Lanikai Tea Room: Mango Season

Contrary to what those on the mainland may think, there are four seasons in Hawaii, just not the normal - spring, fall, summer and winter. Mango season is recognized as one of the four Hawaiian seasons along with North shore swell, South shore swell and Humpback whale.

Here in Lanikai it is Mango season! Following the Hawaiian tradition, many of the gardens in our historic neighborhood have fruit trees. The biggest fruit tree to be found is the mango tree. Even better than having your own mango tree is having a friendly neighbor with a mango tree. When the fruit is ripe there is plenty to go around.

Tom and Nara have a large tree that is over 40 feet tall and 60 feet wide. There is a bumper crop this year. Mike, their tenant, has been collecting fruit with a long pole for the past couple of weeks. Every few days he puts several dozen mangoes on the wall with a "Free Mango" sign painted by his five year old son.

We decided to save some of Mango season 2009 for the dark cold days of Humpback whale season. Well, maybe not dark and certainly not cold, but a bit of mango in January would be nice.

We decided to try a mango jam recipe from Preserving The Taste, by Edon Waycott. Edon is a long time friend who lives in California. Her book (just one of her many wonderful books) is currently out of print. We are lucky enough to have an autographed copy.

So, on with the jam recipe.

The first step is to peel and cut up the mangoes. We use the "porcupine" method. Slice each mango lengthwise next to the flat pit. Make a grid of cuts just to the inside of the skin and then invert the mango to reveal the "porcupine".

Add two cups of sugar to about four cups of mangoes. We use Natural White Maui Brand Cane Sugar. It has a true sugar cane flavor.

Add three tablespoons of fresh lime (or lemon) juice.

Stir and let sit for about three to four hours. This is when some magic happens. Even without heat the mangoes begin to soften and release their moisture.

Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. The amount of time for this stage is variable. It depends on the amount of moisture in the fruit, the amount of natural pectin and the mysterious jam goddess. We did not let the first batch go long enough so we have six jars of "Mango Syrup". The mango syrup has great flavor that will be put to good use on pancakes and over ice cream, but it is not mango jam. With more mangoes from our generous neighbors, we made a second batch. This time, we increased the cooking time enough for real JAM!