August 12, 2019 • 21 mins
It’s summertime, and beyond the beautiful weather, it means that all of the amazing fruits are in season. What does in-season fruit mean? Jam of course! While I love to make jam, I’ve always found that most jam and jelly recipes are loaded with added sugar. If you’re anything like me, you want to use as little added sugar as you can. Today I’m going to teach you how to easily create incredible tasting jams with having to overload them with white sugar.
Some key highlights from today's episode:
• Ways to make jam without overloading them with sugar
• The incredible science of pectin
• Why I like to use honey as a sweetener
• Click here for my favorite pectin! https://pomonapectin.com/
Click here to get access to my series of FREE videos demonstrating the process that I detailed in today’s podcast. https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/jam
For complimentary access to my full library of resources for homesteaders like you, head to http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/grow
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR YOUR HOMESTEAD:
- Sign up for weekly musings from my homestead: http://theprairiehomestead.com/letter
- Get my free homesteading tutorials & recipes here: www.theprairiehomestead.com
- Jill on Instagram: @jill.winger
- Jill on Facebook: http://facebook.com/theprairiehomestead
- Apply to be a guest on the Old-Fashioned on Purpose podcast: https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/podcast-guest-application
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Old Fashioned On Purpose podcast.
It's summertime and everythingis in season.
If you go to the farmer's marketor the grocery store, and you
score a fantastic deal on someamazing fresh fruit, perhaps you
decide to make some jam.
So you start googling some jamrecipes.
(00:22):
Or maybe you look in yourcanning book only to discover
that every single recipe youfind calls for tons of white
sugar.
Now this very issue actuallykept me from making jam for
years.
But in today's episode I'm goingtoshow you some handy tips that
(00:43):
will allow you to reduce thesugar you have to use or use
natural sweeteners like honey.
I'm your host Jill Winger andfor the last 10 years I've been
helping people just like you whofeel a little bit uninspired by
(01:05):
modern life.
I'll show you how to leave therat race and create the life you
really want by growing your ownfood and mastering old fashioned
skills.
So if you have ever felt alittle bit taken back by some
traditional jam recipes, you arenot alone.
(01:29):
And like I stated a few minutesago, I actually didn't even try
making jam for the longest timebecause I could not reconcile
that some of these recipesactually contained more sugar
than fruit or at the very leastsometimes the amounts were
(01:50):
equal.
That does themed ridiculous tome, especially because when I'm
making fruit jam, it's not icecream.
I don't want it to benecessarily dessert.
I just want it to be a littlebit of sweetness added onto my
toast or peanut butter andjelly.
So adding that much white sugarto those beautiful strawberries
(02:11):
or peaches just feltunforgivable.
Now, most of the time I justwant to remind you, because
we've talked about this before,when it comes to canning, you
can't do a lot of tweaking tothe ratios and guidelines that
you're using.
Pretty much all canning recipesare there for a reason.
(02:33):
They are there to make sure thatfood is going to be safe after
it goes on the shelf.
However, the good news is thatwhen it comes to jams and
jellies, we have a little bitmore wiggle room and you
absolutely can create jams thatdon't use as much sweetener or
(02:56):
use alternative sweeteners ormore options there that are a
little bit healthier for you.
So the key to making these lowsugar jams or jellies comes down
to understanding somethingcalled Pectin.
So we're going to do a littlebit of science in this episode
(03:17):
today, and then we're going todive in to how to actually make
this happen.
Please bear with me, this isn'tcomplicated, but once you
understand it, it's all going tomake sense.
Pectin is a 100% naturallyoccurring starch that's found in
the cell walls of most fruitsand vegetables.
(03:41):
So it's there, it's not somecrazy chemical, it's there
naturally.
When you cook, pectin intohigher temperatures around 220
degrees Fahrenheit and youcombine it with its' partners in
crime, which are sugar and acid,it creates that firm texture
(04:02):
that we really expect in ourjams and jellies.
Otherwise we just have fruitsyrup, which is fine but a
little bit harder to put ontoast.
Right.
So different fruits orvegetables, we'll have different
amounts of pectin in them.
A few examples of fruits withhigher amounts of Pectin are
(04:24):
sour apples, you know, likegranny Smith, the green ones,
citrus, cranberries and plums,and that's just a few of them.
Fruits with lower levels ofpectin would be the sweeter
apples, like galas and thefujis, Sour Cherries, or choke
(04:45):
cherries just to name a few.
And then we have a class offruits with no pectin at all.
That would include Blueberries,apricots, sweet cherries,
peaches, pears and strawberries.
So if you're canning any of thatlatter group into preserves or
(05:06):
jams, you definitely want to addpectin because they have none on
their own.
Okay.
So like I mentioned, Pectindoesn't work alone.
It has some friends.
And in order for Pectin to doits thing, we need to have acid
and sugar in the recipes aswell.
So acid does its thing byextracting the pectin from the
(05:29):
fruit helps with that process.
And that's why sometimes you'llsee high acid fruits mixed with
slightly lower acid fruits oron.
Another option is to just addsome lemon juice into recipes.
Now something like lemon juiceor additional acid also plays
(05:50):
another role in keeping thefruit a little brighter colored,
a little more vibrant becausesometimes after we cook it or
it's exposed to air, it gets alittle dull.
To be honest, the color of myjams and jellies or canned fruit
isn't a huge deal to me, butit's kind of fun to have those
pretty bright jars on the shelf.
(06:12):
Sugar has a role in, of course,making things taste better, but
it also helps to draw water awayfrom the Pectin, which in turn
gives it a chance to firm up.
So with your standard Pectin orthe Pectin that is found in
naturally occurring fruit, youneed to have the sugar and acid
(06:36):
so it all works together.
However, there is one exceptionto that.
There are a few special kinds ofpectin that use other mechanisms
to gel and that enables us toeither omit the sugar or change
it up because we don't need thesugar to make the Pectin firm
(06:59):
up.
So if your head is spinning,let's just condense this down
into three bullet points orcompartments.
I like to organize this idea ofjam-making into three types.
Type number one, you can useregular traditional pectin
(07:20):
recipes and those are the onesthat call for a whole heck of a
lot of sugar to make yourtraditional Pectin do its thing.
And when I say traditionalPectin, I'm talking about
probably the run of the millpectin you have sitting on the
shelves of your local grocerystore right now.
They come a little canisters.
(07:40):
There's a couple of differentbrands.
It's pretty easy to find and ifthey just say pectin on them,
then you're going to need quitea bit of sugar to make it work.
Type number two is you canactually skip the Pectin or let
me say, shall I say, the addedpectin altogether and try a no
(08:01):
pectin added jam.
Number one, you're going to haveto do this with fruits that have
some pectin in them to start.
And also we'll have to add sugarand boil the fruit for a pretty
long time because that's goingto activate the pectin.
(08:23):
Unfortunately, theseno-pectin-added recipes while I
have tried them, I have donethem.
They're not my favorite becauseI have to babysit them.
They're cooking for 30 to 40minutes.
Usually I have to stir them.
I often scorched them and haveburnt jam on the bottom of the
pot.
(08:45):
I also kinda feel like if I'mtaking these fragile berries and
boiling them for 40 minutes, I'mkinda cooking them into
oblivion.
No-pectin-added jams can also,even if you do everything right,
not gel up as firmly.
That is an option.
(09:05):
If you don't have any way to getpectin and you w ant t o make
jam tomorrow, you can try that.
Otherwise, I would recommend mynumber three type of jam, which
is to use a special pectinthat's designed to gel without a
lot of sugar.
So let's just cap or recap thatjust for a minute.
We have type number one (09:25):
use regular old pectin and lots of
sugar.
Type number two you can do ano-pectin-added jam that
requires a lot of boiling andstill sugar.
Or type number three, myfavorite.
Use a Pectin that's designed togel without a lot of sugar.
(09:46):
Alright, sound good?
Are you with me?
Okay.
So now that you understand theinner workings of what's going
to make your jams and jelliesgel up, let's dive into the
specifics of what you're goingto actually need.
I highly recommend jam if you'renew to canning, if you're
feeling a little bit nervous,you're not sure where to start.
You want to make sure you'redoing it right.
Jam is a great place to beginbecause it's very safe and it
(10:11):
doesn't require a ton of specialequipment.
Technically, since you arewater-bathing jam, we don't have
to use a pressure canner.
So you don't even have to get aspecial pot.
You can simply just use a stockpot with a lid that you already
have in your kitchen.
And usually jam ingredients arepretty easy to source.
(10:35):
The toughest one to find willlikely be the Pectin.
And even then, it is really notthat hard to find pectin
especially because it's verysimple to order it online.
Okay, so here's what you'regoing to need to get started
with your low sugar jam.
So first off, you're g oing t oneed some fruit.
(10:56):
You can pretty much make jam outof any fruit you like: you can
do berries or stone fruit likepeaches or apricots, apples,
cherries.
The list goes on.
You can also mix fruits.
So there's tons of options.
A little side note here, youprobably know this, but I just
want to clarify in case there'sany confusion, the difference
(11:20):
between jam and Jelly would bethat jelly is made with fruit
juice.
It's clear and it's especiallyfirm.
On the flip side, Jam isactually made with more of a
fruit p uree, t hough it'schunkier and a little bit
softer.
(11:41):
I personally prefer to make jamjust because it eliminates me
from having to go through thestep of juicing the fruit.
I don't have a juicer and Idon't really love the idea of
cooking it down and smashing thejuice through a strainer or a
bag, and I also l ike that Idon't have to discard any pulp
(12:04):
with t he jam.
I could just use the whole fruitand mashed it up, and call it
good.
But there's really no right orwrong way or right or wrong one.
You get to pick which one you like the most.
Along with the fruit, we'regoing to need that pectin.
You can make your own pectin.
I've seen different tutorialsonline, so that's a possibility.
(12:26):
However, considering that it'snatural and it's pretty easy to
find and also inexpensive, Ilike to simplify things and just
purchase my pectin.
You can often get pectin at yourlocal grocery stores if your
store has a canning section, ormaybe a big box store or even a
(12:49):
hardware store.
Generally what you're going tofind in smaller stores is the
regular pectins.
Like I mentioned before, theyare the ones that are more
common and they require moresugar.
For this recipe or thesetechniques, we're using a low
sugar pectin, so make sureyou're paying attention to
(13:10):
labels that will say low sugaror no sugar added Pectin right
on the label or you can grab itonline.
My very favorite brand of lowsugar pectin is called Pomona's
and I will drop a link to thatin the show notes.
It's a 100% pure citrus Pectin,so it's all natural and it's
(13:33):
kind of cool because it actuallyuses calcium to create the gel
action.
In your little box of Pomona's,you're going to get a packet of
Pectin and also you're going toget a little packet of calcium
powder that you just mixed withwater and that all comes
(13:56):
together.
You don't have to buy itseparate.
There's also other brands of lowsugar pectin like Ball, which is
the same company who makes jars.
Just be sure whatever type ofPectin you get, you're going to
read the directions carefullybecause they all differ just a
(14:19):
tiny bit, especially if you areusing Pomona's.
Like I said, Pomona's has thatcalcium powder, that you mix up
with water ahead of time.
It's very simple, and notcomplicated, but because of that
additional calcium water, yougot to make sure you're
(14:39):
following the directionsaccordingly.
So if you are trying to converta jam recipe into a low sugar
jam recipe, remember that theinstructions in your pectin
packet trump the instructions inyour actual recipe.
Okay, and lastly, for thisprocess, you're going to need
(15:01):
some sweetener.
Now of course, white sugar iswhat people have done and added
to their jams for years.
I personally prefer to use honeyin my home canned jams.
You can also often use nosweetener at all if you are
using that type of low sugarpectin.
(15:22):
My Pomona's packet actually hasdirections for just using fruit
juice in jams and jellies as asweetener.
Now keep in mind, even if you'revery, very much anti-sugar, some
fruits really need a little bitof sweetener to be edible.
If you have some strawberriesthat aren't super sweet, you
(15:44):
just try to can those with nosugar at all, it's probably not
going to be super pleasant toeat that jam on toast.
The good news is depending onyour family's preferences, you
can really tailor the amounts tofit your palette.
In addition to honey, you couldalso use Stevia if you're just
(16:06):
trying to get a little bit ofsweetness.
There is also a type of Steviacalled Truvia, which is more
bulky.
And by bulky, I mean, you know,Stevia, if you're not familiar
with it, is straight from aplant.
There are Stevia plants that youcan grow in your garden.
I've done it before, I'm reallygood at killing Stevia, but I
(16:28):
have grown them successfully afew years.
But the leaves are intenselysweet.
And the Stevia we get at thestore is usually little tiny
packets or a little tiny bottlesbecause it is so potent.
So when you add Stevia to arecipe, even if the recipe calls
for a cup of sugar, we'reusually only using, you know, a
(16:51):
quarter teaspoon or a half ateaspoon of Stevia because it's
so strong.
That works for some things, butfor other things, you know, when
we're baking and a recipe callsfor a cup of sugar in a cookie
recipe, adding a quarterteaspoon of Stevia is going to
mess up the recipe because werequire that bulk, right?
(17:14):
We need that bulk of granulatedsugar.
So Truvia, you can get it atmost grocery stores, is Stevia
in more of a base, so it's alittle bulkier and you can
actually measure it one to oneas you would sugar.
I personally haven't used it,but it's worth a try if you're
really trying to cut sugars outof your diet.
(17:38):
Now keep in mind if you areexperimenting with alternatives,
sweeteners, the color of yourjams will often be a little bit
darker, which personally doesn'tbother me, but if you want
bright red strawberry jam, it'sprobably not going to be super
vibrant and the jam might be alittle more runny.
(17:58):
White sugar does the best job interms of color and firmness, but
for me, having a slightlyrunnier jam is worth the trade
off of using honey or whateverinstead.
A little side note about usinghoney.
I like to specify that when I amputting honey on toast or
(18:19):
biscuits or using it in recipesthat are not cooked, I prefer a
very high quality raw localhoney and I will spend more
money to find that and get itinto my pantry.
That being said, when I amcanning, and I know I'm putting
honey into a batch of jam,that's going to go into my water
(18:42):
bath canner for 25 minutes.
I don't want to use my supernice raw local honey.
What I do instead is I go toCostco or wherever you get bulk
food and they get a slightlylower grade of honey, which is
still organic.
You know, it's still a goodbrand, but it's not raw.
(19:03):
It's not like the cream of thecrop for honey, it's more
mid-grade and that makes it moreaffordable for me to use that in
my canned recipes.
Now maybe you have bees and youhave honey coming out your ears
and you can use your raw honeyno matter how much you want
because you have so much, that'sfabulous but otherwise get the
(19:24):
cheaper stuff for canning.
Also, I get a lot of questionsabout using artificial
sweeteners.
Splenda is one that comes up alot.
I am not a fan of artificialsweeteners in any capacity, jam
or otherwise.
I don't think their healthramifications are worth any
(19:47):
benefit they may provide.
They have some scary healtheffects associated with them.
I would recommend avoidingartificial sweeteners like
Splenda or aspartame, anythinglike that.
Avoid it like the plague.
Don't use it in your canning oranywhere else.
If you gather those ingredientsand some jars and a pot, you're
(20:08):
going to be well on your way tomaking low sugar jams and
jellies for your home pantry.
I wanted to go into the nextstep of the recipe, but I
realize it's kind of tough todemonstrate a cooking technique
on a podcast.
So here's what I did.
Instead I created a series ofvideos where you can actually
(20:32):
come into my kitchen with me andwatch me make a batch of jam
with Pomona's Pectin and also abatch where I add no pectin at
all and use granny Smith applesinstead.
These videos are completely freefor you to watch.
All you have to do is go totheprairiehomestead.com/jam and
(21:04):
you can get access to thosevideos.
I wrote up a special mini ebookwith the recipes and all the
information we talked about intoday's episode plus some extra
stuff and you can grab that forfree.
We have a little robot set up.
It'll walk you through theprompts.
It's super easy to check out andget started and that my friends
(21:26):
is all for our jam episode.
Thanks for listening and I wouldbe so honored if you would
subscribe to this podcast andtake a moment to leave a quick
review over on iTunes so morepeople can find us and bring
homesteading into their lives.
That's all for now, but I can'twait to chat with you on the
(21:47):
next episode of the oldfashioned on purpose podcast.
Welcome to the Old Fashioned On Purpose podcast.
It's summertime and everythingis in season.
If you go to the farmer's marketor the grocery store, and you
score a fantastic deal on someamazing fresh fruit, perhaps you
decide to make some jam.
So you start googling some jamrecipes.
(00:22):
Or maybe you look in yourcanning book only to discover
that every single recipe youfind calls for tons of white
sugar.
Now this very issue actuallykept me from making jam for
years.
But in today's episode I'm goingtoshow you some handy tips that
(00:43):
will allow you to reduce thesugar you have to use or use
natural sweeteners like honey.
I'm your host Jill Winger andfor the last 10 years I've been
helping people just like you whofeel a little bit uninspired by
(01:05):
modern life.
I'll show you how to leave therat race and create the life you
really want by growing your ownfood and mastering old fashioned
skills.
So if you have ever felt alittle bit taken back by some
traditional jam recipes, you arenot alone.
(01:29):
And like I stated a few minutesago, I actually didn't even try
making jam for the longest timebecause I could not reconcile
that some of these recipesactually contained more sugar
than fruit or at the very leastsometimes the amounts were
(01:50):
equal.
That does themed ridiculous tome, especially because when I'm
making fruit jam, it's not icecream.
I don't want it to benecessarily dessert.
I just want it to be a littlebit of sweetness added onto my
toast or peanut butter andjelly.
So adding that much white sugarto those beautiful strawberries
(02:11):
or peaches just feltunforgivable.
Now, most of the time I justwant to remind you, because
we've talked about this before,when it comes to canning, you
can't do a lot of tweaking tothe ratios and guidelines that
you're using.
Pretty much all canning recipesare there for a reason.
(02:33):
They are there to make sure thatfood is going to be safe after
it goes on the shelf.
However, the good news is thatwhen it comes to jams and
jellies, we have a little bitmore wiggle room and you
absolutely can create jams thatdon't use as much sweetener or
(02:56):
use alternative sweeteners ormore options there that are a
little bit healthier for you.
So the key to making these lowsugar jams or jellies comes down
to understanding somethingcalled Pectin.
So we're going to do a littlebit of science in this episode
(03:17):
today, and then we're going todive in to how to actually make
this happen.
Please bear with me, this isn'tcomplicated, but once you
understand it, it's all going tomake sense.
Pectin is a 100% naturallyoccurring starch that's found in
the cell walls of most fruitsand vegetables.
(03:41):
So it's there, it's not somecrazy chemical, it's there
naturally.
When you cook, pectin intohigher temperatures around 220
degrees Fahrenheit and youcombine it with its' partners in
crime, which are sugar and acid,it creates that firm texture
(04:02):
that we really expect in ourjams and jellies.
Otherwise we just have fruitsyrup, which is fine but a
little bit harder to put ontoast.
Right.
So different fruits orvegetables, we'll have different
amounts of pectin in them.
A few examples of fruits withhigher amounts of Pectin are
(04:24):
sour apples, you know, likegranny Smith, the green ones,
citrus, cranberries and plums,and that's just a few of them.
Fruits with lower levels ofpectin would be the sweeter
apples, like galas and thefujis, Sour Cherries, or choke
(04:45):
cherries just to name a few.
And then we have a class offruits with no pectin at all.
That would include Blueberries,apricots, sweet cherries,
peaches, pears and strawberries.
So if you're canning any of thatlatter group into preserves or
(05:06):
jams, you definitely want to addpectin because they have none on
their own.
Okay.
So like I mentioned, Pectindoesn't work alone.
It has some friends.
And in order for Pectin to doits thing, we need to have acid
and sugar in the recipes aswell.
So acid does its thing byextracting the pectin from the
(05:29):
fruit helps with that process.
And that's why sometimes you'llsee high acid fruits mixed with
slightly lower acid fruits oron.
Another option is to just addsome lemon juice into recipes.
Now something like lemon juiceor additional acid also plays
(05:50):
another role in keeping thefruit a little brighter colored,
a little more vibrant becausesometimes after we cook it or
it's exposed to air, it gets alittle dull.
To be honest, the color of myjams and jellies or canned fruit
isn't a huge deal to me, butit's kind of fun to have those
pretty bright jars on the shelf.
(06:12):
Sugar has a role in, of course,making things taste better, but
it also helps to draw water awayfrom the Pectin, which in turn
gives it a chance to firm up.
So with your standard Pectin orthe Pectin that is found in
naturally occurring fruit, youneed to have the sugar and acid
(06:36):
so it all works together.
However, there is one exceptionto that.
There are a few special kinds ofpectin that use other mechanisms
to gel and that enables us toeither omit the sugar or change
it up because we don't need thesugar to make the Pectin firm
(06:59):
up.
So if your head is spinning,let's just condense this down
into three bullet points orcompartments.
I like to organize this idea ofjam-making into three types.
Type number one, you can useregular traditional pectin
(07:20):
recipes and those are the onesthat call for a whole heck of a
lot of sugar to make yourtraditional Pectin do its thing.
And when I say traditionalPectin, I'm talking about
probably the run of the millpectin you have sitting on the
shelves of your local grocerystore right now.
They come a little canisters.
(07:40):
There's a couple of differentbrands.
It's pretty easy to find and ifthey just say pectin on them,
then you're going to need quitea bit of sugar to make it work.
Type number two is you canactually skip the Pectin or let
me say, shall I say, the addedpectin altogether and try a no
(08:01):
pectin added jam.
Number one, you're going to haveto do this with fruits that have
some pectin in them to start.
And also we'll have to add sugarand boil the fruit for a pretty
long time because that's goingto activate the pectin.
(08:23):
Unfortunately, theseno-pectin-added recipes while I
have tried them, I have donethem.
They're not my favorite becauseI have to babysit them.
They're cooking for 30 to 40minutes.
Usually I have to stir them.
I often scorched them and haveburnt jam on the bottom of the
pot.
(08:45):
I also kinda feel like if I'mtaking these fragile berries and
boiling them for 40 minutes, I'mkinda cooking them into
oblivion.
No-pectin-added jams can also,even if you do everything right,
not gel up as firmly.
That is an option.
(09:05):
If you don't have any way to getpectin and you w ant t o make
jam tomorrow, you can try that.
Otherwise, I would recommend mynumber three type of jam, which
is to use a special pectinthat's designed to gel without a
lot of sugar.
So let's just cap or recap thatjust for a minute.
We have type number one (09:25):
use regular old pectin and lots of
sugar.
Type number two you can do ano-pectin-added jam that
requires a lot of boiling andstill sugar.
Or type number three, myfavorite.
Use a Pectin that's designed togel without a lot of sugar.
(09:46):
Alright, sound good?
Are you with me?
Okay.
So now that you understand theinner workings of what's going
to make your jams and jelliesgel up, let's dive into the
specifics of what you're goingto actually need.
I highly recommend jam if you'renew to canning, if you're
feeling a little bit nervous,you're not sure where to start.
You want to make sure you'redoing it right.
Jam is a great place to beginbecause it's very safe and it
(10:11):
doesn't require a ton of specialequipment.
Technically, since you arewater-bathing jam, we don't have
to use a pressure canner.
So you don't even have to get aspecial pot.
You can simply just use a stockpot with a lid that you already
have in your kitchen.
And usually jam ingredients arepretty easy to source.
(10:35):
The toughest one to find willlikely be the Pectin.
And even then, it is really notthat hard to find pectin
especially because it's verysimple to order it online.
Okay, so here's what you'regoing to need to get started
with your low sugar jam.
So first off, you're g oing t oneed some fruit.
(10:56):
You can pretty much make jam outof any fruit you like: you can
do berries or stone fruit likepeaches or apricots, apples,
cherries.
The list goes on.
You can also mix fruits.
So there's tons of options.
A little side note here, youprobably know this, but I just
want to clarify in case there'sany confusion, the difference
(11:20):
between jam and Jelly would bethat jelly is made with fruit
juice.
It's clear and it's especiallyfirm.
On the flip side, Jam isactually made with more of a
fruit p uree, t hough it'schunkier and a little bit
softer.
(11:41):
I personally prefer to make jamjust because it eliminates me
from having to go through thestep of juicing the fruit.
I don't have a juicer and Idon't really love the idea of
cooking it down and smashing thejuice through a strainer or a
bag, and I also l ike that Idon't have to discard any pulp
(12:04):
with t he jam.
I could just use the whole fruitand mashed it up, and call it
good.
But there's really no right orwrong way or right or wrong one.
You get to pick which one you like the most.
Along with the fruit, we'regoing to need that pectin.
You can make your own pectin.
I've seen different tutorialsonline, so that's a possibility.
(12:26):
However, considering that it'snatural and it's pretty easy to
find and also inexpensive, Ilike to simplify things and just
purchase my pectin.
You can often get pectin at yourlocal grocery stores if your
store has a canning section, ormaybe a big box store or even a
(12:49):
hardware store.
Generally what you're going tofind in smaller stores is the
regular pectins.
Like I mentioned before, theyare the ones that are more
common and they require moresugar.
For this recipe or thesetechniques, we're using a low
sugar pectin, so make sureyou're paying attention to
(13:10):
labels that will say low sugaror no sugar added Pectin right
on the label or you can grab itonline.
My very favorite brand of lowsugar pectin is called Pomona's
and I will drop a link to thatin the show notes.
It's a 100% pure citrus Pectin,so it's all natural and it's
(13:33):
kind of cool because it actuallyuses calcium to create the gel
action.
In your little box of Pomona's,you're going to get a packet of
Pectin and also you're going toget a little packet of calcium
powder that you just mixed withwater and that all comes
(13:56):
together.
You don't have to buy itseparate.
There's also other brands of lowsugar pectin like Ball, which is
the same company who makes jars.
Just be sure whatever type ofPectin you get, you're going to
read the directions carefullybecause they all differ just a
(14:19):
tiny bit, especially if you areusing Pomona's.
Like I said, Pomona's has thatcalcium powder, that you mix up
with water ahead of time.
It's very simple, and notcomplicated, but because of that
additional calcium water, yougot to make sure you're
(14:39):
following the directionsaccordingly.
So if you are trying to converta jam recipe into a low sugar
jam recipe, remember that theinstructions in your pectin
packet trump the instructions inyour actual recipe.
Okay, and lastly, for thisprocess, you're going to need
(15:01):
some sweetener.
Now of course, white sugar iswhat people have done and added
to their jams for years.
I personally prefer to use honeyin my home canned jams.
You can also often use nosweetener at all if you are
using that type of low sugarpectin.
(15:22):
My Pomona's packet actually hasdirections for just using fruit
juice in jams and jellies as asweetener.
Now keep in mind, even if you'revery, very much anti-sugar, some
fruits really need a little bitof sweetener to be edible.
If you have some strawberriesthat aren't super sweet, you
(15:44):
just try to can those with nosugar at all, it's probably not
going to be super pleasant toeat that jam on toast.
The good news is depending onyour family's preferences, you
can really tailor the amounts tofit your palette.
In addition to honey, you couldalso use Stevia if you're just
(16:06):
trying to get a little bit ofsweetness.
There is also a type of Steviacalled Truvia, which is more
bulky.
And by bulky, I mean, you know,Stevia, if you're not familiar
with it, is straight from aplant.
There are Stevia plants that youcan grow in your garden.
I've done it before, I'm reallygood at killing Stevia, but I
(16:28):
have grown them successfully afew years.
But the leaves are intenselysweet.
And the Stevia we get at thestore is usually little tiny
packets or a little tiny bottlesbecause it is so potent.
So when you add Stevia to arecipe, even if the recipe calls
for a cup of sugar, we'reusually only using, you know, a
(16:51):
quarter teaspoon or a half ateaspoon of Stevia because it's
so strong.
That works for some things, butfor other things, you know, when
we're baking and a recipe callsfor a cup of sugar in a cookie
recipe, adding a quarterteaspoon of Stevia is going to
mess up the recipe because werequire that bulk, right?
(17:14):
We need that bulk of granulatedsugar.
So Truvia, you can get it atmost grocery stores, is Stevia
in more of a base, so it's alittle bulkier and you can
actually measure it one to oneas you would sugar.
I personally haven't used it,but it's worth a try if you're
really trying to cut sugars outof your diet.
(17:38):
Now keep in mind if you areexperimenting with alternatives,
sweeteners, the color of yourjams will often be a little bit
darker, which personally doesn'tbother me, but if you want
bright red strawberry jam, it'sprobably not going to be super
vibrant and the jam might be alittle more runny.
(17:58):
White sugar does the best job interms of color and firmness, but
for me, having a slightlyrunnier jam is worth the trade
off of using honey or whateverinstead.
A little side note about usinghoney.
I like to specify that when I amputting honey on toast or
(18:19):
biscuits or using it in recipesthat are not cooked, I prefer a
very high quality raw localhoney and I will spend more
money to find that and get itinto my pantry.
That being said, when I amcanning, and I know I'm putting
honey into a batch of jam,that's going to go into my water
(18:42):
bath canner for 25 minutes.
I don't want to use my supernice raw local honey.
What I do instead is I go toCostco or wherever you get bulk
food and they get a slightlylower grade of honey, which is
still organic.
You know, it's still a goodbrand, but it's not raw.
(19:03):
It's not like the cream of thecrop for honey, it's more
mid-grade and that makes it moreaffordable for me to use that in
my canned recipes.
Now maybe you have bees and youhave honey coming out your ears
and you can use your raw honeyno matter how much you want
because you have so much, that'sfabulous but otherwise get the
(19:24):
cheaper stuff for canning.
Also, I get a lot of questionsabout using artificial
sweeteners.
Splenda is one that comes up alot.
I am not a fan of artificialsweeteners in any capacity, jam
or otherwise.
I don't think their healthramifications are worth any
(19:47):
benefit they may provide.
They have some scary healtheffects associated with them.
I would recommend avoidingartificial sweeteners like
Splenda or aspartame, anythinglike that.
Avoid it like the plague.
Don't use it in your canning oranywhere else.
If you gather those ingredientsand some jars and a pot, you're
(20:08):
going to be well on your way tomaking low sugar jams and
jellies for your home pantry.
I wanted to go into the nextstep of the recipe, but I
realize it's kind of tough todemonstrate a cooking technique
on a podcast.
So here's what I did.
Instead I created a series ofvideos where you can actually
(20:32):
come into my kitchen with me andwatch me make a batch of jam
with Pomona's Pectin and also abatch where I add no pectin at
all and use granny Smith applesinstead.
These videos are completely freefor you to watch.
All you have to do is go totheprairiehomestead.com/jam and
(21:04):
you can get access to thosevideos.
I wrote up a special mini ebookwith the recipes and all the
information we talked about intoday's episode plus some extra
stuff and you can grab that forfree.
We have a little robot set up.
It'll walk you through theprompts.
It's super easy to check out andget started and that my friends
(21:26):
is all for our jam episode.
Thanks for listening and I wouldbe so honored if you would
subscribe to this podcast andtake a moment to leave a quick
review over on iTunes so morepeople can find us and bring
homesteading into their lives.
That's all for now, but I can'twait to chat with you on the
(21:47):
next episode of the oldfashioned on purpose podcast.
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