What a Jam!

Raw Strawberry Jam

It’s a long story how I came to be making jam and I will fill you in over the next few posts but I had a hankering for pancakes…

Hmmmmm…..and jam.. Cooked fruit, loads of sugar and yummyness…but very little nutritive value, perhaps a bit of fibre, and basically a massive insulin injection to the system!!

So I thought about what jam was essentially all about and that is the act of preservation. Jam contains both fruit juice and fruit flesh, and some cookbooks define jam as cooked and gelled fruit for long term storage.

The fruit is heated with water and sugar to activate the pectin in the fruit. Pectin is a natural gelling agent and stabiliser  – it is a soluble fibre which thickens but does not really add any nutritional value. Whilst the cooking of some fruits & vegetables make them more nutritionally bioavailable, (ie tomatoes) cooking standard jam fruit for ages & ages does little but kill any benefit of the food. Speaking frankly, jam is junk food!!

I admit that nothing compares to homemade jam when sizing it up against commercially produced jams. But how much of the fruit can you actually taste past the sugar & lemon?

This sugar-free RAW jam will not last forever in the back of the fridge – it needs to be consumed within a week but it is easy & quick to make. Being sugarless impedes the preservation as sugar is also a good preservative and I use wonderful chia seeds to gell it! So you get fresh fruit, omega-3’s and a hit of fibre in this jam too! You can use any fresh or frozen berries for this jam.

250g strawberries

3 tabs xylitol, stevia or rapadura

a squeeze of lemon

2 tabs chia seeds

Mill the sweetener to powder in the TM on SP 8 for 10 seconds. Add the fruit and blend on SP 7 for 15 seconds. Cook on 60ºC for 10 minutes SP 4. Add the chia and stir through. Pour into a ceramic bowl and let sit overnight. It will form a jammy gell full of flavour. Serve it on toast, with yoghurt or PANCAKES!!