So – jam.
Like it v. much. But have always felt guilty about the sugar. SO. MUCH. SUGAR in jam. Like, a whole bag full. Feel much Sugar Guilt.
As gut health expert, have tried to wean family off sugar. When first met Rich, he was eating packs custard creams for snack every single day. Not as occasional treat – as an actual main food group. He would get shaky. Clearly was pre-diabetic (though he would now DENY this. Annoying.) Anyhow, got rid of custard creams. Gradually improved family’s diet. Slooooow process. Caused much resentment. (Also, must be honest – quite like the odd custard cream for self. Is difficult to be reproving while stuffing own face with custard creams. Tricky.)
When first moved to farm, also wanted to be good FARM WIFE. Challenge, because was American city girl with no knowledge of anything useful. Had to learn from scratch. Many, many disasters. (Example: read about “beef dripping” and how is used to make Yorkshire puddings. Confused because when tried cooking Yorkshire puddings in watery beef roasting pan leftovers – thought was “beef dripping” – achieved only soggy mess. Yorkshire puddings wouldn’t rise. More like Yorkshire — pancakes. Finally had Hallelujah moment when spotted beef dripping in supermarket. Is PRODUCT YOU CAN BUY! Just different kind of fat. Did not know. Do not have in U.S. Many other stories like this. Could tell, but would rather not. Too painful. Anyhow confessed all in my book (Secrets from Chuckling Goat: How a Herd of Goats Saved My Family and Started a Business that Became a Natural Health Phenomenon)
So, wanted to make jam, in order to be good Farm Wife. But also wanted family to be healthy. Jam requires sugar. Not just for taste – also to preserve fruit. That being entire point of jam. Jam is traditional way to preserve harvest and deal with glut of fruit that ripens all at once. But – sugar is not healthy for family. What to do? Endless whirling spiral of guilt and confusion. No way out. Trapped!
Tried to make jam without sugar. Spoiled quickly. Also tasted disgusting. Family hated. Family hated jam, but felt hatred also extended to self a bit. Hard not to take personally.
Gave jam up as bad job, tried to be good Farm Wife in other ways. Success variable. Some days up, some days down.
For many, many years, no homemade jam. Dire.
Then – started thinking a lot about UPFs. Ultra Processed Foods.
To avoid processed bread, started making own bread. (Will tell this story another time…) And once had nice homemade bread, felt a bit – lacking – putting nasty-supermarket-jam on it. Read ingredients on back of nasty-supermarket-jam-jar. (Suppose could have bought nice shop jam, instead of the nasty type? But too spendy! Seen what they cost? Madness! ) Noted that nasty-supermarket-jam was not only full of sugar – – but also loads of un-pronounceable chemicals.
Had turning point! Aha Moment! Guilt of Feeding-Processed-Chemicals-to-family trumped Sugar Guilt! Realised…. it’s NOT ABOUT THE SUGAR. IT’S ABOUT THE PROCESSED FOOD.
Have now decided that a bit of sugar – in nice homemade jam on homemade toast for example – is ok. Is better to make own proper jam, using sugar, and eat in moderation, than eat nasty-supermarket-jam that had loads of thickeners & stabilisers & rubbish. Also, goes along with CG 80-20 philosophy which is — 80% of time, eat healthy. 20% of time – enjoy treats WITHOUT GUILT. Jam is treat – don’t have it every meal, or every day. But sometimes – is lovely. And face facts – am EATING JAM ANYHOW. Might as well be nice homemade stuff.
Pleased with decision. Went straight out and bought 4 punnets of strawberries, (on sale, bargain!) 1 punnet of raspberries, two cooking apples and a couple of lemons.
Made jam. Delicious! Family loves jam AND loves self for making jam! Happy Days!
Also – is super easy. JAM IS EASY. Basically – buy some fruit. Weigh it. However much you have, add half the amount of sugar. (ie 1000 grams of strawberries? Add 500 grams of sugar.) Boil. Put into jars. Eat.
SO SIMPLE.
Last time Rich and I went to visit Chris Fruit & Veg in Carmarthen, bought loads of raspberries on sale – £1 per punnet, imagine! As well as nectarines, because they were also on sale. Nectarine jam? Sounds weird but was delish. Basically, whatever’s seasonal or on sale – go with it.
Here is recipe, in case you want to try for yourself. This make about 4 x 500 ml jars of jam. Enjoy it free of sugar guilt! Is all good!
Here’s a basic method to make jam using the 2:1 fruit to sugar ratio:
Shann’s Basic Any-Fruit Jam
Ingredients:
- 1 kilogram of fruit (peel, core, de-seeded and chopped into smallish cubes as needed, depending on fruit.)
- Juice of 1 lemon (adds tartness and keeps the colour bright)
- One cooking apple, peeled, cored and chopped. (No matter what kind of jam you’re making, apple boils down and integrates nicely. It also adds pectin, which helps the jam to set.)
- 500 g sugar
- 1 TSP butter
- (Note – you can do this with any amount of fruit. However much you have, just add half the weight of sugar.)
Method:
- Pop a saucer into the freezer. Seems odd but trust me – this will make sense later.
- Wash jam jars and lids in warm soapy water, rinse thoroughly. Place jars (upside-down) and lids on a baking tray and put in a low oven at around 120°C. By the time you’re finished making the jam, the jars will be sterilised and warm. This will be important for the sealing process – always put hot jam into a warm jar, so that the top will seal properly as it cools!
- Prepare the fruit. Peel, core, take the stone out etc depending on the type of fruit. Raspberries are super easy for this one but you may want to strain some of the pips out later. Or leave them in. Whatevs.) Chop fruit into roughly 2 cm chunks. Feel free to mix and match your fruits – raspberry and strawberry! Blackberry and peach! Go crazy!
- Place fruit in large saucepan – taller is better, so it won’t boil over the top! Simmer gently, stirring now and then until the fruit is broken down and begins to release its juices.
- Add sugar and lemon juice.
- Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves completely. Add butter. (This is to prevent foam from forming, which you would need to remove.)
- Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Stir constantly to prevent sticking and burning, for around 10-15 minutes.
- You’ll notice the consistency begins to shift and gets thicker. Once you reckon it’s thick enough, get your saucer out of the freezer and spoon a bit of jam onto it. Wait a few minutes, and then tip the saucer to see if the jam runs. If it stays relatively stable, you have what is called “a set” and you’re done. If it doesn’t set, keep boiling for a few minutes more and check again, until it seems done.
- Get your jars out of the oven (be careful, the glass is hot!) and gently ladle the jam into each jar, leaving a space at the top. Put the lids onto the jars and tighten. Don’t worry if everything is a bit sticky – you can wash the outsides of the jars down later, once they’re cooled.
- Once cooled, check that the lids have sealed properly. They should be slightly concave and not pop when pressed. If a jar lid still pops when pressed, simply put that one straight into the fridge and eat it first!
- Store the jam in a cool, dark place. Once opened, store in the fridge.
Enjoy!
Hugs,
Shann.x
PS – If you’d like to have a chat with our lovely Nutritional Therapists about jam, CG’s 80-20 treat theory, or how to improve your mood/inflammation levels/ tummy issues/ skin conditions today, hop on live chat. They’re waiting to chat with you, 8 am to 8 pm weekdays. All humans, NO BOTS. Because bots don’t like jam! It just makes them all sticky…
