Can you believe it? –homemade strawberry preserves with only three ingredients!
This simple recipe is sweetened with grape juice and tart apples add the pectin!
Strawberry Jam Recipe
Strawberry Jam Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 Cups Fresh Strawberries Hulled & sliced in half (about 4 Pounds)
- 5 Tart Apples cored, peeled and chopped
- 2 12 ounce Grape Juice concentrate thawed
Place fruit and juice in a heavy deep stainless steel pot. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil for about 25 minutes, stirring constantly and mashing fruit. I used a potato masher. Cook until gel stage has been reached. The gelling point is 220°F (104°C), or 8°F (4°C) above the boiling point of water.
You will get a lovely thick mixture.
Get your hot clean jars ready and
a canning funnel. It makes filling the jars so much easier!
Fill jars, leaving 1/4 headspace at the top of the jar. Remove any bubbles. Wipe mouths of jars with a hot clean cloth.
Place lid on jar and screw on rings just until resistance is met and then screw finger tip tight.
Place jars in a water bath, making sure they are covered at least 1 inch and cover. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove lid wait 5 minutes, then remove jars and cool.
It is a more tart jam, but delicious and it doesn’t have all that extra sugar!
You might be interested in my homemade jam label tutorial.
Enjoy!
Using that much grape juice is the same as using sugar. 24 oz of grape juice concentrate contains 456 grams of sugar, the same as adding 2 1/3 cups of table sugar. Apples, depending on size, have another 15-30 grams (75-150 grams) Added fructose is not a panacea to blood sugar issues, and can actually spike blood sugars in the short term than cane sugar. Using a no/low sugar pectin and minimal added sweeteners actually results in a lower glycemic product than using juice. My husband is diabetic, and what they are calling type 3–his pancreas was damaged by another disease and does not produce insulin, and he also has insulin resistance.
Does it taste at all like grape juice? I don’t like the flavor of grape juice so just wondered if this recipe would be right for me.
My son is currently stationed in Germany and he absolutely loves all things strawberry. He and his wife went strawberry picking for the first time this past year. I will have to give this recipe a try! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Wanda!! You can use stevia; but as a nutritionist, I don’t recommend diet grape. Most diet is sweetened with aspartame or Equal, which get bitter with heat. Splenda IS SUGAR!! It comes from the lower portion of the cane and reacts in the body the same way as sugar!! Look for 100% natural grape which will have no preservatives and minimal, if any, added sugar. When I prepare this in my bakery for my diabetic customers, I let the fructose in the fruits be adequate enough sugar. If you are needing it sweeter, stir in a bit of stevia; but SMALL amounts at a time, as it can become oversweet quickly. I use a combo of Granny and Fuji apples and micro a couple of minutes first. Hope this helps!! Good luck!! Dr.J.
I also would like to know if this jam could be put in the freezer. I don’t have cold storage so freezer jam is the best for me, and I was hoping this could be. Thanks.
could you cut this recipe in half and still get the same deliciousness?
Thanks for sharing. I’ve made jam with plums from my garden … will give the strawberry jam a try next.
I am not sure Wanda. It might be worth a try. Let me know how it turns out. I am sure people would love a sugar free version.
Can you use diet grape and then add stevia
How much juice do you use? I’m use to mls. Do you know how much this is in mls?
Made this last night, and it looks amazing, however it’s still quite runny. Will it be more runny comoared to jam made with pectin? (Or perhaps I didn’t do something right?)
Can’t wait to try out this recipe! Pinned!
Was just wondering if strawberry juice concentrate could be used instead?? Would that be to much on the strawberry side of this?? 🙂
What if I used sweeter apples? Or is there something about thr tartness necessary to make thr jam?
Peel your apples first and then grate them in a food processor.