Hooked On Making No/Low Sugar Jam

This is a repost with an update. I decided to try Ball’s Natural Gel No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin ($1.56 at Walmart. There is a .50 cent coupon inside, so you can buy one then use the coupon to buy the next one if you like it). With this pectin adding sugar is optional. You use fruit juice as the primary sweetener rather than sugar. I ended up adding 1 cup of sugar to my strawberry jam and 1/2 cup to the mixed berry jam (which is still a lot less than the 3 cups in traditional recipes). The jam is still a little tart, but my family actually prefers the tartness to overly sweet jam.

How to Make Homemade Jam with Less Sugar

Basic Recipe for No-Sugar-Added Homemade Jam:

4 Cups mashed fruit (for the mixed berry I used 2 C strawberries, 1 C raspberries, and 1 C blackberries)

1 Cup Unsweetened fruit juice (apple and white grape are the sweetest juices, but I used cranberry/pomegranate)

1 1.75 pkg. Ball No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin

~ 1/2 – 1 1/2 Cups of sugar ( add to the taste your family prefers)

1/2 teaspoon butter

Update: The last time I made jam I used 1 cup of thawed fruit juice concentrate, instead of fruit juice, and did not need to add any sugar. I realize that there is “sugar” in the fruit juice concentrate, but my husband prefers that I not add refined sugar to his jam.

Items that you Need:

Boiling Water Canner or a large deep sauce pot, with a lid, and a rack (the first few times I canned I did not have a canner or a rack. I just put the insert from my pressure cooker on the bottom of a deep pot.)

6 – 8 ounce, clean, glass jars with NEW lids and bands (the lids can not be reused, which of course causes me pain. If anyone has come up with a second life for jar lids please let me know!)

Nice to have, but not required (these are all in the above picture):

Wide Mouth Funnel

Jar Lifter

Lid Lifter

Headspace Tool

Wash and hull fruit. Here is an easy way to hull strawberries: just pierce the strawberry from the bottom with a straw.

No need to slice the strawberries, just mash them with a potato masher. I actually mashed the berries first in a large, 8 cup, glass measuring bowl to make sure that I had 4 cups. Then I transferred the berries to a large pot and mashed any large pieces that I saw.

Combine mashed fruit with fruit juice. Gradually stir in the pectin. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter (this really does reduce the foaming!). Cook over high heat, stirring constantly. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.

Add sugar to taste. Return mixture to a full, rolling boil. Boil hard for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if you didn’t put in butter.

Sorry, this picture should probably have been above the last one. Before I start mashing and boiling I prepare the water canner by filling it half full with hot water. I add the jars and lids to the water, which I keep hot, but not boiling. Keep the jars and lids in the canner until you are ready to fill them. Keeping the jars hot reduces the chance that they will break when filled with hot jam. Leave the bands at room temperature.

When the jam is done, I pull the jars and lids out of the canner and quickly dry them (but I don’t worry about getting every drop of water). Ladle the hot jam into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch of head space. Clean any jam from the rim and threads with a clean, damp cloth.

Center the hot lids on the jars. Apply bands and tighten until they are fingertip tight.

Place filled jars in the canner. Be sure the water covers the tops of the jars by 1 – 2 inches. Add more hot water if necessary. Place lid on canner. Bring the water to a gentle, steady boil. Boil the jars for 10 minutes adjusting for altitude if necessary (1001 – 3000 feet add 5 minutes, 3001 – 6000 feet add 10 minutes, 6001 – 8000 feet add 15 minutes, 8001 – 10,000 feet add 20 minutes, but really who cans at 10,00 feet?).

After the processing is complete, turn off the heat and remove the lid. Let jars set for 5 minutes.

Remove the jars from the canner and set upright on a towel to cool. Let them sit undisturbed for 12 – 24 hours.

After cooling, test seals by pressing the center of each lid. If a lid does not flex up and down, it is sealed. If a lid is not sealed after the 24 hour period, refrigerate the jar immediately. It will stay edible in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

If the jars are sealed, label them and store them in a cool, dry, dark place for up to a year.

Edited because I incorrectly confused the terms lids and bands in one of the above paragraphs. Sorry, I am operating on 5 hours of sleep!