Pawpaw farming and Value Addition: How To Make Yummy Pawpaw Jam For Use At Home And For Sale

As pawpaw farming picks pace in many parts of Kenya the fruit is becoming a little more affordable and available in our markets. Many consumers of this fruit take it raw and very few people know that you can make yummy products from the fruits such as jam and enjoy the health benefits of the crop in sweeter ways.

Though some processed products such as dried papaya and canned papaya are exported from Kenya, as a country we haven’t processed all papaya products. This is a gap in the market, bearing in mind that pawpaws grow throughout the year, which means a consistent supply of raw materials. 

Pawpaw farming and processing in Kenya

Of course most people prefer eating fresh juicy papayas in salads. Fresh pawpaw (papaya) is high in Potassium, Vitamin A and C. However, you can enjoy the sweetest products of the orange fruit such as wine, juice and jam and still have the benefit of these minerals. For today, let us look into the processing of pawpaw for jam production.

Pawpaw jam

Eating the same old red jam in bread every morning can be boring. The good thing is that you do not have to do that. You can now enjoy yummy and highly nutritious pawpaw jam.

It is simple to make and you can even sell the products and make sweeter profits. We will show you how. If you follow these steps, you can even establish a business venture in pawpaw jam processing?

Ingredients

You will need to have the following ready.

•         Ripe pawpaw fruits
•        White sugar (which you can replace with honey)
•       Citric acid

Procedure

• Choose the ripest fruits.
• Clean and rinse the fruits thoroughly to remove foreign materials that may cause contamination of the final product. Good hygienic and sanitation practices are fundamental to a successful food industry and this is one of the things KEBS will look into if you want to go commercial. Wear the correct attire: a headgear, apron, and gumboots; precisely clean and white. Maintain high hygiene throughout the process.
• Cut the fruits in halves using a clean knife, remove the seeds and peel.
• Pulp the fruits by mashing or using a blender.
• Put the pawpaw pulp in a clean heating vessel; do not add anything in the vessel.
• Heat the pulp while stirring using a wooden ladle to about 750C; stirring helps to prevent the pulp from sticking on the cooking vessel you are using. Continuous stirring is recommended for good colour.
• Add sugar in the ratio of 1:1 (sugar: pulp) and citric acid (2% of total pulp) and continue heating until you attain a temperature of 105°C.

Note: To test whether the jam is ready, put some of the ready jam on a dry container. Allow it to cool and tilt the plate. If the jam is ready, it will fall in flakes.

• Cool the jam to 68°C and fill it into clean and sterile jars.
• Turn jars upside down for a while after capping (this is for neck bottle sterilization).
• Invert the jars to normal position and knock down a little (knocking down allows the air bubble to move to the upper side of the bottle and not get trapped as this can interfere with the setting of the jam).
• Cool and allow the jam to settle.
• Label the bottle with an attractive package.
• For quality assurance and assessment send your sample to KEBS or HACCP.

Hurray, you have made your first product! You can go on to apply it on your bread and enjoy and sell to make some handsome profits.

Pawpaw farming guide for Kenya

Growing pawpaws is also easy and has numerous advantages. You can even grow pawpaws for your home use right in the backyard or even your balcony.

Pawpaw fruits and products also have a huge unsatisfied market both in Kenya and in the export market. You can make up to 1 million shillings in profits from just an acre of pawpaw every year for five years, having planted only once. Since I have been doing this for a while, I put together a guide to help you through. You can now request for it from our Resources Page.