Healthy Homemade Strawberry/ rhubarb Jelly / Jam

[john5]

Hi, I am getting low on my not so healthy sugar filled jam and was wondering if anyone has a recipe that tastes good and is good for me. My husbands mom made this recipe and I am not sure how to change this recipe so he will like it. Get ready to grab a bucket to throw up in when you see how much sugar is in this.

2 cups strawberries
2 cups rhubarb
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 1/2 cups sugar
1 box fruit Jell
Makes about 4 12 oz. jars

I have tried to tell my husband that this is not healthy. You know when you have been raised on a farm and his "mom" made the jelly this way, it is close to impossible to have him change his taste buds to less sugar. When I tell him there is to much sugar in the jelly he just says, we don't use that much on our bread and a little won't hurts us. He was also raised to put 1/2 cup of sugar on 1 serving of oatmeal and anything else you can add sugar to. The fun part is when my kids eat oatmeal and they say "dad puts that much on". Anyway I still love him.

I have tried the lower sugar or no sugar pectin and I didn't mind the taste. I was just wondering how some of you make jam/jelly. We really like the strawberry rhubarb jam but any recipes will do.

Thanks for any recipes or suggestions.
Denise

[ayj67]

Denise, I will say next time, try taking 1 cup of sugar away, put 4 1/2 cup (Gosh, it is still a lot). Then, when you make it again, take 1/2 a cup away (that would be 1 cup of sugar per jar with that receipe). Then, take a 1/4 cup away the next batch, and continue for the future batches. Once it hit the point they start noticing and complaining, you add 1/4 cup back. You would have trained theirs tastebuds and find a receipe with the least tolerable sugar (maybe you need to add chia gel or aloe vera or more water and pectin to increase the volume a bit for the reduced sugar).

[MommyRose]

Denise, in my experience, if you are going for the texture and consistency of regular jam then you need to be careful taking out sugar. Unless you follow the sure-gell recipes exactly then they won't gell right. I would search the internet and find a recipe that works for you. I did a quick search and found this: http://www.ehow.com/how_5190661_make...ubarb-jam.html. They just use pectin instead of a box of sure gell. The amount of sugar used is 1.5 cups. In my experimenting with using lower sugar I've gotten many batches that were very loose gells...when this happens then we have a very yummy ice cream or pancake topping...so, no loss.

I'm also wondering how using a little Sweetleaf Stevia in your recipe would affect the gell. I will use smaller amounts of honey or coconut sugar in my smoothies or other baking and add a touch of Sweetleaf (only kind I like). It boosts the sweetness without adding sugar and this has gone over well in my house.

[john5]

Thank you Rose and ayj67 I will try your suggestions and Rose I will check out the web site you gave me. One other question, what kind of sugar would you use? I only use white and I do use the powdered sugar in most of my recipes. I have never tried stevia in jelly though. Thank you!

[MommyRose]

That's a tough question for me to answer now that I've gone through major nutritional changes since making jams. And I'm not sure you want to hear my answer. I'd be looking for recipes using honey or my fav, coconut sugar. Those options would all cost more money. One thing I do is take frozen fruit add my chosen sweetner to taste and a little water then cook it on the stove until its the consistency I want. Most of the time its syrupy for a syrup for pancakes. The more sugar and boiling the thicker more condensed it becomes. Frigerate it and you can have a jam. I have successfully canned fruit jams at a looser consistency by using sugar (and I think at that point I used the unbleached cane sugar), fruit juice and no sure-jell. You can find A LOT of info on line by googling what you want. goodluck!

[WendyD]

Yeah, the sugar made me gag! lol

Here is a site I found that might work: http://foodsforlonglife.blogspot.com...low-sugar.html

The pectin she mentions has good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Pomonas-Univer...0&sr=8-1-spell

I wanna go make some jam myself!

[MommyRose]

Yes! Pomonas! That's what I used last and it does work great! Thanks Wendy!! It allows so much more versatility than sure-gell!

[john5]

Thank you Wendy and Mama Rose, I will check out those websites. Denise