Frugal Food Thursday: Mango Butter

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May (and now June!) is Mango Month here at Frugal Follies!  I have two big mango trees in my backyard, and both are filled with ripening fruit.  My challenge for myself this month is to use the mangoes to make jams, sauces, and other wonderful things.  (Such a problem, huh?)

After making and canning mango chile sauce and mango jam, I moved on to another way to save the mangoes: mango butter.  Not like the dairy stuff, but like apple butter.

Assuming that the fruit is free, making fruit butters is an economical way of saving your harvest.  It doesn't require pectin, like jam does, or any extra ingredients beyond some fruit juice.  This fruit butter recipe uses 2 cups of sugar, instead of the 7 cups that the mango jam uses.  And it cooks down to a very small amount, so you don't use as many jars as you would with a jelly or a sauce.  For me, 6 cups of chopped mango (about 15 or so mangoes) only made 3 half-pints of mango butter.

Like the mango jam recipe, I found the mango butter recipe in Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt.  The author has won many, many, many blue ribbons for her jams, jellies, and preserves in county and state fairs throughout the US.  She's now retired and shares many of her secrets for award-winning canned food in this book.  I highly recommend it!

The recipe calls for ascorbic acid crystals or antioxidant crystals.  This keeps the butter from turning brown.  You can find them at health food stores.  I bought a large bottle - hope I can find more uses for it!  If you don't want the extra expense, it can be left out - but your butter won't hold that beautiful orange color for a long period of time.

And of course, please follow the instructions of a reputable canning manual if you can the butter.  If not, keep it in the refrigerator.  It is incredibly delicious!

MANGO BUTTER
(from Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt)

6 cups pitted, peeled, and chopped ripe mango (about 15 mangoes - here's how to cut a mango)
1/2 cup strained fresh orange juice
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp strained fresh lemon juice
1 tsp antioxidant crystals or ascorbic acid crystals (buy at a health food store)
2 cups sugar

In an 8-quart pan, combine the mangoes, juices, water, and antioxidant crystals.

Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the mangoes are soft, about 10 minutes.  Stir frequently to prevent sticking.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Skim off any foam.

Press the mangoes and juice through a food mill or fine-meshed sieve.  Return the mango pulp to the pan.  Stir in the sugar.

Over medium-low heat, heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently.  Reduce the heat and simmer until thick, about 10-20 minutes.  As the butter thickens, stir constantly to prevent sticking or scorching.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Skim off any foam.

Ladle the hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.  Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth.  Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings.  Process half-pint jars in a 200 degree F water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

Makes 3-4 half-pint (8 oz) jars.

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