Guava Jam

Deliciously fruity, tropical, sweet, and so incredibly aromatic, this quick and easy guava jam recipe is sure to bring a lot of flavor to your kitchen adventures. It makes a great jam / fruit spread alternative, or can be used as a sauce or even as a cake topping (but more on this later...).

The somewhat unusual flavor of the jam also makes for a lovely treat to share with others. I made little jars for friends and neighbors because it was too good to keep all to myself :)

I have to admit, guava is one very mystifying fruit to me. If you've never tasted it before and if it's not native to your country, here are my observations:

When perfectly ripe it smells unbelievably good (if you like the smell, of course!). Just placing it on the counter can fill the entire house with its "perfume". While cooking and caramelizing (like in this jam recipe), guava smells even more incredible -- how that is possible is beyond me. Fruit magic.

In short, walking past a ripe guava at a shop and not grabbing some can be a challenge for those who fall for its siren call.

But then you taste it... and meh!!

I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact it's not native and is imported unripe here. Maybe where you live you can enjoy fresh guava off a tree, but being honest here I've yet to sample a guava that actually tastes flavorful. How can something that smells so good taste so mediocre?

But don't give up on it just yet if your guava isn't all that potent. Played up right, especially in baking recipes where it's sweetened, I find that its aroma and delicate flavor bring a lot to the table. That's why I love this jam so much. It brings out the best in guava: its unusual tropical flare and fragrance make this a very special treat.

And if guava tastes good to you, even better. I'm sure this jam will be all the more delicious :)

I was recently gifted a ton of super ripe guava. My sister-in-law couldn't pass it up at the shops...

I've had some great adventures and misadventures with guava in the past. Some things came out successful. My favorite recipe to date using guava is a special raw vegan cheesecake recipe you'll find in my book Unconventional Treats. And some things were a complete disaster. I'm talking about the first time I bit on a piece of guava not knowing that you had to remove the seeds. Ouch!

Or the time I thought it would be nice to juice, following my successful experiment with juicing quince -- another aromatic but not very flavorful fruit -- but nope, the guava simply did not co-operate and made a slushy type puree instead... Not to mention the seeds damaged my juicer. Double ouch. Those seeds are trouble, I tell ya!

This time I wanted to try something different. My sis-in-law made a nice jam with it, and I decided to try out my own version, which I am sharing here.

You can use it as a typical jam / spread on toast. You can use it as a sauce or garnish. But perhaps the best use for it yet is as a chocolate cake topping. Surprising. Unusual. Incredible. Those were my impressions when I gave it a try. Honestly it's lovely. Sort of like a tropical spin on Sacher Torte.

If you wanted to give something like that a try, pick one of these chocolate cake as a base (or your own favorite recipe) and top it up with this guava jam. The fruitiness and slight tartness combined with rich chocolate is an unexpected pairing that you won't be likely to forget.

• My go-to favorite gluten-free vegan chocolate cake (I recommend topping it with a chocolate ganache in addition to frosting with a bit of the guava jam to play up the chocolate flavor even more)
• Gluten-Free Vegan Sacher Torte (you can swap the traditional apricot filling for guava jam)
• You can also give it a go on one of the no-bake chocolate cakes, like this one (a blog reader favorite), though as I've not tried that yet so I can't report on the results fully. But I imagine it would be spectacular.

If you give it a go, do share in comments on how you liked this combo.

Quick tips for making this guava jam:

The guava needs to be very ripe to work well here. You'll know it's ripe when the fruit turns yellow (and loses all its shades of pale green), has a mild softness to it, and its aroma is at its peak.

Given that flavor depends greatly upon the fruit you use (there's no way to standardize that!) you might need to adjust the flavors a little to your liking:

You can adjust the tartness of the jam a bit more once you blend the jam by adding a bit more lemon juice or a pinch more salt.

If you're worried the jam will be too sweet for you, cook it with only ⅔ of the maple syrup required. You can always add the remaining ⅓ cup to the food processor at the end.

Last but not least, no doubt that by de-seeding the guava before cooking you lose a bit of the fruit which gets discarded along with the seeds. If you want to, you can rough chop and cook it with the seeds in and then press the contents through a sieve to catch all the seeds. I find the ease of de-seeding ahead of time more appealing, but suit yourself. Just don't blame me if you happen to bite down on a hard seed please ;)

Guava Jam

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

A delicious tropical-flavored guava jam or sauce that's quick and easy to prepare. Maple-sweetened.

• Author: Audrey @ Unconventional Baker
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 2 cups
• Category: Jam & Sauce
• Method: Stove Top
• Cuisine: Dessert, Breakfast
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

• 2 lbs fresh ripe guava
• 1 cup maple syrup
• juice of 2-3 lemons (I used 2 juicy meyer lemons)
• 1/16 tsp salt

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Instructions

1. Wash the guava fruit and cut them in half. Remove and discard all the seeds (can use a spoon to scoop them out). Rough chop the remaining guava into pieces.
2. Place in a small sauce pan with tall sides. Add all remaining ingredients.
3. Cook on medium-high for 20-25 minutes (depending on how thin / thick you'd like it; the longer you cook it the thicker it will get). During the last 5 minutes of cooking stir the contents with a fork, mashing up larger pieces of fruit into a chunky puree and making sure the jam doesn't burn (if need be, turn down the heat a little if things are browning up a bit too much). Once done cooking, remove from heat and allow the jam to cool off thoroughly.
4. Transfer the cooled off jam into a small food processor and process into a fine puree.
5. Transfer to a glass jar and enjoy! Store the jam in the fridge (it will keep for weeks).

Keywords: Guava Jam Recipe (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Refined Sugar-Free)