber. A good fiber in the diet helps remove cholesterol from the body. Being a good bulk laxative, it also helps protect the colon mucosa by decreasing exposure time to toxic substances in the colon and wiping off the cancer-causing toxic substances from the colon.
  • Passion fruit is good in vitamin-C, providing about 30 mg per 100 g. Vitamin-C (ascorbic acid) is a powerful water-soluble antioxidant. Consumption of fruits rich in vitamin-C helps the human body develop resistance against flu-like infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.
  • The fruit carris very good levels of vitamin-A (provides about 1274 IU per 100 g), and flavonoid antioxidants such as ß-carotene and cryptoxanthin-ß. Current research studies suggest that these compounds have antioxidant properties, and along with vitamin-A are essential for good eyesight.
  • Vitamin-A also required for maintaining healthy mucosa and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in vitamin-A and flavonoids may help to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
  • Fresh passion fruit is very rich in potassium. 100 g fruit pulp has about 348 mg of potassium. Potassium is a major component of cells and body fluids and helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure.
  • Furthermore, passion fruit is an excellent source of minerals. Iron, copper, magnesium and phosphorus are present in adequate amounts in the fruit.

Health benefits of Papaya

  • The papaya fruit is very low in calories (just 43 calories/100 g) and contains no cholesterol; noneheless, it is a rich source of phytonutrients, minerals, and vitamins.
  • Papayas contain soft, easily digestible flesh with a good amount of soluble dietary fiber that helps to have normal bowel movements; thereby reducing constipation problems.
  • Fresh, ripe papaya is one of the fruits with the highest vitamin-C content (provides 60.9 mg or about 101% of DRI, more than that of in oranges, or lemons). Research studies have shown that vitamin-C plays many vital roles like free radicals scavenging, boosting immunity, and anti-inflammatory actions.
  • It is also an excellent source of Vitamin-A (provides 950 IU/100 g) and flavonoids like β -carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and cryptoxanthin. Vitamin-A required for maintaining healthy mucosa and skin and is essential for healthy vision. These compounds are known to have antioxidant properties; help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes. Consumption of natural fruits rich in carotenes has known to protect the human body from lung and oral cavity cancers.
  • Papaya fruit is also rich in many essential B-complex vitamins such as Folic acid, pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), riboflavin, and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that body requires them from external sources to replenish and play a vital role in metabolism.
  • Fresh ripe papaya also contains a good amount of potassium (257 mg per 100 g) and calcium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids and helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure countering effects of sodium.
  • In some traditional medicines, papaya seeds employed as a proven natural remedy for many ailments. The seeds can be found application as anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, and analgesic, and used to treat stomachache, and ringworm infections.
  • Papaya seeds are also thought to be a natural contraceptive, so beware before you tuck in if you’re trying for a baby!