How to make sugar-free jam

Preparing jam without sugar or artificial thickeners is an operation that can be done at home without problems.

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We can really trust jams industrial unsweetened commonly found on the shelves of supermarkets? Those who, for health reasons, cannot consume excess sugars should pay particular attention when purchasing these products. A very simple solution to not having to give up consuming jam is to prepare it at home without adding sugar, following the recipe that we propose below.

Sugar-free jam from apricots, pears or apples

Preparing the jam without adding sugar or artificial thickeners is an operation that can be done at home without any problems. As for pear or apricot jam, it will be necessary to provide for theadding an apple cut into small pieces every 500 grams of fruit. The apple will release its own natural pectin and will give the jam a natural sweet taste.

For the home preparation of jams, attention must be paid to sterilization of the jars. The glass jars and their lids must be sterilized in boiling water. It is possible to arrange them for this purpose in a large bowl, in which to pour boiling water up to cover them. The jars and their lids must have already been thoroughly cleaned, washed and dried before proceeding to sterilization. They can be extracted from the water when it has cooled down.

They will need to be dried and used immediately to pour the inside still very hot jam. Sterilization is necessary to avoid the formation of mold during the preservation of jams. An additional precaution is to add to the jam to be poured into each jar un spoonful of food alcohol, the flavor of which will completely disappear. With one kg of fruit you will get enough jam to fill dai 2 to 3 medium-sized jars.

The ingredients you will need are:

1 kg of apples, apricots or pears
1 apple for every 500 grams of fruit to add to pears or apricots
Spices like cinnamon, ginger, or ground cloves
Lemon juice
Acqua

Start by carefully washing the chosen fruit and drying it. If you have organic fruit available, you can decide not to peel it. Cut it into chunks and leave it to macerate at least for an hour in a bowl, after having sprinkled it with a few tablespoons of lemon juice. Lemon juice is needed to keep the apple from turning black while waiting.

The fruit should have released some of its juice during maceration. You can then pour it into the pot and leave it cook over low heat for about 40 minutes, adding in the meantime the powdered spices, if you want to enrich your jam with flavor and half a glass of water to facilitate cooking.

Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon and, when the fruit has finished cooking, use a immersion blender if you want to get a jam from more homogeneous consistency, without pieces of fruit. Pour the still boiling jam directly into the jars and close them immediately.

Turn them over and place them upside down on a wooden cutting board. Let the jars rest for 48 hours in this position, so that the "vacuum" is formed. The jams can be preserved without problems in the pantry for up to 3 months.

Once opened, they must be placed in the refrigerator and consumed within a week. Of course, once ready, they can be used immediately in the kitchen, for example for breakfast or for the preparation of pies. It is also possible to prepare only the quantity needed at the moment, without having to put the jam back into the jars.

It is therefore necessary to pay attention to your purchases, if you do not want to exceed in the consumption of sugars, taking into account the possibility of prepare at home of the jams which will contain only the sugars found naturally in fruit.