Day 17

Sunshine… on a cloudy day.

Recipe from Nourish The Beast, aka Nancy White

What does “home” taste like to you? Is it your grandmother’s traditional holiday cake, the weekday casserole you wolfed down in record time so you wouldn’t be late to rehearsal? Spiced peaches, fragrant and sweet, served in a pressed glass dish, because they remind you of a dear departed one? Whatever our level of prowess in the kitchen today, in our hearts we hold the recipes and memories of those simple moments long since past, when our lives were orderly and somewhat carefree. A taste of home. The following is what I like to call an instant classic recipe – I first made it as a gift of Florida sunshine for friends and family back in Ohio, and now I can’t wait for the sweet golden “champagne” mangoes to come into season so I can make it again, to slather onto my homemade sourdough loaves, an even more recent food obsession thanks to the lockdowns earlier this year. I’m happy to share this simple recipe with you here.

Champagne Mango & Meyer Lemon Jam

I like sweet and tart jams, so I upped the pucker quotient of this honey mango jam by adding not only the zest and juice of two small, lovely Meyer lemons, but the pulp of a third, chopped into small, juicy chunks. You can omit the chunks and reduce the lemon quotient to the juice and zest of one lemon if you want a sweeter outcome. I also added a little spice – you can omit these if you want, but I like how they punch up the mango’s exotic flavor.

Ingredients
10 ripe champagne or honey mangoes
3 Cups organic cane sugar
1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
juice of 2 Meyer Lemons
zest of 2 Meyer Lemons
pulp of 1 Meyer Lemon (optional)

Set a small plate with four teaspoons in the freezer. This will be your test for doneness.

Wash, peel, seed and chop the mangoes. Keep the chunks as large as you’d like to see in the finished product. Alternately, you can puree the finished jam for a smooth consistency.

In a large, non-reactive pan, mix the chopped mangoes, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, lemon juice and pulp. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Cook mixture on medium low, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved, then add the lemon zest.

Continue to cook for 35 – 40 minutes.

Test for doneness by pulling one of the spoons from the freezer, loading a small amount of the jam onto the spoon, then replace it in the freezer for 1/2 minute. Pull it out and check how solid the jam is remaining. Does it coat the spoon, and stay solid when you turn it slightly? It’s done. If it is still loose and weepy, keep cooking. Test this way until it holds together but remains soft. It will firm up a little more when it cools. When done, remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

When the mixture is cool, ladle into jars and close the lids tightly. You can proceed to canning these for long term storage, or simply pop into the refrigerator, where they will keep for up to 2 weeks.

My ten small mangoes yielded just over 2 wide-mouth pint jars full.

DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE (PDF)

Fun Fact: In the 1700′s, the word mango was used as a verb meaning to pickle. For a time, anything pickled was called a mango, including peppers. This misuse of the word continued well into the 1970s in parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania, where it was not uncommon to see mounds of fresh green bell peppers labelled “Mangoes” at the supermarket. When stores carried actual mangoes, the sign would sometimes read “Fruit Mango” so as not to confuse shoppers.
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