During the warmer months, we generally see quite an abundance of fruit and berries at our local farmers markets and grocery stores. It can be incredibly tempting to buy a bit of everything and, by the time you unpack everything at home, you realise that you need to consume all these fresh items before they go bad! The good news is that you can make a number of delicious treats with these fresh fruits, including jam! Whether you have a selection of fruit that you’d like to mix up or you simply have a few different fruits and you want to use them before they go bad, you can follow this easy mixed fruit jam recipe.

Ingredients:
– 2 apples (peeled, cored, and chopped)
– 2 bananas (peeled and chopped)
– 2 oranges (peeled and chopped)
– 6 plums (peeled and chopped with seeds removed)
– 4 cups of seedless black grapes (unless you don’t mind removing the tiny seeds from regular grapes)
– 6-8 strawberries (chopped)
– 1 full pineapple (peeled, cored and chopped)
– 1 1/2 cups of sugar or more if preferred
– 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
– Prepare your fruit and measure out all of your ingredients before you begin.
– Place all of your fruit in a blender and blend them together until you get a smooth puree.
– Place the puree and the sugar together in a pan and cook it all together on a medium heat while stirring continuously.
– When the mixture starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and allow it to simmer until the mixture thickens. Stir regularly.
– Once you notice the puree start to thicken into a partially solid jam, you can add the lemon juice.
– Stir the mixture very well to make sure that the lemon juice is properly blended.
– Continue cooking on a low heat until the jam thickens some more and remember to stir regularly.
– The final part of the cooking process (after adding the lemon juice) usually takes about an hour and a half. Remember that you should take your time and don’t try to rush it by turning up the heat!
– Sterilize your jars and lids ahead of time. Allow the jam to cool down somewhat before filling your jars. Warm the jars up a bit with hot water before adding warm jam. This will prevent the glass jar from cracking due to sudden temperature changes.