Spiced Pear Jam

Last weekend I went to the farmer's market to get some fresh veggies for a salad.  I had a couple of friends coming over for lunch and I was able to get some fall lettuce, a huge tomato, and some cucumbers.  As I was walking back to my car, I saw a stand selling fruit and they had some pears.  I decided that it might add some crunch to my salad, so I got a small container.  I chopped one up and put it in the salad and we all enjoyed it very much.  After my friends left, I was cleaning up the kitchen and there sat 6 more pears.  I had to decide what to do with them.

Earlier in the summer, I had purchased Taste of Home, Special Edition, Canning & Preserving, Summer 2013 magazine.  I spent quite a bit of time this summer reading the magazine and thinking about and experimenting with some  No Sugar Added  jams and marmalades.  I made some Pina Colada Marmalade, as well as some Peach Jam.  The magazine had great recipes with wonderful combinations of fruit, but of course they were all filled with large amounts of sugar.  So some investigation on the Splenda website and looking at their Splenda recipes of jams and jellies, allowed me to make some generalizations on fruit quantities and proportions to Splenda, liquids, and pectin.

I remembered from my reading that there were a few recipes in my magazine that had pears, so I found my magazine and one of the recipes that caught my attention was Spiced Pear Jam.  It just sounded warm and fall-like.  So I dug out my notes from the summer on quantities and proportions and this is what I came up with.

•  3 or 4 ripe pears, chopped, approx. 4 cups
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 3/4 c. water
• 3 T. low sugar/no sugar pectin
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground cloves
• 1/2 c. Splenda

Many people believe that homemade jam is difficult to make.  It does have quite a few steps, but they aren't difficult.  You can make a small batch like this one in an hour or less.

Peel, core and finely chop the pears.  Add lemon juice to pears and stir to coat.  This will help keep the pears from turning dark.

Add the pears, the water and the pectin to a medium saucepan. -- A side note about the pectin.  You can find the special Low Sugar / No Sugar pectin in your canning section at the grocery store.  Be sure to use this special pectin when working with sugar substitutes of any kind. -- Stir until well combined.  Add the spices and mix in.  Your heat should be on medium-high.  Bring the mixture to a full, rolling boil.  That means that even when you stir it, it continues to boil.  Set your timer and boil for 1 minute.

Remove your pan from the heat and add in the Splenda.  Stir to combine.  You may notice that the Splenda will have a tendency to clump just a little.  Simply use your spoon to press any clumps up against the side of the pan and they will mix in.

 In the meantime, you want to sterilize your jars.  I use a big canning pot that I got from my husband's grandmother.  It even has an old fashioned rack in the bottom.  I just fill it about 2/3 of the way with water and put it on the stove to heat up before I even start peeling and preparing the fruit.
If you are not great at multi-tasking, you may want to get your water heated up and sterilize your jars before you start.  But once you have your jars sterilized, keep your water hot for your hot water bath at the end.  No need to heat that water up twice!
You don't have to leave the jars in the water very long; just a few minutes and they will be nice and hot.  You can remove them from the water with a pair of tongs and set them on a clean towel to dry.

 Once your jars have dried and your fruit is completely mixed up, ladle your fruit into the jars.  I like to use small 4 oz. jars for a couple of reasons.  First, with my daughter gone to college, I am the only one in my house that eats fruit jam; my husband is a grape jelly kind of guy.  Second, my experience with sugar-free jam, whether you make freezer jam or hot water bath canned jam, is that it tends not to last as long once you open it as those jams made with full sugar.  It will last 2 or 3 weeks, and maybe a little longer.  But with it just being me, I like the small jar so as not to waste.  And besides, those little jars are so cute and they make wonderful gifts!
I use a gravy ladle and I get about 3 scoops in the 4 oz. jar.  Use a funnel and it will be much less messy.  Don't forget to leave 1/4-1/2 inch of head space.

 Before you start filling your jars, put the lids and rings in your pot of hot water to sterilize them.  Once the jars are filled, pull out the lids and place on top of each jar.  Then place a ring and twist on.  You don't have to put it on too tight.  I just got this great little tool you can see in the picture; it's a plastic stick with a magnet on the end.  It really made it easy to pull those lids and rings out of the hot water.  I have used tongs in the past and they work fine, but this was just even easier.









Put the jars onto the rack and lower the jars into the boiling water.  Set the timer for 10 minutes once the water is back to boiling.  After a 10 minute Hot Water Bath, remove the jars and set back onto your towel.
This is my favorite part; waiting for the lids to pop!  When I was young and my mom was canning, she always gave me and my sisters the job of counting the lid pops to make sure that every jar had sealed....I still love counting the pops!

Once the lids have all popped, you just have to let the jars sit until they cool.  Doesn't the jam look pretty in the jars?  And it tastes good too!  There was just about a spoonful left after I filled the jars and I couldn't let it go to waste.  But I certainly can't wait to try some of this on hot biscuit on a lazy Sunday morning!
This recipe made 7 half pint jars.  And oh by the way, don't forget your label.  You can buy a roll of these cute labels in your canning section.  They are especially made to wash off easily when you wash your jars.
You can use this basic method to make other fruits into jams.  I made peach jam this summer and the only thing I did differently was that I didn't add in the cinnamon and cloves.  But you know...that might taste pretty good...peach pie jam....
Now do you see how these ideas just keep popping into my head!