Today we picked 25 pounds* of Kadota figs, which were mildly sweet and trying to ripen in cool weather. It has rained recently, so we thought we had better get them off the tree before they started moulding. Used a regular recipe, boiled it to perfection, put some on buttered toast. Results? very bland. Almost no fig taste, just bland. Moral of the story: Bland tasting figs in, bland tasting jam out. Next year we will be making jam in August when there is LOTS of heat and plenty of flavor. PS: not all is lost. After discovering how bland it was, we dumped around 3 cups of fresh raspberries in the recipe (which contained around 7 pounds of figs) and cooked it a little more. Now at least it has some flavor, and colour! * = took the figs to a local grocery store and weighed them out in the produce section into produce bags that easily contained 2 pounds each. Nobody even gave me a second glance. They do not sell figs there, so it was easy to leave without paying!

Protien is many differnt things and amounts. It add a a nearlyt pure form of protein to a jelly is not something a home canner would want to do if the jars are stored on shelves. I never have seen any commercially makde jellies, jams or other fruit spreads that contain any gelatine. Many times the USDA may not comment, but that isn't to be a way to say that is ok to use it, only that they offer no factual data. If my great grandma used it and never got sick an dthe USDA recommends it use today, an dnoone can get sick, then maybe its fine. But with home canning being as less a test in homes today, and with all the risk takers out there handed down from ancestors, I just don't feel its a justified as a defence to just post recipes that a are hand-me-downs and generations old. Who knows how many people make have been sick or died from these things as many never get reported ever. Please, just play it safe, stick to TODAYS recipes and the ones that are most recently published, researched well, and are virtually foolproof and safe for everyone. Admittedly, I am a risk taker too, but with this kind of component originating from an animal based bypoduct, we can't assume its always going to be safe for use everywhere. Gelatin was also used in surgery, lighting, and photo work. Originally Eastman was the biggest producer an user. I don't know if Eastman, or Eastman Kodak would be making jelly using gelatin?? A reduce or no sugar sprread can be MUCH easier, and MUCH SAFER to make if the proper and far safer ingredients are used. Pomona (ALSO LOW METHOXYL!! with the seperate calcium packet included) has been around a long time and is the most commonly used pectin for use in the low, no sugar jellies, jams and other thickened spreads . After that comes, modified food starches, which are now also offered to home canners by National Starch, and is commonly known as Clear Jel, and also many other more specific commercially used starches.. Its use today, as far outweighed the very negative use of flour, tapioca, regular cornstarch, or other less table thickeners.

A longer process time? Not sure what you mean by that. Peaches are low-acid and low-pectin so getting them to set well with no commercial pectin and reduced sugar is not likely. You can in theory cook the jam long enough to evaporate out sufficient water for a thicker mixture but it's not truly jelled and there's a risk of over-cooking and the loss of freshness of taste. The set of a jam requires a specific ratio of acid+sugar+pectin. So in a sense you're asking mother nature to break her own rules. While some reduction of sugar is possible it's likely the best result will be a softer set preserve. The other option would be to improve the setting qualities by mixing the peaches with a higher-pectin fruit or fruit juice, like apple. You can, in fact, make your own natural pectin base from apples or citrus and then use it in your jams. Carol

sylwia, I make all my preserves either all fruit or low sugar. My Dad was diabetic and I made them for him, but found that I like them better than those big jars of fruit flavored sugar and pectin that I used to make! I use the old fashioned long cooking method without any commercial pectin because I find the commercial pectin expensive and inconsistent, plus I can double a batch and reduce sugar that way. I usually just crush the fruit into my pan, add apple juice or water, whatever "flavors" I want, and start cooking. I add almond extract to cherry, I've added rum to peach conserve, Cointreau or orange is nice with blueberry, etc. Cinnamon is good in apple jelly or apple butter, ginger is nice with apricots. I sweeten to taste but never use more than a cup or two of Splenda or Equal if I add it at all. Anyway, when it nearly reaches jell point (between 218 and 220), I use the "frozen plate" test for thickness. That's just putting a plate into the freezer for a few minutes, dabbing a dot of hot jam onto the plate and putting it back in the freezer for a minute. If it's thick enough I stop cooking it. When it gets close, I usually turn off the heat under the jam because I've gotten a couple of batches of nice taffy from overcooking, along with a couple of "caramelized" batches. Some fruits are low in natural pectin, so I normally add a little lemon juice, although the last batch of apricot jam I made I added the zest of a whole lemon and got a relatively nice apricot/lemon marmalade but it wasn't what I was trying to make, LOL. Sometimes I don't get a good "gel" because of the lack of natural pectin, those fruits I just cook until they are thick, although they come out more like a fruit butter than a jam/jelly/preserve. I have used Splenda or Equal in place of sugar too, but have found that they seem to get sweeter as they set, so that is a "taste as you go" process and I stop adding sweetener when it's a little less sweet than I want it to be in the end. Also, no sugar preserves do not keep as well as the full sugar types, they will mold more quickly after opening, so I always can them in half pint jars to be certain they get used up before spoiling. I always waterbath mine because it's easier for me to waterbath the jars for 10 minutes than to sterilize them all instead, and I don't like to deal with wax because it's messy, hot and I've had it catch on fire. So I slap rings and lids on the jars of hot jam and into the water for 10 minutes. I don't worry so much about exact amounts because fruit is a high acid food and you can't contract botulism. That said, jam and preserves can mold and you can get sick, I would never scrape the mold from jam and eat the remainder of the jar, although that's what Grandma did. You can also buy Pomona's Pectin, which will jell water, I swear. I don't like the odd, chalky texture/flavor I get with Pomona's and I find it a PIA to mix this part with that part and keep this part in the fridge in water, etc. Ball and Sure Jell now have no sugar/low sugar pectins too, and they have recipes inside the box. I haven't used them so I can't tell you how well it works. With me it was trial and error until I got it right and be prepared to have a couple of batches of fruit topping that never sets up at all, LOL. Keep trying and it'll work, I promise. Good luck, and happy canning. Annie