At boarding school, Remaniammama (one of mum's elder sisters) had sent across a bottle of banana jam. Frankly I'm not a fan of mashed banana's but, at boarding school anything and everything home-made was Good to Go. That bottle of jam was like manna from heaven. I remember having it for breakfast, tea, dinner and as a late night out of the bottle snack with anything we had in our stock. Since my stock of bananas right now is over ripe, and having baked three banana cakes, the option I had was to make bottles of jam. I referred to the recipe given in Joy of Desserts, tweaked it a bit to suit my preference.
Ingredients:
Bananas - 1 1/2kg
Brown Sugar - 3 1/2cups
Lime - 5
Water - 1 1/2cups
Vanilla Essence - 3tbs
Cinnamon Powder - 1tsp
Brandy - 1/4cup
Into a large pot, mix in water, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon powder, and the juice of the limes. In a moderate heat, bring the mixture to a syrupy consistency. Add the mashed bananas and cook for about 25-35minutes over low to medium heat. Just before taking it off the flame add the brandy, let it cook off. Put into jam bottles, cover and seal once cooled.
