Strawberry-Raspberry (Less Sugar) Lemonade Jam!
If you read my blog last week, you know that I discovered the wonders of homemade strawberry lemonade, right? And you might also know that every summer I dream up and then test a few different kinds of less sugar jams.
Well, when I fall in love, I dive in head first. And this week, since I fell in love with homemade strawberry lemonade, what type of berry jam do you think I designed for my first official batch of less sugar jam this summer? You all know me so well. (I made a batch of Strawberry-Raspberry Lemonade Less Sugar Jam.)
I used a box of the Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin - the one that has "for less or no sugar needed recipes" in the middle of the box. I pretty much followed their directions for "cooked jams" but I used 1 1/2 cups of crushed raspberries (2 little baskets), at least 6 cups sliced strawberries (3 baskets), the juice from 3 lemons and the lemon zest (peel), finely chopped from 2 of the lemons. I used 3 1/2 cups of sugar altogether too. I know this amount of sugar still sounds rather shocking but it's actually a lot less than regular jam and less than their less sugar instructions even call for.
My goodness it was lipsmacking good. I didn't even bother with the whole "canning" process. I figured I would give a few jars away and the rest of the jars would be enjoyed in a month's time so keeping them in the refrigerator would work well!
Here are my 5 favorite ways to enjoy homemade less sugar jam:
* straight from the jar with a spoon!
* warmed up slightly and used as topping over light vanilla ice cream
* Spooned over whole wheat toast.
* Spread over pancakes or waffles.
* Swirled into hot oatmeal.
If anyone else likes to invent jam, let me know what awesome combinations you've come up with!
--Elaine Magee (Jam Inventor)
Related Topics: Fresh-Fruit Pizza With Lemon Curd,
Technorati Tags: jam, homemadejam, lowsugar, strawberries, raspberries, recipes
1 Comments:
I make all my jams using apples. They have natural pectin aand I don't use extra pectin. I just cut up some too soft, but still ok fruit, add some sugar and some lemon juice (sometimes zest too) and cook untill I think its the right consistency (tested by chilling a drop in the freezer for a few minutes). Sometimes it comes out more syruppy, sometimes too thick, and when I'm lucky just right. But no matter the thickness I always get raves.
My mother is diabetic. I make her a "jam" by just cooking the fruit, apple and lemon juice to an applesauce consistency and then add Splenda. The fruit doesn't melt down as well as in regular jam so I chop the fruit in the food processor with the apple to get it finer to start with before cooking.
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