Are you ready for some more jam?

So...here is the next installment of jams that I have experimented with.  Spiced Blueberry Honey Jam...the name says it all...if there were a smell button on this blog, you would know that this is a fragrant jam that has delicate yet complex flavors that make it very unique! 

Spiced Blueberry Honey Jam
from the Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen coarsely chopped bluenerries
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup liquid honey*
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 pouch liquid fruit pectin

* Use local honey if available to support your local beekeepers (and add the flavors of your local flora).  If you don't have access to local honey, be sure to use organic or high quality honey that is not cut with corn syrup.

Directions:

1. Place blueberries, sugar, honey, lemon juice and nutmeg in a large stainless steel saucepan.

2. Bring to a full boil over high heat and boil hard for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Remove from heat and stir in pectin.

4. Ladle into hot jars and process for 10 minutes in your boiling water canner...follow directions for your canner for processing jams.

Enjoy!  This recipe yielded four 8oz jelly jars.  

Sugar Free Blueberry and Peach Jams

So continues my quest for jam perfection!  Along with the large amount of blueberries I purchased a few days ago, I also made a trip to the Farmer's Market and bought some beautiful peaches.  I decided to experiment with my bounty and made some beautiful and tasty sugar free jams!

First off, being diabetic, I am always looking for an alternative to sugar.  I have found what I consider the golden child of sugar substitutes!  Xylitol is an all natural sweetener derived from fruits and vegetables.  It has little to no effect on my blood sugar and it substitutes 1 to 1 for sugar in most recipes.  I love it because it has no weird aftertaste and it is all-natural.  I order my xylitol online.

Although xylitol works as a great sugar substitute, I was not sure how it would work in jam.  When making jam, you usually add pectin....of course you can cook down the jam without pectin, but this takes much longer and I just don't have that kind of patience!  Store bought pectin has added sugar to help with the gelling and the preservation of the jam.  This creates a dilemma when using a sugar substitute.  I have read that it is possible to make jam using pectin and sugar substitutes but most recipes recommend doing this as a freezer jam.  I was interested in doing canned jam so I did a little research on making sugar-free jam and found this wonderful product...

 

Pomona's Universal Pectin is wonderful!  Use it for making low-sugar, no sugar added, and sugar free (using sugar substitute) jam.  You can use any kind of sugar substitute including splenda, stevia, xylitol, and honey.  The pectin is easy to use and just has one extra step that is different from other store bought pectin.  I purchased this at our local natural foods store, but I think you can order it online as well!

So...here is the recipe I used for my sugar free jam.  I halved the suggested recipe in the Pomona's insert and made half batches of each blueberry and peach.  The recipe listed below is for the half batch.

Sugar-Free Jam (using xylitol)

Before you start jamming, prepare the Pomona's Pectin Calcium Water following the directions in the box insert.  The calcium water is shown in the picture above, it keeps for months in the fridge and you only use a small amount per recipe, so you will only need to do this step once. 

Ingredients

2 cups mashed berries or peaches 

2 tbls lemon juice

3/4 cup xylitol (use less or more depending on your taste)

1 teaspoon Calcium water (for blueberry jam) or 2 teaspoons calcium water (for peach jam)

1 teaspoon Pectin powder (for blueberry jam) or 1.5 teaspoons Pectin powder (for peach jam)

Directions

1.  Prepare canner and jars.

2. Measure fruit and place in a large stainless steel pot, add lemon juice.

3. Add calcium water and stir well.

 

 

4. Measure xylitol in a separate bowl and add pectin powder, mix well.

5. Bring fruit mixture to a boil.

6. Add xylitol/pectin powder to fruit mixture and stir vigorously until pectin is dissolved.  

7. Return to a boil and boil rapidly for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

8. Fill hot jars with 1/4" headspace, seal with lids and boil in boiling water canner for 10 minutes.  Follow your canner recommendations for processing jams.

 

I filled 4 oz jars, since I don't eat a ton of jam, these sizes work better for me (and they make the cutest gifts!).  I yielded three 4 oz jars of peach with a little left over and four 4oz jars of blueberry with a little left over.  They taste amazing!  I am pretty darn proud of myself being that this is the very first time I have experimented with sugar free jams!

We're jammin, jammin...

I haven't posted in several days because I have been elbows deep in produce and spending lots of time with my canner.  My poor hubby is beginning to think he has been replaced by the steamy, hot dates I have had with my Presto.  In the last few days I have canned beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and thanks to the season's bounty at the farmer's market and some beautiful blueberries (on sale!) at the local natural foods grocery, I have have begun experimenting with jams and conserves. 

So over the next few posts I figure I will update ya'll on what jam/conserve recipes I've been experimenting with!  Starting with....


Maple Blueberry Conserve with Walnuts from The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving
 (this book is great for someone who is new to canning, or for someone who routinely gets small batches of produce!)  The recipe below is for a single batch.  I doubled the recipe and got about four 8oz jelly jars out of the recipe.

Ingredients

  *Make sure you get all of your ingredients together before you start working.

2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins (I left these out)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp each: ground allspice and ginger

Combine blueberries, water, maple syrup, and lemon juice in a medium stainless steel saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes or until fruit is tender, stirring occasionally.

Stir in sugar and raisins.  Return to boil, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, until mixture will form a light gel, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  I heated it to 220 degrees F.

Remove from heat and stir in walnuts, allspice and ginger.

Ladle into hot jars and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner (follow your canner's instructions for canning jams and conserves) 

Makes about 1 1/2 cups if using the recipe above.


I tasted the conserve before canning it and it tasted so yummy!  This particular recipe has a little too much sugar for me, but hubby will love it and I think it will make great gifts!  We have not broken open a jar yet, but hubby can't wait to make pancakes this weekend and use this as a topping!  Yum! 

Who can blame me for having Bob Marley's "Jammin'" stuck in my head for the last few days....