Hours for Jam Anyone?
I’ve been interested in making homemade jam for a long time, but I’ve been turned off by the time, work, and know-how that goes into canning. Time is valuable, and my stress level is often teetering on over the top. Honestly, canning just overwhelms me! However, that being said, I usually find time and energy to do the things I feel are truly worth it. All the heat that is involved in canning turns me off as well. I just have a hard time spending money on high quality, nutrient dense fruit (since we haven’t been able to have a garden for a few years) only to heat it to boiling and lose many of those nutrients. Even most freezer jam recipes require heat.
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No Cook Jam!
So, when my friend Debbie gave me a recipe for freezer jam that only takes 13 minutes to make and requires no heat, I was sold! The secret is using freeze dried fruit! As I mentioned last week, freeze dried fruit is extremely nutrient dense, and you don’t have to cook it, so this 13 minute jam has all the nutrients of the original fruit packed into it!
Plus, this jam can be made all year long! No need to wait until all the fruit is in season!
You can purchase a variety of freeze dried fruits here. My favorites for the jam are raspberries, strawberries, apricots, peaches, mangoes and blackberries. I have yet to try blueberry, grape, pear or pineapple though I’m sure they would work well. Let me know if you try them! I’m not sure how the apples or cherries would work as they are a bit more difficult to crush when dry.
Printable Labels
Teacher appreciation week is coming up! I’m planning to give this jam combined with a can of the new dough mix I mentioned last week (country white or whole wheat just add water and yeast mixes).
I made some cute labels to put on the jam. I thought I’d share those with you as well. Use them for your own teacher appreciation gift, a mother’s day gift, or visiting teaching gift (if you are LDS), etc. The labels are available to print at the end of this post.
Making the Jam
Gather five ingredients: water, crushed freeze dried fruit, sugar, liquid pectin, and lemon juice.
Add the water and the sugar to the fruit, and let it sit for 10 minutes. At about the 9 minute mark, mix the lemon juice and pectin.
Pour pectin mixture into fruit mixture, and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes). Pour into three pint size jars.
That’s it! 10 minutes for the fruit to hydrate plus 3 minutes of stirring. Thirteen minutes and your prep work is done!
Now all you do is wait. Let it sit for 24-48 hours (the apricot, peach and mango took a bit longer for me) until it “sets.” Refrigerate for up to three weeks and/or freeze for up to a year!
- 4 cups [url href=”https://simplefamilypreparedness.thrivelive.com/all-products/thrive-foods/fruits.html” target=”_blank”]freeze dried fruit[/url], crushed (so once it is crushed it will only be about 2 cups)
- 2 cups water (unless using strawberries, then only 1 3/4 cups water)
- 4 cups sugar
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 pouch (3 oz) liquid pectin
- Mix fruit, water and sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Mix lemon juice and pectin and add to fruit mixture.
- Mix constantly until sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes).
- Pour into jars and let set for 24-48 hours.
Want More Food Storage Recipes?
If you’d like more (family approved) 100% food storage recipes, I have a recipe book that you can find here or by clicking on the image below.
Printable Labels
In addition to the recipe, I also made some printable labels for your jam! There are two different types of labels: (1) Circular labels you can glue to the top or tie around the lid, and (2) rectangular labels you can wrap around the jar. Just click on whatever you want to print and enjoy!
I freeze dry a lot of pureed fruit . . . I am hoping to find recipes using Pomona pectin since you can control the sugar and still have it set. I am hoping to figure out how much fruit puree to use too. . . It’s fun to have a starting place! Thank you for your recipe
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe and labels. The only label I cannot print out is the wrapable Strawberry one. Is there anyway you can just send me that one so I can print it.
Many thanks,
Michele
Misty, one of our favorite freezer jams is a combination of strawberry and pineapple. They are so good together. Love the printables. Thank you.
Those labels are adorable! Thanks! Can’t wait to start making some jam!
Wow thanks for the cute Printables! The jam looks delicious I can’t wait to try it.