For not having a recipe and having never made jam before, we did okay last night when we gave it a try. What we ended up with was a unique strawberry spread type thing, and we really like it. So, I guess that is what counts. Whether anyone would ever call it "jam" when they ate it, doesn't really matter to us.
We were going rogue.
While I've never made jam myself, I knew a bit about it. Like you need a LOT of sugar for it to set up. And if you aren't canning it, you need to make freezer jam instead.
We used very little sugar, because I was making the jam myself so I could purposely cut back on it, since Sugarwings has a little bit of a jelly addiction. Well, with a name like Sugarwings, you might expect her to have a sweet tooth…
Here's how we did it, if you want to make some strawberry spread type thing for yourself:
- First you need a good berry scrubber with skills in pulling off the "green parts".
- After the green parts are gone, cut off the top, and toss the fruit into a blender. We used 2 quarts of organic berries.
- We squeezed half of a lime over the berries in the blender and then purreed them. To get the most juice out of the lime, we played with it a while, and got it good and smashy before I cut it in half.
- To the berry/lime mix, we added a 3/4 cup of organic sugar and about three good sized squirts of agave nectar syrup, and blended them all together. Have the lid on the blender before your helper pushes any buttons, or else be ready to wipe berry globs off your forehead.
- We opened a packet of pectin (found on the jello isle at the grocery store) and disolved it in a 1/4 cup of boiling water. I have a feeling that the jam might have been thicker if my helper hadn't spilled quite a bit of the pectic powder when she poured it into the bowl. If all your pectin makes it into the hot water, you might have a better end product than we did.
- Mix the pectin/water with the berries and sugar, then pour into jars. Leave space at the top of the jar for the jam to expand when it freezes.
- Let set at room temperature for a couple hours before cooling in the fridge (or freezer if you want to save it for later)
- Make labels while the jars set up.
The whole endeavor might have just been an excuse to make labels. Our yeild was small, only three partial jars, so we decorated the lids, too. We had looked forward to making labels too much to stop at three.
For our labels, we used some fruit rub ons and paint markers on water color paper shapes cut out with our punches.
My kitchen might still be a little sticky, but we sure had fun. And our so called jam really is tasty. And good for you too!
To me, it tastes a bit like a Margarita. Sugarwings thinks it tastes like jelly, but she's never had a margy. This spread has more of a fresh berry flavor than a jelly flavor. And I don't think it ended up costing any more than if I'd bought three jars of All Fruit spread. Sometimes, kitchen experiments can go a bit crazy in the budget department, but this one did okay financially.
Plus, its something we will really enjoy eating, and it wasn't hard to make. We also whipped up some home made yogurt, and for breakfast today, we swirled some of our "jam" into the plain yogurt, and it was heavenly.
That’s how I stand when I make jam:)) Darling:)
Isn’t jam making fun! I don’t have a large freezer so I have to use a water bath method for mine. And we do the low sugar/organic-whenever-possible type here too. We’ve had a few setting disasters, but those just become fancy pancake syrup. 🙂 It’s so wonderful that you’re teaching Sugarwings about making her own quality food…she’ll never forget these special times with you.
I make jam every year, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and sometimes apricot. (I didnt last summer as I had a bunch left from the previous summer since most of my kids had moved out.. not as much gets eaten!) I usually buy the lower sugar suregel. you dont even notice the that there is less sugar!
this will be a jam making year again as I am OUT of homemade jam! I’ve been buying the all fruit spreads since before christmas!
YOur little sugarwings is lucky to have such a good grammie! I love the picture of her standing on two chairs.. doesnt she give you a heart attack? lol!
have a great weekend
vivian
This looks like sooo much fun!
You are a fabulous Grammies!! Sufarwings is a dolly!!!
Karla,
Homemade sugar free organic jam with homemade yougert? Someone call social services I gave my kids chicken nuggets for dinner. I think I threw in some watermelon. Not organic. LOL You are the rockinest Grandmother ever, do they tell you that a lot? Well they should cuz you are.
Lisa
I bet the yogurt and strawberry jelly tasted yummy!
Karla, this is too much fun…love freezer jam..
Only one word for this post.
Sweet.
(especially the photo of Sugarwings standing on two chairs)
Sounds yummy~
And it looks heavenly, too-dear Karla,
And the most wonderfull ,is that you two had lots of fun-like alwayes 🙂
Mathilde will be here from sunday-and then the whole week-without her family– we will have fun, too.
Hugs, Dorthe
I have been wanting to try freezer jam! That looks like fun! I always buy the low sugar stuff too, I like it just as much and my kids never knew the difference!
hugs! karen….
My Father would call that Ice Cream topping!
He has always been the best for seeing the best in things,and put many of my kitchen experiments on ice cream!
Hi…I’ve never made jelly before. It looks delicious! I will have to try sometime because I prefer the taste of natural sweet without all the artificial sweetness.
Have a great day!
It sounds delicious! Sugarwings is getting so tall!
I agree- that picture of her on the chair (s) is adorable!