I haven't made jam in several years, but am delighted to say I made a tasty batch tonight! I remember the first time I made jam years ago being shocked that the recipes I looked at called for more sugar than berries! Back then I found a Pectin product (Sure-Jel maybe?) that allowed for low-sugar recipes and it has worked well for me over the years. Yesterday I went looking on the web for low-sugar raspberry jam recipes and found that Pomona's Universal Pectin is all the rage and pretty much seems to be the new gold standard of low-sugar/no-sugar jam recipes. I was highly skeptical I would find it, but sure enough it was at the local QFC when I looked for it! Tonight I made a small batch of jam from some berries picked from Auntie Bert's crop and was a little short on numbers, so I augmented with some organic strawberries I had in the fridge. I think it came out dynamite and am just not sure if it will get more use on toast or vanilla ice cream.....
I am going to put up my recipe that I used for this batch tonight, but link to another website that I thought gave excellent instructions on how to make the jam and what you need to get prepared.
Some jamming MacGyver notes: I don't have a jam funnel, so I made one up of rolled up tin foil with a wide mouth to fit in the jam jar. Worked great! Furthermore, I don't have any actual canning pots so I fill my deepest pot of water and line the bottom with the tops of my box grater! Any metal thing will to that keeps some space between the bottom of the pot and your jars so they don't get too hot.
Honey Lemon Raspberry Jam
- 4 cups mashed berries
- 1/2-3/4 cup honey (my berries were pretty tart to start, so I went with 3/4)
- 2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice\
- 2 tsp pectin powder
- 2 tsp calcium water
- A boiling pot of water or canner (see note above)
Please link to this page on the Foods For Long Life blog for great directions!
