This homesteading adventure is quite the learning experience for us. There are a million different things that we still have left to learn but one of the skills that seems to be essential is canning. Homesteading seems to have different sets of rules that people make up based on what they know, then a bunch of ways to wing it. I bought my husband a book on homesteading for Christmas and he found that no one seems to agree on any one way of doing things. From how long to keep your eggs to how you do your canning, it seems like people do what works for them and you know what, I think that makes perfect sense!

I read that canning can be done via a very expensive pressurized canning system or a boiling water bath. On the flip side, I have met people who can simply by immediately covering their jars full of boiling food. Meat is one of those things that needs to be canned a certain way and acidic foods seem finicky, but so far, fruit seems to be going simply for me!

Since I am a very big fan of bananas, I needed to try my hand at banana nut jam. Banana nut jam is not something that I can find in store so it was up to me to come up with something delicious to feed my craving! In the past, I’ve used it for tart pastries and toast in the morning but honestly, I can eat this stuff straight from a jar at any point. My kids wanted to eat the full jar immediately but I needed to try my hand at canning and this was the perfect first canning recipe!

Without further ado, please enjoy one of my absolute favorites, a hit in our household!

 

This recipe makes one pint canned and a little bit extra to use immediately.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup chopped, crushed walnuts
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon pectin
4 bananas
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

(Also, I warmed my jar on 250° in the oven before use.)

 

Directions:

1. Place bananas, nuts, lemon juice, and pectin in a pot to boil.

2. Stir in the sugars, spices, and vanilla. Keeping boiling for about a minute or two, while stirring.

3. Pour into your jar while boiling, leaving about 1/4 inch of space. Immediately put the lid on. You can put it into a boiling water bath for 10 minutes to ensure seal. When you hear the ‘pop’ and see that your lid is now flat, you likely have a good freshness seal!