Sunday 7 July 2013

Lower sugar apricot jam

Lower sugar apricot jam by Carole's Chatter


We like having home made jam on our toast for breakfast.  But I have always felt uneasy at how much sugar goes into it.  So I made a batch of lower sugar apricot jam – and was pleased to find that it was just as good!

I had 500g of apricots (weight after removing their stones).
I added to the chopped apricots 250g of sugar (half the quantity the normal recipes would suggest), the juice of 1 lemon (to help with jam setting), a tablespoon of brandy (obviously optional) and a few drops of vanilla extract.

I boiled it until it reached the setting stage.  You test this by putting a small quantity onto a very cold plate and then running your finger through it to see if the jam on each side stays separate or runs together.  When it stays separate the jam is ready.

Just before turning off the hob I added 1 teaspoon of stevia powder (a natural herbal sweetener which is over 10 times sweeter than sugar).

I put the jam into clean, hot jars and put a little waxed paper disc on top of each one before putting the lid on.  I keep this jam in the fridge since the jars were not fully sterilised.


The jam didn't taste at all of the brandy or the vanilla but to my mind they did accentuate the apricotiness of the end product.

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10 comments:

  1. Oh good to know that you can use stevia in jam.

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  2. That sounds lovely! I need to get some jars and do jam. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Never thought of testing jam to see if it has set. obviously a beginner, but so.happy to read that there are ways to see when/if it is ready!

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  4. I love apricots, your jam looks delicious.

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  5. One of my mother's favorite fruits. She would love this.

    Thank you for linking to Raising Imperfection.
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  6. Cool that you made that work. Looks great and I'll bet it tastes even better!

    Joy's Book Blog

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  7. That's a great tip for testing the jam...not that I've ever made jam b/c I'm too chicken to do so. But a nice tip all the same! Thank you for linking this week, Carole. I'm going to stop in this week and link some sauces to Food on friday. For now, I'm recovering from vacation. Ha!

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  8. how do you keep the apricots from turning brown in freezer?

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