Making Alaska Berry Jams

I have been making jams at home for many years. After moving up here I started making jams with my Alaska berries to share with family and friends. Homemade fruit and berry preserves, jellies, and jams make wonderful gifts. However I was not always satisfied with my results. Making jams and jellies at home is not difficult but it is time consuming and you are never quite sure of the results until your jars have cooled, usually overnight. By this time it is simply too late to make any recipe adjustments.

The secret to great jams and jellies involves a chemical reaction between Pectin, sugars, and acids when heated and then cooled. Pectin is a soluble fiber found in the cell walls of most fruits and vegetables. Pectin is an all natural thickening agent and is now available in liquid or powdered form along with other home canning supplies in most grocery stores. Ripe fruits and berries all contain natural sugars and acids but may not have the balanced flavor or sweetness that you desire. It is up to you to adjust these ingredients to your personal taste.

All natural fruit preserves can be made very simply by simmering pureed fruit all day, or long enough to reduce the liquid until the concentrated natural Pectin, fruit sugars, and acid will cause your preserves to thicken or jell. This can take hours and requires constant attention to prevent boil-over or scorching. Making jelly involves straining a fruit puree and just using the juice without any pulp or seeds. I still prefer a less sweet jam with all of the natural flavor along with the pulp, skins, and seeds. Yes, those pesky Raspberry seeds do get stuck in my teeth, but I really don’t mind.

I prefer making my jams without adding extra refined sugar. There are now low or no sugar Pectin products available that are designed to jell without the need for added sugar. I have used Ball brand “Real Fruit” low or no added sugar Pectin.

 
 

Most commercial jams and jelly products are just too sweet for my taste. Most are now made with unhealthy high fructose corn syrup to cut cost. It is now easy to find sugar substitutes and acid levels can be adjusted by adding a little lemon juice. Original Pectin products relied on adding extra sugar in a jam or jelly recipe along with fruit acid to jell or set. It is the proper concentration of Pectin that causes the jam to thicken and set along with a sweetener and an acid for a balanced flavor. These are all naturally available in fruits and berries so that was not a real problem. Some ripe berries can be quite tart or even sour and it was not always easy to get the desirable balanced flavor without adding sugar. Not too sweet and not too tart or sour. When commercial Pectin became available home jelly making took off and became very popular.

I have had some issues using some no added sugar Pectin products. Many times my jam would not jell or set as I expected and ended up more like a fruit syrup. I have decided to try adding an additional thickening agent to my recipes to try and fix this problem. Just like adding corn starch to a fruit pie filling. I am trying out adding small amounts of Xanthan Gum to my recipes. Xanthan Gum is zero carb, zero calorie, and vegan. According to Wikipedia: “Xanthan gum is a common food additive. It is an effective thickening agent and stabilizer that prevents ingredients from separating…” As a thickener Xanthan Gum seems to work well and very little is needed. It is available at many grocery stores.

 
 

There are several sugar replacement zero calorie sweeteners available. I prefer the improved Stevia plant extracts that no longer have a slight bitter aftertaste that some people found disagreeable. Stevia products come in a liquid or granulated form and are actually sweeter than refined sugar and very easy to use. I personally believe that reducing sugar consumption is much healthier for most people.

 

Granulated Stevia mix
1 Cup = 1 Cup of sugar

 
 
 
 

G-Sweets liquid Stevia extract
only 1.5 Tablespoons = 1 Cup of sugar

Depending on weather, time of harvest, and local conditions your berry crop will be different with each season and different harvest times in a single season will affect the sugar level, flavor, and water content. Commercial berry farmers will test a crop daily during harvest season and pick their berries at the optimal time for an intended use and will pick an entire crop within a few days to insure consistency. I pick my berries at my leisure over a long period as weather and time permit. Using a reliable recipe as a guide is recommended, but only as a guide. With experience you will learn how to evaluate your raw ingredients and make necessary recipe adjustments to insure you get your intended results. Experience, testing, and evaluating your results are the most important ingredients.

I usually save multiple pickings from my garden and freeze them saving up until I have enough for large batch processing.

This means that my raw ingredients will be a mixture from different harvest times and even from different years. Vacuum sealing my berries and freezing does help to preserve the fresh picked flavor. As a personal rule I do freeze my new crops and use the oldest frozen berries first when processing my jams. My small chest freezer can get crowded during harvest season so processing my berries into home canned jam allows them to be stored in my pantry and free up space in my freezer. I really need a bigger freezer but using a freezer is not free and depends on electric power. Large home deep freezers are a modern luxury. Storing home canned produce in my pantry does not use electric power.

Water-bath processing at home has been considered a safe method for preserving high acid fruits and pickled produce. Most berries and fruits are considered to have an acid content that is safe for water-bath processing. It is your responsibility to follow safe canning procedures. My water-bath canning boiler holds 8 standard pint mason jars or 7 wide mouth pint jars and it has room for 12 half pint standard jelly jars. I like to adjust my recipes to fill enough jars to fit my boiler. I freeze my berries in one pound bags so it is easy to record the amounts I use for each batch of jam. The yield will depend on the juice or liquid content of the berries. It is important to test as you go and adjust sweetness to your taste. You can do a jelly test by cooling a small sample of cooking jam in your refrigerator to see when it will set or jell. You can then adjust your Pectin or added thickener if needed.

Experience is the most important ingredient. Failure to jell is not really that bad since you get to use your fruit syrup on morning French Toast!

No Added Sugar - Berry Jam Guide
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7-10 lbs Homegrown Berries

I try to make enough jam to fill my canning kettle. Raspberries have a high juice content and Gooseberries or Black Currants will have less juice for a thicker pulp. I will heat my thawed berries and mash into pulp while it cooks. Judging the thickness and tasting for sweetness.

Stevia Granulated or Liquid
sugar substitute

For high juice Raspberries I use powdered Granulated Stevia mix that measures out the same as sugar. I used 2 cups of granulated Stevia mix for 8 lbs of my juicy Raspberries = to about 2 cups sugar. I use Liquid Stevia Extract for thicker Gooseberries or Black Currants or berries that have less juice. The liquid Stevia Extract I use is very concentrated and 1.5 Tablespoons = 1 cup refined sugar. I used 3 Tablespoons of liquid Stevia for my Gooseberries and 8 Tablespoons or 1/2 cup of liquid Stevia for my very tart Black currants. Always test and adjust sweetness to your taste.

Lemon Juice

I use lemon juice to adjust for tartness and to balance the flavor with sweetness to my taste. My ripe Raspberries are juicy and not very tart so I added 1 1/2 Cup lemon juice to 8 lbs of Raspberries to balance the flavor for my preference. My gooseberries are more tart so I did not add lemon juice to 7 lbs of Gooseberries. My Black Currents are very tart and I did not add any lemon juice and I used more sweetener. Again it is from experience and you must taste and adjust these amounts.

Xanthan Gum thickener

You must decide if you need extra thickener or not. I used 2 tsp Xanthan Gum thickener for 8 lbs of my juicy Raspberries. I used 1 tsp for 10 lbs of my Black Currants. I adjusted my recipe for 7 lbs Gooseberries and increased the Pectin and did not use any added Xanthan Gum thickener. I do a jelly test by cooling a small sample in the fridge. Then decide if I need more Pectin or other thickener.

Ball brand No Sugar Pectin

I used 3/4 cup No Sugar Pectin for my 8 lbs of Raspberries. I adjusted my No Sugar Pectin and Xanthan Gum for my 10 lbs of Black Currants. I adjusted my recipe for 7 lbs of Gooseberries and used 1 cup of No Sugar Pectin with no other thickener. They all set and jelled much better than in the past so I will continues to test and adjust these amounts. Keeping good records and judging your results is the key.

Yield will vary depending on the berries and I got 6 - 10 pints of finished jam. More than My canner could hold with a little extra to put in my fridge for taste-testing!

I water-bath processed my pint jars for 30 minutes and half pints for 20 minutes then cool jars overnight.