Wednesday, August 10, 2011

No-Pectin Added, Lower-Sugar Raspberry Freezer Jam

The first year I made jam by myself, I was absolutely horrified at the thought of putting SO much more sugar in than the precious little berries themselves. But I did it anyway, since that was what the instructions told me to do. And we ate it. And we enjoyed it.

Ever since that first year, I have been on a half-hearted quest to find a better solution. I have used just about every low-sugar or no-sugar pectin available on the market, with varying result.

Varying, mostly because I never actually wrote down which brand I used, or to what degree I followed their loose "add your desired amount of sugar/sweetener here". Some batches turned out great, while others were bricks in the freezer and syrup in the refrigerator.

This year! I proclaimed! This year, I am researching and writing my methods with a purpose! I will determine the very best way to make Raspberry Freezer Jam (my most favorite jam in the whole wide world, I might add).

And its a good thing I chose the easiest berry in the world to make jam out of. For as it turns out, Raspberries fall into that category of fruits that produce a rather high amount of natural pectin. Who knew?

Armed with this knowledge and an offhand comment read in a 4-year-old jam forum by a man that his no-pectin Raspberry jam was bomb-proof (but with no further explanation), I set to work.

Batch One: 4 c. crushed Raspberries, 3 c. sugar, brought to a rolling boil for 1 min.
Result: Perfect flavor, but syrupy in the fridge and although slightly soft in the freezer, not spreadable.

Batch Two:
Ball No-Sugar Pectin stirred into 1 3/4 cups Tree Top 3 Apple Blend Pressed Juice and brought to a rolling boil for 1 minute, then stirred into 4 1/2 cups crushed berries sweetened with 2 cups sugar.
Result: Good flavor, but not as pure as I like, with a perfect consistency in the fridge, but hard as a brick in the freezer.

Hm. Added pectin and harder in the freezer than my no-pectin version?

Batch Three: 6 c. crushed Raspberries, 6 c. sugar, brought to a rolling boil for 1 min.
Result: Slightly sweeter flavor, but no off-taste from boxed pectin, and PERFECT spreadable consistency straight from the freezer, which was my goal. In the fridge it has a rather soft set, but is certainly more spreadable than pourable.

So there you have it. I have made two more batches since the third, following the same method, but with different quantities (11 & 8 cups respectively), and both have turned out perfectly.

There are a few key steps that I truly believe helped me along in this process, both based on knowledge I gleaned online that almost-ripe Raspberries have more pectin in them, and that running them through a food processor would destroy much of the natural pectin.

So, this is how to go about making the most perfect and easy Raspberry Freezer Jam ever...

1. Pick some Raspberries. Don't worry about only getting just perfectly ripe berries, but rather, get a mix of ripe and almost-ripe (but not hard) berries, even throwing in some of the slightly over-ripe ones for good measure.

2. Gently pick them over, only rinsing when absolutely necessary (this is when having my very own row of organic berries is nice, since I have no questions about what may be in the air to contaminate them).

3. Crush the berries with a potato masher or the bottom of a soup ladle. Don't worry too much if there are some un-crushed in the batch, as you will have a chance to smash them while they are heating, and more will break down during the boil.

4. Take note of the final volume of your crushed berries before pouring them into a large pot. Add an equal amount of sugar. This is the most beautiful part of this method... no more having too many or not enough berries. If you have 2 1/4 cups of crushed berries, add 2 1/4 cups of sugar. If you have 11 5/8 cups of crushed berries, add 11 5/8 cups of sugar.

5. Heat, stirring and crushing any stray berries until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil that can't be knocked down by stirring. Continue to stir for one minute.

6. Remove from heat. See the foam on top in the next photo? That is an indicator of pectin. Nice, eh?

7. Ladle into prepared containers.

8. Allow to cool completely before placing your finished product into the freezer.

Is your mouth watering?

Just a note of warning... don't try this method with Strawberries, because it won't work. They fall into the category of fruits with the least amount of pectin. Scroll down a little on this page to see a basic list of fruits and their level of natural pectin.

20 comments:

Mary Lou said...

Hi Beth,
I read your blog and thought you might be interested to know about Pomona's Pectin. It is sold in natural food stores; contains no sugar or preservatives (100% citrus pectin); and jells with low amounts of any sweetener (or no sweetener at all). You can make freezer jam with it, and you get the full fruit taste. I am a partner with my sister in Pomona's. We are a small, one-product company: www.pomonapectin.com. Good luck and happy jamming! Mary Lou Sumberg, pomonapectin@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for posting this recipie! I am a novice cook and first time jam maker. I followed your directions using fresh picked Oregon raspberries. The jam is perfection! Thank you!!

Del said...

Wow, thanks!

I've never made jam before and just learning to cook. Raspberries and black berries grow wild in my back yard. My wife picked a bunch but we didn't know what to do with them. So, I googled and found your recipe.
It worked great!!! Despite the fact that I measured my sugar based on uncrushed berries and boiled for nearly a minute too long. So it's kind of stiff and a little too sweet. Still, will make this (according to the recipe) every summer from now on. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Just made the jam tonight. Husband and Son could not wait for it to set! The flavor was wonderful. If you like your jam thick out of the fridge, this is not for you. Thicker than syrup, but soft set. Speaking of syrup I cannot wait to try this on pancakes or waffles. Easy recipe to remember. Thank you.

Beth Twist said...

Yes, you're right, this is certainly not a jam that you use out of the refrigerator. It is meant to be stored in and used directly from the freezer. However, if you want to use it as a sauce on cheesecake or ice cream, just move it to the fridge a day in advance and it will be just right for drizzling.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the simple, delicious recipe!

Anonymous said...

Hi! This looks wonderful! Do you skim the foam in this recipe?
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Never mind! =)
Just finished making it. The foam simply disappears once the pot is removed from the heat! =)
Thank you for a lovely recipe!

Anonymous said...

This is just what I've been looking for - so thank you.

Btw, if you stir in a small knob of butter at the very end, the foam will disperse. That's if you care about the foam!

Lareina said...

Worked like a charm! Thanks so much for doing all the hard work!

Anonymous said...

thank SO much for posting your research! off 2 happy-canning!
best wishes

Anonymous said...

Just made some jam. Waiting for it to cool so I can put it in the freezer. I had no foam on top, did I do something wrong?

Rekha said...

Amazing recipe! All family members declared this a success! Thank you!

Emily Lacey said...

Just made some of this and it is Delicious. I'm excited to see how it freezes up. In the meantime, I can't stop thinking of ice cream, stuffed french toast, crepes, and homemade bread all perfected with raspberry jam that tastes incredible. Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Hello! Getting ready to make raspberry freezer jam for the first time. Wondering if I can reduce the sugar a little bit since there is more natural pectin in raspberries? Do both the sugar and pectin cause the jam to soft set? Thanks for your help.

Sue G

Lynda (Granny K) said...

Thank you so much for this recipe and the interesting comments. I hope you don't mind that I have added it to my Pinterest board. I'm off to pick my raspberries today and have a go at making it. I like to add a spoonful of jam to my morning porridge and this sounds lovely.

Unknown said...

I finally found your recipe. I made it last year and didn't write it down. My Mom ate it everyday while in hospice when we couldn't get her to eat anything else! My family keeps bugging me to make more so now I can, and YES, I wrote it down! Thanks! The Thole Family

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your natural freezer jam, I'm excited and have never made any jams before. I could not eat fast enough and tons of my raspberries are ripe so this is a great way to use and enjoy them all year. Thanks I'm going to try some syrup too and freeze it.
The lady who posted about her natural pectin neglected to tell us how it's for cooked recipe's only they don't have a raspberry freezer jam.

Mary said...

2nd year making this delicious jam...what a huge hit for my entire family. We haven't been big jam eaters until now. Just returned from a blackberry excursion on the Oregon Coast so I'm hoping this recipe will also work with them. Thanks for a simple and healthier jam recipe.

Julie said...

I’ve made this twice in the last week. It’s really, really, really, REALLY good. I grow my own raspberries and since I’m the only one who eats them I was desperate for something to do with them. And, hating the old fashioned cook til you drop method of Jam making I decided to google easy, low sugar, no-pectin, recipes and found yours. Thank you so much. It’s truly delicious