Guava Jam is a low-sugar or low-honey cooked jam made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin. Pomona’s Pectin contains no sugar or preservatives and jells reliably with low amounts of any sweetener.
Servings 5 cups
Ingredients
- 4 cups strained or mashed or pureed guava
- 4 teaspoons calcium water see step #1
- ¼ cup lemon or lime juice, bottled *if guava is sweet
- ½ cup up to 1 cup honey or ¾ cup up to 2 cups sugar
- 3 teaspoons Pomona’s Universal Pectin mixed with sweetener
Instructions
- Before you begin, prepare calcium water.To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well.Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
- Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Wash lids and bands and set aside.
- Option A: Peel guavas and cut in pieces or cut unpeeled guavas in half and scoop out pulp. Place pulp or pieces in sauce pan with a little water. Bring to a boil then turn down heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until fruit is soft. Strain softened pulp through a food mill or sieve to remove seeds. Seeds are very hard and must be removed.
- Option B: Cut guavas in half and scoop out the center area containing the seeds. Seeds are very hard and must be removed. Then scoop out the rest of the guava pulp and mash if soft or puree with blender or food processor if firm.
- Measure guava pulp into sauce pan.
- Add calcium water and lemon juice or lime juice (if needed), and mix well.
- Measure sweetener into a bowl. Thoroughly mix pectin powder into sweetener. Set aside.
- Bring fruit mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-sweetener mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
- Remove hot jars from canner and fill jars with (marmalade/jam/jelly), leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims and put on lids and screw bands, tightening bands only to “fingertip tight” (until resistance is met, and then just the tiniest bit more).
- Place jars in the hot water, on the rack inside the canner. (Make sure jars are upright, not touching each other or the sides of the canner, and are covered with at least 1-2 inches of water). Place the lid on the canner, bring the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.)
- Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then, remove jars from canner. Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then, confirm that jars have sealed, then store properly. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.
Jennifer
Hi there !
First of all I absolutely adore Pomona’s pectin, it’s been by far the best in my jam adventures.
I can’t find fresh sweet guavas in my area. Can I use a frozen guava pulp instead of fresh ? Ingredients are guava pulp and ascorbic acid. Thank you !!
Shelby Collings
Hello Jennifer, that should work just fine, simply allow the guava to thaw before preparing and measuring.
Luisa
Hi! New to using pomona’s pectin, so not sure how much leeway there is with recipes. Think I could do a direct substitution with pineapple guavas or strawberry guavas and have it still gel ok?
Thank you!
Shelby Collings
Welcome to the Pomona’s family! Yes, you may use this recipe for either Pineapple Guava or Strawberry Guava (using 4 cups mashed fruit total for each recipe). We would recommend using the lemon juice for brightness in the recipe, and if you are using fresh pineapple, it will need to be cooked down before the pectin is added.
Happy jamming!
Luisa
Thank you for the warm welcome!
I did try making this with pineapple guavas (just to make sure we’re on the same page, I’m talking about the tree fruit, sometimes called fejoa, not about mixing pineapples and guavas) and while it set up fine the flavor was….not amazing, to my tastebuds. The lemon juice was the dominant flavor, and other than that it was just mildly sweet and kind of reminiscent of pear juice. My toddler loved it though!
Linda Weinstein
How many 8oz jars of guava jam does this recipe make?
Shelby Collings
It says about 5.
Suz
May I mix guava with quince? Thank you in advance for your response.
Shelby Collings
Hello Suz,
You sure can, you will certainly need the 1/4 cup of bottled lemon juice to your new recipe.