I make my jam pretty simply, fruit, lemon juice and sugar. But I have a 96 year old grandfather who cannot have sugar and he wanted me to send him some strawberry jam. Now he is a sneaky guy who would certainly eat my regular jam, but it wouldn't be in his best interest health wise so I had to do some research to see if I could make it work for him.
I am completely against using artificial sweeteners with chemicals in them. I wanted to find something more natural that would work in the jam. I discovered that I could use organic agave nectar. It is a low glycemic sweetener made from the juice of the agave plant.
I will admit I wasn't sure how it would turn out, after all I have making jam down to a science with my sugar and I wasn't sure how this would process. I did have to adjust the amount as 1/2 cup of agave is equal to 1 cup of sugar in sweetness. So I went for it.
I mashed up 4 cups of strawberries (trimmed and hulled), added 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 2 cups of agave (instead of my usual 4 cups sugar). I used golden light as it has a lighter flavor and wouldn't effect the final flavor of the jam. I brought it to a gentle boil and continued boiling until it reached a temperature of 220 on my candy thermometer and took it off the heat to rest.
Now came the test. Knowing that I am too much of a critic of my own cooking sometimes I had my husband taste it without telling him it was the agave. He said it was delicious and when I told him he said he couldn't tell the difference! Yesssssss
So I processed them as usual in a water bath and now they are ready to go to my grandfather!
I am so happy I discovered this! If your have someone on a sugar restrictive diet maybe it would work for you too!
Give it a shot!
Till Next Blog.......
