Is Homemade Jam Healthy?

You can make homemade jam healthier than store bought jams by using less sugar and no synthetic preservative or ingredients but there is still a lot of sugar in homemade jams. So, healthier but not healthy.

Tips For Making Your Homemade Jam and Jelly Healthier

Use Less Sugar

If you are using sweet fruit like strawberries, apricots, peaches or plums you can use a lot less sugar in your jams and it still taste sweet and delicious. When try a new recipe add half of the sugar and cook for a few minutes then taste the jam. Add more till you reach your desired sweetness. When using cranberries in your recipes you will want to use the recommended amount of sugar due to there sour and sometimes bitter taste.

Substitutes For Sugar

Honey, maple syrup, and stevia are all great healthy substitutes for sugar! I prefer doing half sugar and honey rather than doing 100% honey or another sweetener.

When omitting sugar from your jam recipes it will effect the thickening of you jam. To be successful use the right pectin. Pectin and sugar work together in thickening and firming the jam. There is pectin that does not require sugar to activate, such as, Real Fruit Pectin.

Do Cranberries Have Natural Pectin?

Yes! Cranberries have lots of natural pectin and firm up really well the longer you let them simmer.

Do Persimmons Have Natural Pectin?

Yes! Persimmons have natural pectin. Although they have a natural pectin they may not have enough to get your jam to your desired texture. That is why this recipe uses cranberries. They have a lot more natural pectin helping thicken my persimmons and creates a wonderful blend of flavor.

Different Types of Persimmons

There are two main types of persimmons Fuyu and Hachiya. Fuyu is the sweet, eat like an apple delicious when raw persimmon fruit. It is short, with tough skin and juicy flesh. Hachiya is not like the Fuyu. It is long and although sweet with the same flavor as the Fuyu it often has a mouth drying feeling when you eat it. This is due to what’s called Astringency. The best way to use Hachiya persimmons is by cooking them or waiting till they are over ripe to eat.

Either choice is good for jam. Both are sweet and cook the same. When ever I get Hachiya persimmons I always make jam with them. This year we had an abundance of Fuyu and enjoyed them daily with enough to make our jam.

How to Make Cranberry Persimmon Jam

Prepare Your Persimmons

Cut and peel your persimmons in small pieces. Trim off any blemishes.

Cook Your Jam

In a large pot cook on medium high the persimmons, cranberries sugar, orange juice and zest, cinnamon, and all-spice. Let it simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.

The jam should thicken up. You can test the texture by taking a tablespoon of the jam and placing it in the freezer for a minute to see how thick the jam sets when cooled.

Blend You Fruit

After its cook for a while. Use an immersion blender to blend your jam to your desired consistency. I like a few chucks of fruit but not a lot. You can also place you jam in a blender or mash it with a potato masher. The longer it cooks the more the fruit will brake down but it is faster if you blend it.

Store Your Jam

Clean your jars and sanitize if you plan on water bath canning them. Use a ladle and a canning funnel for clean easy transfer into the jars.

Without canning your jars will last 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator. With canning they will last up to a year in your pantry. Once opened, 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator.

How To Water Bath Can Jam

Wash and sterilize your canning jars, lids and rings. You can sterilize by placing the clean jars in boiling water with a 1/2 cup of vinegar for ten minutes. I always wash my rings and lids with hot soupy water and put them in a stainless steal strainer above the boiling water on top of the jars to steam them.

The vinegar is optional. I use it because are water is hard and leaves spots on the jars unless I use the vinegar.

Heat water to a light simmer in a large canning pot and with a canning jar rack.

When the jam is hot poor it into your jars leaving a 1/2 inch of headspace.

Clean off the rim of your jars with a little white vinegar and place the lids and rings on finger tight, no tighter. With your jar tongs place your jars with hot jam into the hot water. (You can also work with cold jam but you will need the water to also be cool.)

Bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let the jars remain in the water for another 10 minutes before taking out. Take out and let cool. After a few hours take the rings off and check the seal by lifting gently on the lid.

Cranberry Persimmon Jam

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

No Ratings

Print

Ingredients

• 20 Persimmons
• 8 cups of cranberries (fresh or frozen)
• 6 cups sugar
• Zest from 2 oranges
• Juice from 2 oranges
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon all-spice

Instructions

1. Cut and peel your persimmons in small pieces
2. In a large pot cook on medium high the persimmons, cranberries sugar, orange juice and zest, cinnamon, and all-spice.
3. Let it simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. The jam should thicken up. You can test the texture by taking a tablespoon of the jam and placing it in the freezer for a minute to see how thick the jam sets when cooled.
4. Poor you jam in clean sterilize jars and enjoy!

You can keep your jam in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. Or you can water bath can your jam for longer shelf life.

Water Bath Canning

1. Wash and sterilize your canning jars, lids and rings.
2. Heat water to a light simmer in a large canning pot and with a canning jar rack.
3. When the jam is hot poor it into your jars leaving a 1/2 inch of headspace.
4. Clean off the rim of your jars with a little white vinegar and place the lids and rings on finger tight, no tighter.
5. With your jar tongs place your jars with hot jam into the hot water. (You can also work with cold jam but you will need the water to also be cool.)
6. Bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes.
7. Turn off the heat and let the jars remain in the water for another 10 minutes before taking out.
8. Take out and let cool. After a few hours take the rings off and check the seal by lifting gently on the lid.

The post Cranberry Persimmon Jam Recipe (no pectin) appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Why Is It Called Nantucket Pie?

This dessert could be considered more of a cobbler or cake but has the name Nantucket Pie. Why? It is said that this recipe was created first on the Island of Nantucket. Nantucket, as well as the surrounding New England area is knows for its abounded cranberry fields. The cranberry harvest time is from September-November making this a perfect recipe for the Thanksgiving and fall season. Some have even called this recipe “Cranberry Christmas Pie” due to its popularity during the fall and winter season.

Ingredients for Nantucket Cranberry Pie

Cranberries

You can use fresh or frozen cranberries for this recipe. I use frozen and it worked out perfect. Cranberries are a tart berry that are easily balance with just a bit of sugar for the perfect tart to sweet ratio. Cranberries are typically a seasonal ingredient in the grocery stores but I have been able to find them year round at AzureStandard.com. (click here to learn more about Azure Standard)

Sugar

To sweeten our pie we are going to use white sugar. You can substitute your sugar for monk fruit sweetener or even honey or maple syrup. I have not tested out these substitutes yet but plan on doing so this holiday season. I’ll let you know in the future if how they turn out. If you try them before me please let us know what you thought in the comments.

Pecans

A few chopped pecans go a long way in the recipe. They add a little needed texture to our soft cakey top and juicy cranberries by adding a little crunch every now and then. Just enough for maybe every other bite to have a little pecan. If you like more go ahead and add as many as you like.

You could also substitute the pecans for sliced almonds or walnuts if you prefer. Macadamia nuts would also be really good in the pie.

Eggs

Eggs keep the cakey part of our pie light yet holding together. We don’t want everything to fall apart but to hold together so every flavor is combined in each bite.

Melted Butter

Melted butter to create a yummy buttery cakey top to our pie. Melt your butter in the microwave or in a sauce pan on the stove.

Almond Flour

I love almond flour! The nutty flavor makes every dessert so much sweeter and brighter! Although I understand that not everyone loves it as much as myself or not everyone has it in their pantry ready to go. You can use all purpose flour for this recipe. Most recipes call for all purpose flour. Gluten free or regular all purpose flour still makes and excellent cake, but almond flour is the best.

Almond and Vanilla Extract

More almond flavor! and Vanilla. Again I love the almond flavor but if you don’t have almond extract you can skip it. The almond flour will still give you the almond flavor but it is nice to add a little more with the extract.

I like to use vanilla powder rather than extract. You can find the vanilla powder on amazon. This powder is a 1:1 ratio for vanilla extract so you don’t have to do any extra math when substituting. I like the flavor a lot and its been a great addition to my pantry.

Salt

Enhance the flavor with good salt like Redmond Real Salt. If you are looking for a unrefined natural salt with multiple minerals and electrolytes harvested in the United States of America, then look no further. Redmond Real Salt is full of flavor and nutrients and harvested out of the ancient seabed deep beneath Central Utah.

How To Make Nantucket Cranberry Pie

Step 1: Preheat Your Oven to 350 Degrees.

Step 2: Cranberries!

Mix together the cranberries, pecans and 1/2 cup sugar. Simple mix so that the sugar covers the cranberries and pour into you 9 inch pie pan.

Step 3: Make The Batter

In a separate bowl mix together the almond flour, salt, vanilla, eggs, melted butter, 1/2 cup sugar. The batter will be a little thick.

Step 4: Spread Batter on Cranberries

Spoon the batter on the top of the cranberries. Do not mix. Spread the batter to cover the top of the cranberries.

Step 5: Bake.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown an a toothpick, when inserted, come out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

Nantucket Cranberry Pie

Yield: 1, 9 inch pie pan

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

No Ratings

Print

Ingredients

Cranberry Filling

Toggle ingredient group

• 2 1/2 Cups Cranberries
• 1/2 Cup Pecan
• 1/2 Cup Sugar

Topping

Toggle ingredient group

• 1 Cup Almond Flour
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Powder/Extract
• 1/2 Teaspoon Almond Extract
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Melted Butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a 9 inch pie pan mix together 2 1/2 cups cranberries, 1/2 cup pecans and 1/2 cup sugar.
3. In a bowl mix together the batter ingredients, 1 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder/extract and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup melted butter.
4. Spoon the batter on top of the cranberries and spread on top. Do not mix in, just spread on top.
5. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

Shop This Recipe

Blue Diamond Almonds Almond Flour, Gluten Free, Blanched, Finely Sifted, 48 oz

Cook’s, Pure Vanilla Powder, World’s Finest Gourmet Fresh Premium Vanilla, 4.5 oz

Azure Market Organics Cranberries, Whole, Organic, Frozen

Monk Fruit In The Raw Sweetener Baker’s Bag, 16 oz., Keto Certified Monk Fruit Sweetener, Zero Calories, Zero Net Carbs, Non-GMO Project Verified

The post Nantucket Cranberry Pie, Gluten Free Desserts appeared first on Embracing The Home.