We opened one of the last jars of my mom’s guava jelly this morning. That makes it a special morning.
It’s marked in her handwriting.
Guava Jelly
22 May
H
My mom’s been gone since January 2013. The last guava tree died of inattention during her final years at home, when she could no longer get out to water and prune and fuss over the plants.
The jar is dated 22 May. Year unknown.
I opened the top and flipped out the wax that she poured into the top to seal it from the air. The seal did its job.
The jelly is wonderful, a deep rich red color, almost black. And the taste is just as deep and rich. Amazing that tastes can bring back vivid memories. My mom in her tiny kitchen, boiling the guavas for hours, then hanging the mush in cheesecloth to let the raw juice drip through, then back to the stove with sugar and what-all, cooked to just the right jelly stage before bottling. And then the joy of another batch of fresh jelly to consume.
When the guava crop was good, there were too many fruit. She would cook and freeze the juice, to be pulled out during the off-season. Little was wasted, although the birds did get their share.
My sister was the keeper of the recipe and the process after my mom died. Now she’s gone, and I’m left with the recipe. And it’s a recipe that started when my mom was studying food and nutrition in the home economics department at the University of Hawaii in the 1930s. Her recipes changed over the years as she figured out that the chemistry of modern ingredients was different, and tried to adjust for those effects. So to say this is a time tested recipe would be an understatement.
I guess it’s time to plant another guava tree and give this a try.
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How wonderful to have this gift from your mother. You know how pleased she would be to see you enjoying what she made herself.
I have a bag of guava’s in the outdoor freezer. Never made jelly before. Waiting for inspiration. My Grandmother made guava jelly and mango chutney. We have her chutney recipe, but not her jelly. I guess some things you just have to figure out. Thank you for reminding me about them.
Awesome! What a nice, sweet story.
who will be the future honorable holder of The Recipe?
Would you share the recipe? I’m an avid home canner (thanks to the influence of my maternal grandmother who made the most delicious home preserves and pickles).
My mother learned guava jelly making in the same UH school of home ec kitchens that your mother did. I tried her recipe a couple of years ago with reasonable success. However, I cheated and used a jelly thermometer. I know that my mother did not have one so I am sure that she used one of the tricks like dropping the juice on a cold spoon to see if it is cooked enough to jell.
We did not have a tree but when the season rolled around my mother would give my sisters and I a pillow case and send us into the Manoa mountains with instructions not to come back until it was full. A few hours later we would return with it all red and dripping.
Great story!
Your description of your mom making the jelly brings back memories of my mom doing the same thing. She also studied food and nutrition in the UH home ec department, a few years after your mom.