Hubby loves jam on his peanut butter and toast. And quite a few of the low carb or sugar free ones come with the artificial sweeteners, that.. well.. how to put this delicately. You might as well pour directly into the toilet as it would take the same amount of time. Ahem.
So I thought I would try this recipe with Stevia extract and it turned out very nice. It reminded me alot of apple butter or lemon curd, but all strawberry. Instead of mashing, my hubby used my handblender so it was almost slushy smooth instead of chunky. I think it all depends on what you like for texture. Not overly sweet either, which I like, so again if you like super sweet jams, you could put a bit more Stevia extract in.
I was originally going to use raspberries, but the strawberries were a better price. For the pectin and calcium water, I used Pomona Pectin. Sugar free, so perfect for a low carb jam.
Low Carb Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 quarts / 6 cups / fresh berries
- 1 cup unsweetened fruit juice concentrate I used diet cranberry
- 2 teaspoons pectin powder
- 1/4 teaspoon calcium powder mixed into 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 teaspoon stevia extract I used the liquid
Instructions
- Wash, rinse, and sterilize jars.
- Clean berries, remove hulls, and mash or blend with a hand blender. You want about 3 cups of berries once they are mashed / blended.
- Place in large pot.
- Add 4 tsp calcium water to the berries and stir well.
- In another small sauce pan bring the cranberry juice to a boil.
- Place in a blender (or the large blending cup of the hand blender). Add 2 tsp of pectin powder and blend 1 - 2 minutes until powder is dissolved.
- Bring fruit to a boil. Add the dissolved pectin. Stir vigorously 1 minute.
- Stir in the stevia extract. Bring back to a boil and remove from heat.
- Fill jars to 1/2 inch from the top. Screw on 2 piece lids.
- Boil 5 minutes in a water bath.
- Remove from water and let jars cool and wait for the pop that indicates they've sealed.