Making Fuyu Persimmon Jam

I decided to give making persimmon jam one more try. It's been about two years since the last time that I made it when I added pectin to the recipe and wound up with a solid block in my canning jars of some unrecognizable jam.

I have done some research and found that persimmons are quite the starchy fruit and as such do not require pectin to set in jam form.  I picked up a couple of pounds of the Fuyu type which are the crunchy apple-type eating version. They have a squatty size rather than their counterpart is more shaped like an acorn and requires that you wait until they get completely mushy inside before eating them.  (I purchased some of those also and will post a recipe for a jam using that type as well.)

Fuyu Persimmon on the left
 and Hayachi on the right!

This is a really simple recipe but will require a bit of time for the fruit to cook down. I like the floral taste of the jam but it was missing something and added some honey to make it perfect. 

Fuyu Persimmon Jam

2 lbs Fuyu Persimmon
1 cup sugar
1 T. honey
1 T. bottled lemon juice

Preparation and Cooking: Peel and dice persimmons. Add persimmons to a saucepan and add 1 cup of sugar and cook down on medium low until the persimmons are soft enough to mash.  Mash the fruit and it will become thick in the pan. Add the honey and bottled lemon juice and heat till honey is incorporated. Jam should be thick.  Remove from heat.

Filling the jars:  Using your funnel in each jar ladle the mixture into the jars leaving 1/4" headspace. Taking a clean paper towel wet it with warm water and wipe the rims of the jars removing any food particles that would interfere with a good seal. Using your magic wand extract the lids from the hot water and place them on the now cleaned rims. Add your rings to the tops of each of the jars and turn to seal just "finger tight".

Processing: Place the jars in the water bath making sure that the water covers each of the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add hot water to the canner if it doesn't measure up. Cover the pot and turn up the heat under the canner and wait for the water to start boiling. Once the water has come to a boil start your timer for 10 minutes. When complete turn off the heat and remove the cover and let the jars sit for another few minutes. Remove the jars and place them back on the dishtowel in a place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them till the next morning.

Sealing: Sometime in the next hour your jars will be making a "pinging" or "popping" noise. That is the glass cooling and the reaction of the lids being sucked into the jar for proper sealing. Some recipes may take overnight to seal. Check your lids and reprocess any jars that did not seal.

Labeling: Make sure to label your jars after they have cooled with the name of the recipe and the date canned. If you want to use the shrink labels in the picture you can order them Here!