# how to make all-fruit spread (like jam)?



## kangamitroo (Aug 21, 2003)

we are blessed with black raspberry patches, and i thought i might try to cook some down for fruit spread. anyone ever do this? only recipes i have for preserves call for sugar, but i want just fruit.

thanks


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## CJNeeley (Jun 8, 2005)

Well, the problem is you can't quite get a jelly/jam without a little sugar or honey because pectin needs to feed off the sugar to gel (and I think so does most any other gelling agent, except maybe gelatin, and they usually need and acid too), much like yeast does to rise bread or make alcohol, and if you don't add some for the pectin it will take it from your fruit and make the end result bitter--maybe if your fruit were really _over-ripe_ it could pan out but I've never tested that. So if you want it to gel without any added sugar I'd say your best bet would be to buy some unflavored gelatin...but as I've never done it I wouldn't know what to tell you on that end.

But you can achieve a sort of preserve-like substance by cooking down your berries with some butter and water. Melt some butter in the skillet until just foamy, toss in your berries and cook them until they are glossy and just beginning to split. Add some cold water (I don't know how much I do this by eye, so that it's about as high as I would pour milk on cold cereal, but you actually can even just cover the fruit if you wanted to but don't really go any higher than the top of the berries if you're doing it this way, sorry that's probably a little useless measurement wise but I don't know what else to call it) and bring it to a rolling boil--it'll boil faster if you cover it. If you didn't cover it to bring to a boil, cover it when it reaches a boil and reduce to a simmer. Stir it occassionally as you let it slowly reduce down. The water and the fructose will eventually make a sort of 'simple syrup' around the berries, that's when you can uncover it and turn it to low--this is also the time you can use the back of the spoon to smash some of the fruit if you think it's too chunky, but I really don't with berries. Then just let it slowly cook off some of the water until the syrup thickens to the degree you like--it won't really _gel_ but it can still get quite thick and will solidify more if you chill it. [Now a variation on this that you could tinker with is: since the base liquid forms a simple syrup you could go from that stage into some candy making skills and cook it to about a soft ball stage or with a little corn starch, or something of the like, thrown into the boiling syrup--mix it with some water first--you can get it to gel up to about the consistency of the inside of a jelly bean or a gummy. It'll also be ready quicker since candy making is done at higher temperatures. But I like mine softer than that and I just fear candy making in general so I'm not much help there either.] And realize this is sort of basic--butter, fruit, water--so if that sounds too plain you can easily season it up or subtitute juice, wine, etc for the some or all of the water to get the flavor you want. But it's a start...


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## artisticat (Jul 28, 2004)

I made jam the other day with agar powder instead of pectin and it turned out great. I only used 1/3 cup of honey which is so much better than the 6 cups of sugar my old recipe called for. The recipe was somewhere on a thread here, but it goes something like this.

1 T agar flakes (i used powder) with 6 T apple juice, boil and simmer 5 min. Then add 4 cups fruit (i used strawberries but should work for anything) a third cup of honey, 1/4 t ground ginger and 1/8 ts ground coriander. Boil and simmer 5 min. Test by putting on metal spoon and chillin in freezer. If too thick add more juice test again. If too thin add more agar and simmer 5 min then test.


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## Mountain Chick (Sep 8, 2004)

Check out this link for Pomona's Universal Pectin, which allows you to make no-sugar, and low-sugar jams and jellies.

http://www.pomonapectin.com/

I am not selling it or anything, but I have used it and it works really well. You just have to make sure your fruit is really ripe, or add a juice concentrate like the all fruit spreads in the store do, because my raspberry jam (no-sugar), came out a little tart. :LOL

Apparently you can order it from that website, but I found mine in my local Health Food store.

Hopes this helps.


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## CJNeeley (Jun 8, 2005)

artisticat>> You shouldn't need honey to gel agar, just heat; it's like gelatin only veg*n friendly and doesn't need to chill to set. So you can feel free to cut the honey out or down to taste if you want.

Mountain Chick>> Interesting product. Does it already have the calcium it needs to set already included in the mix or do you have to add calcium to get it to set if you are using something relatively low-calcium like strawberries versus something higher in calcium like papayas? Or do you know? Thanks.


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## cjr (Dec 2, 2003)

If you don't have anything against regular pectic products, Bernardin has a pectin for no sugar jam. I made it as a freezer jam and it turned out great. It's the only market pectin that says you can use artificial sweeteners OR not. It's a little tart because of the lack of sugar, but it set up nice.


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## Mountain Chick (Sep 8, 2004)

Quote:

Does it already have the calcium it needs to set already included in the mix or do you have to add calcium to get it to set if you are using something relatively low-calcium like strawberries versus something higher in calcium like papayas?
Everything you need comes in the package (except the fruit of course







), and the link that I included should have a link at the bottom of the page to 3 recipe pages in pdf format, so you can kind of get an idea beforehand.


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