Sugar Free Wild Apple Cinnamon Jam

Wild apples and other wild fruits are abundant where I live; when I’m on a walk in the late summer and fall you can barely take ten steps without coming across a wild apple tree or wild grapes growing alongside the road or trail. I can leave the house with a couple bottles of water and my empty backpack and an hour later return with twenty pounds of fruit in my backpack.

One of the advantages of wild fruits is they are as organic as you can get; there are no GMOs, (Genetically Modified Organism) or chemicals like pesticides. Wild apples are smaller and more tart than desert apples; so most people find adding a sweetener of some kind a necessity.

Sugar free wild apple cinnamon jam is one of the recipes I make for my diabetic wife and son, the apple jam can be spread on pancakes or used as filling in pastries.

Makes 5 to 6, 250 ml jars.

4 cups or 1 liter unsweetened apple sauce.

½ teaspoon vanilla extract.

1 sachet of pectin powder.

1 teaspoons of ground cinnamon.

¼ tsp ground cloves.

Wild apples are tart so adding a sweetener is necessary; you can substitute honey, maple syrup, or corn syrup for Splenda, just match the recipe cup for cup. If you do not worry about sugar intake just use 2 cups sugar. You can go sugar free with 2 cups Splenda or some other artificial sweetener, or 1 cup sugar and 1 cup Splenda for low sugar.

I used No Cook Pectin, if you do not process the jam you will need to refrigerate it, refrigerated the jam will keep six months. Processing allows you to store the jam at room temperature in a dark place and it doesn’t affect the pectin negatively.

I make 2 liters of apple sauce at a time. Dice 5 liters of apples and place them in an 8 liter pot or large saucepan, add 1 liter water and bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer and stir until apples are soft, approximately 30 minutes to an hour depending on the size you diced the apples.

Using a large sieve mash the soft diced apples removing all the unwanted parts, you should have about 2 liters apple sauce.

Clean and sterilize and prepare 6 bottles.

Measure 4 cups or 1 liter apple sauce and place the apple sauce into a clean saucepan and add the sweetener, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla extract.

Bring to a boil stirring often after 5 minutes reduce heat and simmer, still stirring, until puree thickens and holds its shape on a spoon.

Add the no cook pectin and stir it in.

Fill the jars with jam to within ¼ of an

inch (5 mm) of the lip of the Jar.

Remove air bubbles and add more jam if necessary

Place the seals on the jars and screw on the rings loosely.

Place in a pot of water covering the lids by one inch (25 mm) cover and bring to a boil for 10 to 15 minutes.

Once the Jam has processed for 10 to 15 minutes remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Remove the jars of jam from the processing pot wipe off the outsides and tighten the lids.

Place the jars of jam on a rack to cool.

Once cool label and place the jars in a dark place for storage.