No Sugar Strawberry Pineapple Jam
This recipe for No Sugar Strawberry Pineapple Jam is from (affiliate link) Artisanal Preserves. I had been sent a copy at no charge for my honest review in 2017.
One thing I love is strawberry season. There is nothing quite like a fresh picked strawberry still warm from the sun. I have probably written this more than once here on the blog but it’s the truth. Some years the harvest is only enough for us to eat and other years it’s bountiful enough that I can freeze fruit for the winter and make jam. When I found the recipe for this no sugar jam I must admit I was intrigued; by the addition of the canned pineapple and no sugar at all. Would the pineapple overwhelm the strawberry? Would it be sweet enough? I was curious enough to give it a try.
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No Sugar Strawberry Pineapple Jam
1 pound can (16oz) crushed pineapple in unsweetened syrup
1/2 vanilla bean
1 pound fresh strawberries (3 1/3 cups)
pinch of salt optional
Wash, cap and quarter the strawberries.
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Add the pineapple and its juice to a large pot over medium heat.
Split the vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds and add them and the pod to the pineapple in the pot. Add the salt if using
When most of the liquid has evaporated add the strawberries to the pot, cover and bring to a boil. Simmer the mixture for about 5 – 10 minutes until it thickens and a lot of the liquid evaporates.
Have canner and jars ready to go.
Remove the jam from the heat and pull the vanilla bean pod from the mixture.
Ladle the jam into the hot jars jars leaving 1/4″ headspace
Wipe the rims, add the lids, put the caps on hand tight and process in the water bath canner for 10 minutes (I am over 3,000 ft so mine went for 15 min.)
Always follow the directions for your location and canner.
How Was the No Sugar Strawberry Pineapple Jam?
I will admit that I was a touch skeptical going into this but I’m not any longer. It is, admittedly not the super sweet jam you get at the store BUT it is very good. You really get the true taste of strawberry with an underlying pineapple flavor. This jam is going to be totally dependent on the berries you use so you must make sure that you are using sweet, ripe berries. It’s that simple. If you use tasteless strawberries you will have tasteless jam.
It does not make a lot of jam for the effort put forth – it’s almost the same amount of work as making a regular batch and yet I ended up with 2 half pints and 1 quarter pint. I don’t know anything about managing sugars but I can only suspect that this would be a far better option for someone to use who needs to watch their sugar intake.
I don’t know if I’d make this jam on a regular basis as the volume it produces is so low. The jams I make like cherry lemonade, peach blackberry and strawberry cherry are all low sugar. We don’t need – at least at this time – to watch our sugar intake so I will most likely stick with those recipes.
But this recipe is certainly good for those who really do need to watch their sugar intake.
