mango jam problem

[Berti]

in the april issue of home farmer magazine is a recipe for mango jam and chutney.
I made both.

the mango jam has a problem and I don't understand what is wrong.
I did everything as the recipe said, cooked till mango was soft, and then started testing for set.
even after half hour fiercely boiling still no set .........after an hour, starting to set but NOT wrinkling when you push it on the saucer...
I potted the jam in hot jars from the oven, sterilized lids on, upside down and let cool.

today I tried some for lunch on my sandwich
when you take it out of the jar its gluey, thick and hard to spread, and the fruit has hardened in the jar while it was soft when done boiling.
whats wrong with this.

and a warning on the chutney!!! unless you like it H O T, do NOT use FOUR chilies!!
now stuck with three small and one BIG pot HOT mango chutney which I hope, keeps well.
condensation inside glass jar lids a problem?

I wondered if it had something to do with me NOT having a jam pan yet, but I used a BIG shallow pan so I thought it would be fine hmmmmmm anyone??

[greenorelse]

I doubt that mango has much pectin in it, though I could be wrong. Thus the set test wouldn't work. More experienced people than I might chip in but my initial reaction is you boiled it too high too long, turning the sugar to toffee, sort-of.

The key thing is, what does it taste like? If it's not horrible, surely you can still eat it?

[MKG]

Like greenorelse, I, too, thought mango was low in pectin, but your chutney very obviously has an excess - so I did a bit of nosing around. Apparently mango peel is very high in pectin, but it's in a form which doesn't normally lend itself to extraction. There is research going on at the moment into this very problem, which is that the mango pectin doesn't appear to behave as pectin should - although it's still there.

So - did you perhaps peel your mangoes very thinly (i.e. too thinly)? And have you discovered the perfect extraction method whereby the pectin only kicks in as it cools? Unfortunately, the only way to find out is to repeat your recipe but stop the boiling process at the "signs of setting" stage rather than the "wrinkling" stage.

If that works, you're way ahead of the research and should be in for a fortune

Mike

[Berti]

excuse me.
it was mango and LIME jam. 4 limes and 900 grams mango, 900 grams sugar.

[oldjerry]

Bottom line,whats'it taste like?.. many of our chutney/jam disasters still taste pretty good,and if it's only bought stuff that you can compare it with in terms of set/consistency etc,remember that's likely to have all sorts of weird stuff added to it.The 4 chillie concoction sounds damn good to me.

[Berti]

hmmm I am not too happy with how it tastes.........when warm it tasted much better (when testing) than it does now.

[Green Aura]

I have no idea how to rescue it as jam, but if it tasted good warm I'd trying warming a bit of it up and see if it still tastes better that way. Voila! Home made pie filling. The fruit might be softer when it's warm too.