I love making low-sugar jam because it allows the flavors of the fruit to shine without hiding behind gobs of refined sugar. This particular recipe is a bit decadent because it uses a real vanilla bean to add a touch of “cream” flavor to each jar. You can certainly make it without the vanilla and you will still have a superior product because the sweetness of the strawberries is the main attraction.
This recipe calls for “Ball No Sugar Pectin” which is a commercial, low-sugar pectin. It can be found wherever canning supplies are sold. If you can’t find that particular brand, please follow the strawberry jam instructions inside the package of whichever brand of “low-sugar pectin” you can find. Add the vanilla bean seeds as I do here and the recipe should work beautifully for you. Each pectin manufacturer can have slightly different measurements or technique for making the jam firm up, so be sure to follow your brand’s recommendations exactly so you have a successful gel.
By using less sugar, you allow the flavor of the fruit to SHINE!
You will need:
Water bath canner
4-6 (8 oz) half pint canning jars w/two piece lids
About 4 lbs of fresh strawberries
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
1 (1.75 oz )pkg Ball No-Sugar Pectin
1 whole vanilla bean
½ tsp. butter or margarine (optional)
1 ½ cup granulated sugar
Fill your water bath canner with enough water to cover the jars by at least one inch. If you are unfamiliar with water bath canning, go HERE for more information.
Wash all jars and lids in hot soapy water. Rinse and check tops of jars for chips. Discard any chipped or cracked jars. You do not need to sterilize these jars because you will be water bath canning them for 10 minutes, which sterilizes the jars during the processing. Just place the jars in the water bath canner while you bring it up to temperature and the jars will be hot when you are ready to add the hot jam.
Wash and hull the strawberries. Slice them in half and gently crush them until you have 4 cups of crushed strawberries. Save the remaining strawberries for another use (such as ice cream or waffle topping).
In a large, 6-8 quart heavy-bottomed pot, over a medium flame, combine the strawberries, apple juice and pectin. Use a sharp knife to cut down the center of the vanilla bean, open it and gently scrape out the black seeds from the entire bean. Add all of the seeds to the strawberry/apple juice mixture and stir well. Add the entire vanilla bean pod into to the mixture as well.
To reduce foaming, you can add the butter or margarine to the pot if you wish. Raise heat and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir constantly to prevent burning. Once you have the full boil, add the sugar and return to a full rolling boil. Then, boil for three minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
Remove from heat. Skim off and discard foam if necessary. Remove the large vanilla bean pod, rinse and set aside to dry. (Do not throw the vanilla bean away. Once it is dry, you can add it to a jar of sugar to create “vanilla sugar”. In a week or two, use the sugar in baking or in drinks.)
The finished jam explodes with flavor from the berries and the vanilla!
Fill your hot jars with jam, leaving a ¼ inch headspace. Use a clean damp paper towel to wipe the tops of the jars. Add a hot lid to each jar and apply the metal ring (or band). Only tighten the band to “finger tight” – Do not crank it down too tightly.
Place the jars in the canner being sure that water covers the tops of the jars by at least 1-2 inches. Bring the water in the canner to a steady boil. Begin timing and process the jars for 10 minutes. If you are over 1,000 feet, you need to adjust your time for altitude according to the altitude chart found HERE.
Remove jars from canner and set upright on a towel to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours. After cooling, check seals by pressing in the center of the lid. If a lid does NOT flex up and down, it is sealed. Store sealed jars on the pantry shelf for up to one year. Any unsealed jars (with flexing lids) need to be stored in the refrigerator and eaten within a few weeks.
Enjoy!
Theresa Loe
Theresa Loe is the Associate Producer of Growing A Greener World. She is trained as a Master Food Preserver and is an expert in urban homesteading, home preservation and educational gardens/gardening with children.
Click to Print This Page
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Could I substitute stevia for the sugar?
Hi Steve,
Yes. This is the ONLY time that it is okay to substitute stevia for the sugar. The reason you can do it here is because the low-sugar pectin has the added ingredient of calcium. The combination of calcium, pectin and acid is what makes it gel (or firm up). Any “normal” jam recipe uses a sugar/pectin/acid combination to create the gel. But with the addition of calcium, you are allowed to make this jam with low-sugar OR NO SUGAR and it will still work. The stevia can be used as the sweetener with no problems.
You can also use honey instead of sugar.
You are only allowed to do this when you use a commercial low-sugar pectin product. Don’t try it with a normal jam recipe or you will end up with syrup instead of jam.
Good luck!
Just to let you and anyone else know, you can use a product called Pamona Pectin which is a calcium based pectin for all no-sugar, low sugar, stevia, and regular sugar canning. I bought mine at a local co-op and it ran about $4.50 for the box. You mix up the calcium water and can keep that in the fridge for months! Then just add however much of the pectin packet that is needed and you have great jam! I made some Apricot Jam with this and just a 1/4 teaspoon of stevia and it is wonderfully sweet and set perfectly!
I will be trying the above recipe this week. The vanilla bean sounds so very good!
Tracy
Awesome Tracy!
I just bought myself some Pamona Pectin but had not tried it yet. (I found it at Whole Foods) I am so glad to hear first hand that it works well. I can’t wait to try it myself now. I think I will try it with a honey recipe.
Thanks for the first hand report.
Strawberries and cream jam sounds like a GREAT way to start canning! I am more and more convinced that I should start
Oh yes Shardae! I definitely think you should start! And this is a great recipe to try.
I love your wonderful fresh food shares : )
Thanks Annie!
This sounds really yummy. I didn’t know that you could put oil in a water-bathed food. Is that generally ok, or only safe with certain other ingredients? Thanks for sharing what you know
Hi Donna,
You are correct. Oil is not safe to use in water bathed foods. There is actually no ‘cream’ in this recipe. Vanilla is used to give the flavor of “strawberries and cream”. No oil is used. So it is still safe to water bath.
Yes, there’s no cream, but there is butter. That’s why I asked about oil. Does butter not count as an oil in this context?
Ahhh – I’m sorry Donna. I misunderstood what you were asking. This is an excellent question!
Yes, there is butter and yes, butter is an oil – but let me explain:
Dairy products, or oils are dangerous to add to canning foods with a pH above 4.6. (Vegetables, meat, home canned soups, etc) because the fat can encapsulate or insulate any botulism spores from heat. In other words, if you add cream or milk to a food and can it, you cannot ensure that you heated any botulism spores high enough to kill it and you may get botulism – even if you pressure can it. And botulism grows in pH levels above 4.6.
HOWEVER: THIS RECIPE IS FOR A HIGH ACID FOOD with a pH below 4.6. Botulism spores cannot grow in high acid. That is why we are able to “water bath can” foods such as fruit, jam, jelly, pickles and tomatoes that have been acidified. So even if the oil encapsulates any spores, they cannot grow in a high acid food. The important thing about that is that you don’t change the pH into the danger zone by adding the “oil”.
In this recipe, the amount added is insignificant. It is 0.004 of the total volume of ingredients. (Which is a tiny percentage) Not enough to change the pH level into the danger zone or cause spoilage.
So here are the important things to remember: Deciding if something is okay to be water bathed (vs. pressure canned) depends mostly the pH level of what you want to can. It is usually safe to water bath items with a pH below 4.6 (fruit, jam, jelly, pickles and tomatoes that have been acidified). Things with a pH above 4.6 must be pressure canned (vegetables, meat).
TRACE amounts of oil (butter) are okay in jelly/jam because we have several factors working in our favor:
1) It is a high acid food (botulism cannot grow)
2) Trace amounts will not affect/change the pH level of the recipe
3) The natural sugar in the fruit is acting as a preservative.
I hope that answers your question!
Theresa
Thank you so much for this very comprehensive answer! I can’t wait to try this recipe when my strawberries come in.
No problem – Glad to help!
You will love it!
I’m a diabetic. Can Splenda be used instead of sugar ?
Good Morning Lea Violette,
YES! You can use Splenda with this recipe. It only works if you use the “Low or No sugar Pectin” described above. Normally the sugar helps the mixture gel in a jam recipe. But if you use the special pectin, it will gel even if no sugar is added.
So feel free to use Splenda in the recipe above. How much is a personal choice and would also be based on the sweetness of the strawberries. You may have to taste to decide the best amount to add for you.
Good luck!
~Theresa
{ 1 trackback }