Jam Recipe {Freezer or Canned}

June 26, 2012/From the Garden

I was able to try out making fruit jam this week with stevai (truvia) instead of sugar. You can use this same recipe to make strawberry jam or peach jam. I chose to make raspberry. The trick is to make sure you have three (mashed) cups of whatever fruit you have on hand.  If you want to make jam with sugar, see my recipe for strawberry jam here.

Start with beautiful berries… or not beautiful as long as they still taste good. Mine happened to be beautiful and fresh.

Wash them thoroughly and take a masher to them. This is your chance to take out your aggression so really go at it.

The no-sugar recipe in my pectin box called for Splenda. I used Truvia instead using this recipe I found on Steviacooking.com.

Bring 3/4 cups water and the 1.75 box of fruit pectin to a boil.

You have to mix it up really well like you do flour for gravy.

Make it nice and smooth.

Let it boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute then add three cups mashed berries.
Stir that up nicely and let that cook for 1 more minute. Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup cloves. I’m out of cloves so I did 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Also add 1 tbsp stevia. Stir that together, pull it off the heat, then start processing it into jars. 
Don’t forget to sterilize your lids in boiling water and your canning jars. I do my jars by running them through the dishwasher with a heat dry trying to time the jars being hot when the jam is getting done. 

Someone asked me on an earlier post what the jam looks like when it’s ready. It looks like soup. It will “set up” into jam over the next 24 hours if everything goes as planned. The only thing I’d say is to follow the recipe especially how much sweetener to use. 
For freezer jam you may use plastic containers or glass. For canning you must use glass. After you’ve put your jam into containers you have the option of freezing it or putting it in your pantry. If you aren’t going to freeze it, I suggest either doing the method I use for canning jam without a canner or giving your newly made jam a boiling water bath for 10 minutes before storing it. I used a canner this week because I wasn’t able to time everything to make all my utensils hot at the same time. It doesn’t take that much longer. 
If you’ve never done a water bath… just remember to keep the water 2″ above the jars so they are completely covered. The water will evaporate as the time goes on and you don’t want the jar tops to be open to air. You will want a tool to grab the jars out of the water when they’re done… there is something called “jar lifter” sold in the canning aisle at big box stores. 
Thoughts on this recipe vs. with sugar:
1. You have to use the freezer recipe which makes a 3 cup batch instead of a 6-7 cup batch. You need less fruit, but you also get less jam. 
2. Freezer jam is incredibly easy to make…. like so easy I made two batches while making dinner and was done in an hour (not including the 10 minute water bath which happened while I was eating dinner.) 
3. With less sugar, there’s no need for butter. 2 tbsp Stevia doesn’t foam like 4 cups of sugar. 
4. The cinnamon in this recipe makes the jam. I’m sure raspberry jam is good without cinnamon, but with cinnamon it’s incredible. It’s my new favorite.
No-sugar Jam Recipe:
3/4 cups water
1 package 1.75 or 2 oz. fruit pectin
3 cups mashed fruit (fresh or frozen)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tbsp stevia 
Combine water and pectin in a pan. Bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute stirring constantly. 
Add mashed fruit and stir together. Cook for another minute.
Add spices and stevia. Remove from heat. Stir together. Then let fruit mixture sit for 2 minutes to rest. 
Divide fruit into jars for canning or containers for freezing. 
For canning – give the jars a 10-minute waterbath. 
Leighann/3 Comments/0 Likes/From the Garden, Recipes
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Comments (3)

  • Lisa / June 26, 2012 / Reply

    Pretty neat. We are just not really “Jam” people. Hey how is your Paleo diet going?

  • Leighann / June 26, 2012 / Reply

    Lisa – Paleo is going okay. I’m surprised by how much I don’t miss bread or potatoes or rice or cheese or sour cream. Really what I miss the most is dessert. 🙂 I’m thinking of having one day a week where there’s dessert, but Henry’s not on board with that yet. He still losing weight and doesn’t want to mess with the mojo he’s got going on. 🙂

  • Marmi / June 27, 2012 / Reply

    Hmmm..I do not miss desserts, but do miss starches!!!!

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