Saturday, August 24, 2019

Spiced Superfruit Jam - Toast Topper #85

This Spiced Superfruit Jam is a decadent mix of blackberries, raspberries, cherries and blueberries softly spiced with a hint of cinnamon and cloves. With less sugar than standard jams, its a Toast Topper you can feel great about enjoying!


It feels good to be back in the canning kitchen again! I took a bit of a break last Summer (life and school got in the way) and now that the new year is almost upon us I'll be wrapping up my slew of canned goodies (that you can see on IG) as well. This year was a shockingly good one for Ontario produce, and I'd be a fool not to preserve it for a long winter's worth of pancakes, waffles and toast!

Like with most things, I prefer my jams not to be cloyingly sweet and want the fruity taste to come through full force. I have found two low-sugar pectins (the stuff that makes jam gel, if you don't make jam usually) that I love and buy them en masse when they're on sale. The first (and cheapest outright) is Bernardin (which may only be available in Canada, I can't find it on Amazon, but I have used Ball as well), which churns out about 6 cups of jam per packet. The second is Pomona's, which allows the batch size of various jams to be customized based on the amount of fruit you have. I've made as little as one jar of jam with it and as much as 12!

I also really enjoy playing with the flavours of my jams. Even though the fruit is always first and foremost, adding complementary flavours is a great way to add interest and an aspect not available from storebought preserves. I pulled out my copy of The Flavor Bible to help me this year, resulting in the addition of cinnamon and cloves to accent the tart-sweet berry notes. A spoonful of this jam tastes like a less tannic mulled wine, and I have it on good authority that a dab of it on sharp Cheddar topping a cracker is pretty darn good!


Spiced Superfruit Jam
Makes ~ 6 cups
1400 g mixed berries (I used a blend of blackberries, raspberries, cherries and blueberries), thawed if frozen (do not drain)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 pkg no-sugar-needed pectin (I used Bernardin, Ball will likely work too)
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
  1. Mash or puree the fruit blend until mostly smooth (I left a few chunks out of preference).
  2. Pour fruit into a large pot and whisk in the lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a boil.
  3. Whisk together the sugar and spices and add to the boiling mixture.
  4. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and ladle into jars.
  5. Process 10 minutes in a waterbath.

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