I feel giddy with excitement over our plans to can fruit spreads, sauces, and butters this summer. I’ve been gathering supplies:
Tattler reusable canning lids
As well as taking out books from the library on preserving and putting up:
Including Put ’em Up!
Unfortunately I find myself completely out of luck with regard to recipes. Here’s the common thread I’ve found in all the canning books I’ve procured:
Sugar, sugar, and more sugar! Not small quanities of sugar either, but astounding cups (and cups!) of sugar added per batch.
That is simply not how we eat in our house. I want to make healthy fruit spreads for our family, not condiments chock-full of sugar!
So I’ve begun a quest for more natural fruit spread recipes with no added sugar and I need your help.
I’ve found a number of recipes using honey or maple syrup, others that are raw fruit sauces (like our favorite berry sauce from Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook
I know fruit-sweetened jams exist: I buy fruit spreads in quantity at our local grocery or Whole Foods, usually sweetened with apple or grape juice concentrate.
Why isn’t the internet teeming with these sorts of recipes?! I keep searching on Google and Pinterest without much luck. Am I missing something?!
Please tell me you have information to share, perhaps a family fruit spread recipe or favorite low-sugar canning resource or website? I have blackberries growing on our bushes and strawberries to can. Thank you for your help!
what about the possiblity of blending your own sweet syrup from dates? if you throw some in your vitamix with a certain amount of water what you have is a whole-foods based fruit sweetener…and you wouldn’t need that much, especially for already-sweet fruit, I’d imagine. However I am no expert on canning and this is all theory for me based on how I often use dates in raw deserts. Another option is just to do it sans-sugar and see how it goes…any internet commentary on that? Anyhow, it’s an interesting query! Best of luck, I’ll be keeping a curious eye to see what you end up deciding to do.
Aviva’s comment reminded me that my mom posted a recipe for a date syrup a while ago:
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 cups filtered cold water
1 cup pitted medjool dates, halved (12 to 14 dates)
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
In a blender, combine all the ingredients. Cover the blender and pulse the mixture a few times to break up the fruit. Whirl at top speed, occasionally scraping down the sides, until the mixture is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Transfer the syrup to a glass container with a tight-fitting lid, label it with the date, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Before using, stir the syrup to blend. Makes 2 cups.
oh wait.. duh.. you were the winner of that cookbook, hah! i was going to say i’d ask my mom if the substitution quantities were 1:1 for the date syrup & refined sugar, but you likely would know better than she at this point :)
I think the solution is to substitute a juice for the sugar. That is what I have heard of so far. I think that factories have ways to preserve it faster than the home canner. So be prepared that the color may be more brownish without the sugar. Often cases with canning, the sugar acts as a preservative, especially with color.
two other thoughts:
look into freezer jam. Perhaps it uses less sugar and will preserve better. It could also be less processed which is always good. It uses a good bit of sugar, but our strawberry freezer jam is out of this world!
I’ll be interested to learn what you think of your food mill. I got one at a yard sale, never used, and I am ready to put it back into my next yard sale. I can’t stand them. This year when making apple sauce, we actually cored and peeled the apples, and just used an immersion blender.