Canned Mangos

We are in the midst of mango season here in Western Australia and it is no secret how much I love this time of year.  In fact I’m quite sad when it ends – it’s amazing having an abundance of ripe and sweet mangos available every week at the market at some decent prices too.  For a little while I was actually consuming them by the case. 

Case of Mangos

 Given my love of the fruit and the withdrawals I feel sometime around mid-year when the only alternative are the really expensive, not at all ripe versions they ship us from Mexico I thought I’d try canning (jarring?) some to last through the year.

I searched many websites to  find a ‘how to’ of sorts but all suggested either preserving in a sugar syrup or other chemical(?) preservative.  I decided I’d give it a go without hoping that the sugar of the fruit would be sufficient to keep them from turning brown.  I can’t comment on how well this will work out as it’s only been a few weeks but I wanted to document the process I used anyway.

Canned Mangos

Mason Jars with sealable lids (the ones with the pop up part in the middle, usually come with the jars)

Big pot to cover jars with water

Mangos

Water

Pretty simple list of things needed.  I bought a pack of 6 small canning jars which came with the appropriate lids. 

These are the steps I followed:

Boil the jars in the pot of water to disinfect (can also be done in a dishwasher if you have one)

Disinfecting jars in boiling water

Chop up the mangos and squeeze the juice from the rind (thanks for this trick Neil)

Chopped up bowl of Mangos

Fill jars with mangos/ mango juice as much as possible

Filling up the jars with the Mangos and juices

Top up with water (ensure you get all the air bubbles out, I used a spoon to stir them out)

Filled jars ready for lids

Tighten lids on

Place sealed jars into the pot of boiling water

Let ‘cook’ for 20 minutes (ensure that the seal has formed on the lids)

Pretty easy and pretty tasty (I’ve tried two of the jars already as the seals popped the next day).  A few things I would recommend are to get the large mangos and ones that are a little bit on the firmer side (still ripe though).  I used about 2.5 of the little mangos per jar and by the time I was done really didn’t look forward to cutting up another mango.  A lot of juice came out of squeezing the pit and rinds which I just added to the bowl.  I’m pretty sure the natural sugars will be sufficient to keep them from turning brown though if they do it doesn’t mean that they’re bad just a little oxidized (also the reason to ensure that the entrained air is kept to a minimum).  I’m excited to see how they hold up.  Will update when I do.