I'm seeing the signs of spring and summer all around me these days, most notably in the arrival of fresh berries. Recently, I found a bunch of strawberries at a very good price and bought a bunch to make jam. Traditional jam uses lots and lots of sugar and while that can be good now and then, I do prefer the low sugar varieties that allow the flavor of the berries to come through.
To make a low sugar strawberry jam you will need:
- 4 Pounds of fresh strawberries, washed & hulled
- 1 Cup of unsweetend apple juice
- 1 Box of Powdered Low/No sugar Pectin (very important that it be for low/no sugar)
Using a potato masher, crush the berries one layer at a time in a saucepan, add your apple juice and pectin, stirring well. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Ladle the jam into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" headspace and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes for those at elevations up to 1,000 feet (add 5 minutes for every 2,000 feet). Remove the jars from the canner and allow to seal. Store in a cool place and enjoy!
If you don't want to process the jars in a canner, you could immediately refrigerate the jars, instead.
This recipe will make between 5 and 7 half pint jars full of jam. The same measurements could be used with other berries as well.
This is perfect! I looked everywhere for a natural, non-splenda, non-garbage, non-whatever recipe for low sugar strawberry jam two weeks ago and found nothing. Consequently, I made my own that turned out okay, but I may try this one next time for comparison. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI tried this, exactly as directed, and got runny jam. I hope it sets up after a while in the freezer (since I didn't can it). Next time I will try to add more pectin. I used concentrated apple juice instead of plain apple juice as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you got runny jam, but I followed it too and everything set up just fine for me. Concentrated apple juice has more sugar than regular apple juice and when it cooks that sugar will melt and I'm willing to bet that it would interfere with the low sugar pectin... I could be wrong, of course.
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