Paw Paw Jam is made from the largest native fruit in North American. 
What is Paw Paw Fruit?
I don’t know if you have ever heard of a Pawpaw, but today I will introduce you to the largest native fruit in the continental United States. It may also be the weirdest looking and oddest tasting fruit we have. It grows wild in the Southeast and the fruit can sometimes grow to be a pound or more. It can also grow to be pretty ugly and the fruit, once ripe, does not last long before turning a wonderful brownish/black.
What does Pawpaw fruit taste like?
The flesh on the inside is orange in color with a custard like texture and a few large seeds in the middle. Once you bite into one you will be deciding on what kind of flavor you are experiencing because it tastes like a cross between many things. Mango, peach, papaya, banana and maybe a few more. It truly has it’s own unique flavor.
I was gifted a couple of bags of ripe Pawpaw’s so I decided to try my hand at making some Pawpaw jam. So if you are lucky enough to come across about 10 pounds of this native fruit, try this pawpaw jam recipe. I think it would go lovely on some homemade biscuits.
How to make pawpaw jam
- start heating the water bath canner to bring to a boil. It will need to be boiling to process the jars of jam and seal them
- Keep sterilized jars, lids and rings simmering in a saucepan of hot water
- To make the pawpaw puree, peal the pawpaw fruit and cut the fruit into chunks and then smash into a puree with a potato masher.
- In a large, heavy saucepan, add the pawpaw puree and water. bring to a slow boil, stirring, careful not to scorch
- bring mixture down to a simmer
- cook for 10 minutes, remove from heat
- Add the rest of the ingredients. stirring well to combine
- return to heat & simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently
- fill pint or 1/2 pint jars with the mixture leaving 1/4 inch headspace
- wipe rim and place lids and rings on the jar
- place the jars in the water bath canner, making sure the tops of the jars are covered with an inch of water
- bring back up to a boil and process in boiling water 10 minutes
- remove jars from water and let cool
- check for a proper seal after 24 hours. When the jars seal you will hear a “ping” sound and the middle of the jar lid will be drown down.
Other popular jam recipes:
Pawpaw jam
made from the pawpaw fruit, pawpaw jam has a unique flavor and is easy to make
Ingredients
- 4 cups pawpaw puree
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 TBL low sugar pectin
Instructions
-
start heating the water bath canner to bring to a boil
-
Keep sterilized jars, lids and rings simmering in a saucepan of hot water
-
In a large, heavy saucepan, add the pawpaw puree and water
-
bring to a slow boil, stirring, careful not to scorch
-
bring mixture down to a simmer
-
cook for 10 minutes, remove from heat
-
Add the rest of the ingredients
-
return to heat & simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently
-
fill pint or 1/2 pint jars with the mixture leaving 1/4 inch headspace
-
wipe rim and place lids and rings on the jar
-
place the jars in the water bath canner, making sure the tops of the jars are covered with an inch of water
-
bring back up to a boil and process in boiling water 10 minutes
-
remove jars from water and let cool
-
check for a proper seal after 24 hours.
Don’t forget to pin to Pinterest
Your pawpaw jam recipe looks great, but it calls for twelve (12) cups of brown sugar. Is this correct?
Oh my goodness! That would be sweet wouldn’t it! It should be 1/2 a cup of brown sugar. I went back and fixed it. Thanks for letting me know!
Is it one box of low sugar pectin?
1 box of pectin has 3 TBL. I just measure out 1 TBL.
Our trees are full of pawpaws so I’m ready to make jam. You say you used a
tbsp of pectin but I don’t see it in the recipe. When did you use it? Or did you
decide not to and just cooked it down?
So sorry about that. The recipe deleted it. It is 1 TBL spoon low sugar pectin. I have added it back in.
How long does the jam last? I know paw paws have a short shelf-life, so I’m curious about the shelf-life of a jam.
I don’t see any pectin in the recipe.
So sorry about that. The recipe deleted it. It is 1 TBL spoon low sugar pectin. I have added it back in.
In the absence of available pectin I used half a Granny Smith Apple and it came out perfectly.
I liken this jam to English mincemeat, I’m going to make small pies with it.
This recipe calls for 1 tsp vanilla as well as 1 Tbsp vanilla – ?
Oh my goodness. Yes it does. I went back and fixed it. It should be 1 tsp.
Can you please tell me what did you do about the seeds? There is so many of them?
I had so many pawpaws that I just cut the flesh around the seeds and used that.
Why does Kallee ask about pectin? I do not see it in your recipe.
So sorry about that. The recipe deleted it. It is 1 TBL spoon low sugar pectin. I have added it back in.
What is a TBL
Tablespoon
Did you test for Ph to be sure this is safely canned? I want to can it, but I want to be certain its safe. Thanks
I do not test the PH of it. It is safe to can with the water boiling process, cooking the mixture and adding the sugar.