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.
- Wash jars, lids, and bands. Place jars in canner, fill canner 2/3 full with water, bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and keep jars in hot canner water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small sauce pan; cover and heat to a low boil. Turn off heat and keep lids in hot water until ready to use.
- 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.
- Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals; lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks
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.