Freezer Jam For Dummies

August 10, 2010   13 Comments

Freezer jam was absolute mystery to Snack Girl until a few weeks ago. I had never even heard of it until readers commented on How To Pick A Healthy Jam or Jelly.

So what is freezer jam? You make jam and you put it in the freezer. The AWESOME thing about this is that you don't have to COOK anything or can anything. The freezer preserves your jam.

Snack Girl doesn't really like to use her stove. Perhaps you have noticed? Here are some of my latest recipes: Beet Salad, Cantaloupe Bowl Trick, and Bacon Cantaloupe Bites. All I did was cook bacon in my microwave for one of these three Snack Girl creations.

So, I am not an expert (more like a dummy) on making freezer jam and you don't need to an expert either! All the information you need is literally in the box of the PECTIN that you buy to make your jam.

All I have to do is help you find pectin which is the jelling agent in making jam. It seems that supermarkets actually carry this product at this time of year. Both my Stop-n-Shop and my Whole Foods had it in stock.

I found a product called Pomona's Universal Pectin (buy it here: Pomona Pectin) and it jells with low amounts of any sweetener. You can make jam without sugar and just use fruit juice concentrate!

Pomona's Pectin actually features a phone number called the JAMLINE: 413-772-6816 which Connie picks up. She is really friendly and she answered all my jam related questions.

What do you need for making freezer jam?
1. pectin
2. 2-4 cups fresh fruit
3. sweetener (sugar, honey, artificial, or fruit juice concentrate)
4. containers (4 ounce size is best)
5. bowl, blender or food processor, potato masher (or other mashing device)

The 4 ounce size jar (see below) is best because freezer jam only lasts a week in the refrigerator. Because you didn't take the time to cook it - it is RAW and it doesn't last as long as cooked jam.

This was SO fun. My kids and I mashed up peaches and blueberries and then "canned" them. One tip - the directions clearly told me to cook the peaches and I ignored them. Seems that peaches have an enzyme called pectase that breaks down pectin so my jam didn't jell very well (thanks, Connie!).

How did it taste? Absolutely amazing. I tasted it before we put the pectin and I knew we had a winner. I mixed it in my plain yogurt and was in heaven.

Finally, you can do a cooked fruit jam as well and just skip the canning process. Just allow the cooked jam to come to room temperature and store in your freezer.

Please share your freezer jam tips!

Other posts you might like:

---

A Breakfast Cereal You Can Feel Good About

Back in March, I wrote Candy or Breakfast? Evaluate Your Cereal and since then I have been on a search for cereals that pass my, "Healthy or Crappy Cereal Test" (patent pending :)...

---

A Beet Recipe For Beet Haters

Why do people hate beets? Maybe grandmothers forced beets on to poor defenseless grand children. Or they haven't had tried fresh beets!...

---

I Love You More Than Bacon (Maybe)

Snack-Girl.com has been devoid of bacon until today! Bacon is not known as a healthy food, but it inspires me to song....

---

Want Fewer Dirty Dishes? Try This Healthy Trick

I want to know which creative thinker came up with a "bread" bowl. That person was ON to something. Of course, most of us need to avoid bread bowls (especially if they are filled with a clam chowder)....