Banana foster jam goodness. You gotta make it!
So I was with the dilemma that we all have at some point in our time. Over ripe bananas and not sure what to do with them. Easter came and went and with all the bananas my Mother decided to buy for banana pudding we had PLENTY of bananas left over. So then I’m tasked with the difficult decision of what to do with the left ripe bananas? After 3 banana puddings in one week I was surprisingly pudding out. Sooo of to the quest of figuring out what do I want to do with these bananas? I looked up somethings to do with ripe bananas but everything was so ordinary and uninteresting at the time. I wanted something I’ve never had or seen, something new and fresh and I went straight to breakfast. I’ve been craving two things; banana foster and jam. Especially since I’ve been in a random jam mood lately. So that was the first place I thought of and decided to go both to the kitchen and hit the internet.
I came upon a couple of really good recipes I hope to make and share VERY SOON, but for now I stumbled upon a jam I couldn’t resist. I started off following the recipe with what I have i.e. the recipe calls for 3 cups of medium ripe bananas- thats roughly around 5 bananas. All I had were fully ripe bananas which worked out perfectly. Also while doing my typical silly Sam moment and not reading the directions I changed a couple steps that didn’t change the consistency nor compromise the flavor! I added two key ingredients that I add in most of my banana recipes. Cinnamon and nutmeg. I put them in almost all of my sweet recipes, you can imagine what fall looks like in my house with those beautiful flavors in your mouth.
Enough rambling from me, so here it is, banana foster jam was made! Well, kinda found here by thecafesucrefarine.com and originally came from here at the cooking channel but edited to make a delicious foster jam. Hope you enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup water
- 5 medium ripe bananas* see notes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions: From the Cafe sucre farine.com
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Combine sugar and water in a large (2 quart) microwave safe bowl. Stir gently to combine. Cover bowl tightly with plastic or cling wrap, then poke 6-8 holes in wrap to create venting. Place bowl in microwave and cook on high power for 10 minutes.
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While the sugar/water mixture is cooking in microwave, thinly slice bananas. You want 3 cups total. Place bananas in a medium-large pot.
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After 10 minutes, mixture in microwave will be just barely turning color. Continue cooking for 2 minutes at a time until mixture is golden brown. Watch carefully during these last 5 minutes. Amount of time will depend on your microwave. Mine takes around 14-16 minutes to cook to a beautiful golden brown color.
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When mixture is golden brown, CAREFULLY remove from microwave with oven mitts. Mixture will be very hot! Holding bowl away from your face, pull back plastic wrap and immediately pour mixture into pot with bananas. Do not try to scrape the bowl as there may be some sugar crystals on the edges of the bowl. Just pour in as much as you can.
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Set empty bowl aside to cool for a 10 minutes, then fill with hot water and soak to clean.
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Cook banana mixture on medium heat till bubbly then reduce heat to a constant but low simmer and cook till jam is thickened and bananas begin to break down and become translucent. This usually takes about 15-20 minutes.
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Add the salt and remove from the heat. Stir in the lime juice and vanilla. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer to small clean jars. Serve with warm biscuits, toast, yogurt, ice cream… The jam will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
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Yields about 3 cups of jam.
Sam’s Even eisier way
I followed step 1-3 WHILE doing step 6 of cooking the bananas then adding everything together and cooking on WARM-LOw for an addition 2 minutes. (They weren’t playing when they said the mixture would be hot. It’s piping.)
- You want the bananas to be ripe but not soft and mushy. They can have lots of brown sugar spots but shouldn’t be black. Don’t try to use bananas that are still green in spots. They don’t make a good banana jam
- I recommend using a high quality plastic wrap that is suitable for the microwave. Most of the name brand wraps you find in the market have been test and will be labeled microwave-safe. You could also lay a piece of parchment paper over the top of the bowl for a similar effect.
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