Papaya Jam

Papayas transport me whenever I see them, smell them or taste them… they take me back to the very first time I visited Hawaii – I just fell in love with them!

Once I returned home, I found myself on a quest to find them, and guavas… the guavas weren’t that easy to find, but the papayas were!  But then I found myself coming across (3) different kinds of papaya, on a pretty regular basis – The Strawberry Papaya, which to me had an intensely sweet, tropical flavor — almost like there was guava mixed in there too; the Hawaiian Papaya, which was much more tart, and less sweet than the Strawberry Papaya — more like pineapple was part of the flavor profile; and the Mexican Papaya, which besides being HUGE was the least sweet of all of them, but with a milder flavor… more like oranges and bananas were part of the flavor profile.  All VASTLY different… all good.  I couldn’t choose which one to use, so I blended ALL THREE!  The smells in my kitchen while I was making this were out of this world!  And the flavor; I really love blending the three varieties; such a full, layered flavor experience — I’m really proud of this one!