DIY - Eat

Sweet Potato Banana Butter

November 22, 2011

The making of Sweet Potato Banana Butter has become somewhat of a tradition in our house each fall and is absolutely heavenly on freshly baked bread.  This recipe is from the book Simply Homemade Food Gifts and was requested by a friend this year who said, “You are making that butter stuff again this year, right?!”  Well, yes, of course I am!

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds of sweet potatoes
  • 2 medium, ripe bananas
  • 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup honey
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Process:

  • Peel the sweet potatoes and cut off the woody portions and ends
  • Cut into quarters and cook, covered, in enough boiling, salted water to cover for 15-20 minutes (or until tender)
  • Drain and allow to cool slightly
  • Place drained sweet potatoes in a food processor, cover and process in a Food Processor until smooth.  Add the bananas and process again until smooth
  • In a large saucepan stir together the sweet potato-banana mixture, brown sugar, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, ginger and nutmeg
  • Bring to boiling, then reduce heat.  Cook, uncovered, over very low heat for about 30 minutes (or until very thick) stirring frequently
  • Place the saucepan in a sink filled with ice water to cool the mixture.  Spoon mixture into storage containers.  Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Notes:

  • This recipe will make 4 half pints of butter
  • I triple this recipe each year.  This years batch gave me 12 1/2 pints and 2 full pints.  Bonus!
  • Unfortunately, this butter is too thick and cannot be preserved via water bath or pressure canning to the best of my knowledge.  It will, however, keep in the fridge for up to three weeks.
  • If you don’t have a food processor (mine died, not sure why), you can do small batches in your blender after it’s all cooked up.  It takes forever, but will still get the job done.
  • This recipe, along with the Cranberry Chutney, make great, simple gifts and seem to make people very happy 🙂  I like to give them out before Thanksgiving so they can enjoy them with their meals over the long weekend.  I also give a pair to each dinner guest/couple on Thanksgiving Day.

ENJOY!!!

xoxo,
M
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10 Comments on “Sweet Potato Banana Butter”

  1. This actually CAN be canned. I left about 1/2 inch head space & processed in a water bath for 10 minutes. Looked a little funny when I took the jars out; but everyone loved it; so I’d say canning success!

    1. just to clarify – the “looked a little funny” means it looked VERY thick & clumpy when I took it out of the water bath; but, it was fine once it cooled down. It did appear to thicken it up a little bit more; but not to the detriment of the recipe or taste. Just opened a jar of it that has been sitting since the beginning of December when I made it & it’s fine.

  2. Pingback: Mother of a Hubbard Do You REALLY Know Sweet Potatoes?

    1. That is an excellent question! I have never frozen it, but I would guess it would freeze well! It may darken in color a bit upon defrosting, but I bet the texture would still be nice. If you freeze some, please come back and let me know how it goes!

  4. Oh my…not sure how I missed this. Looks delicious and we were just saying the other night how we’d like to make our own gifts like this to give out this season. I will be making this soon! Thanks!!!

    1. Remember it is NOT canning safe. So for gift giving, add it to your holiday baking, and make sure the recipients know to use it before it goes bad and keep it in the fridge. From above: “Unfortunately, this butter is too thick and cannot be preserved via water bath or pressure canning to the best of my knowledge. It will, however, keep in the fridge for up to three weeks.”

  5. Jody – You’re welcome! It’s so good! I’ve always had success giving it away 🙂

    Malay-Kadazan girl – You’re welcome! I hope to plant sweet potatoes for the first time in the garden next year and will be SO happy to make this recipe with homegrown potatoes!!! Happy gift making!

  6. This is the first time I know about this butter! Thank you so much for sharing. I keep this in my list for things I will like to try to make when we harvested our sweet potato. This will make a very wonderful gift end of this year.

  7. We’ve definitely got lots of sweet potatoes for a great recipe like this. Thanks for the great holiday gift idea!

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