Check the link below for great information and recipes. You might find Freezer Jams more to your skills, especially if you don't have a canner and all the equipment needed for home canning. Just Google - Freezer Jams - and you'll find a lot of recipes.

The link below also has Reduced Sugar Recipes.

Most diabetics can have jelly/jam, apple butter and spreads, with sugar. They count it as part of their daily carbohydrate allowance and use it in moderation. ALL carbohydrates count - even the high-carb bread they put the jam on....

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: National Center for Home Food Preservation/making jams & jellies

Definitely check out the National Center for Home Food Preservation Site suggested by Grainlady. Also check out the Harvest forum - there is a wealth of canning knowledge over there!

Hi . . . I posted on the Kitchen forum and was going to refer you there but decided to just copy my reply . . .

You're right . . . apple butter has a lot of sugar. It's also very messy to make inside the house because you simmer it for a long time, during which it burps little apple butter plops all over everything. I have a recipe for a large batch made in a roaster in the oven, which is the only way I make it anymore. Let me know if you want it.

Canning isn't difficult, but you do need a large water bath vessel with a grid on the bottom, tall enough for about an inch of water over the jar tops. Pint jars work better because they're shorter.

I suspect that the Ball Canning Book is still the best, because the Ball company has a vested interest in keeping the art of canning alive. Amazon has it along with a kit, which I linked below so you can see what supplies you'd need.

One home-canned thing you can do without sugar is applesauce. If you use mixed apples that aren't tart, you can get by with no sugar. If your diabetic relatives find it too tart, they could add whatever sweetener they want when they eat it.

If you decide to get around the sugar issue, you could do some snack mixes, like the Chex Party mixes, and give them in a cute basket, along with maybe a can of mixed nuts, some sugar free cocoas or teas. Or look online for sugar-free candy recipes.

Nice idea! I've often given home-canned applebutter and it's always appreciated! Good luck!

Arlene

Here is a link that might be useful: Ball canning book & supplies

I just realized that I'm going to be getting an induction range for my kitchen remodel. I wonder (doubt) if the 21 qt. pot that comes with the Ball canning supplies is induction compatible? I have a huge pot I can use for now... would that do? I hate to buy a pot that I won't be able to use year from now.

Thanks for the links and helpful into!

Remodelfla, you can use a large pot with a lid as long as you can put some type of a grid, as hostagrams mentioned, or a folded dish towel in the bottom of it for the jars to sit on and still be able to have water 2" above the top of the jars when you are using the boiling water bath method. You don't want the jars to sit directly on the heated bottom of your pot or they can break. Even laying a layer of canning jar rings will work in the bottom of your pot as long as you remember to rinse and dry them well when you're finished or they will rust. Check out the Harvest Forum here on Gardenweb and you can get all the information you want. Apple Butter is easy to make and you can even do it in your crockpot. The canning will be done in your large pot with a lid. Both my husband and I are type II diabetics and I make our own applesauce, apple butter, pearsauce, mixed fruit sauces as well as jams and preserves. I use a very small amount of Splenda or Stevia if the fruit isn't sweet enough. You do the taste test to determine that. Equal doesn't work as it isn't heat stable. Just be prepared, though. People will love what you give them and request more and you will be hooked and want to try more variations for gift giving and keeping for yourself.

Thank you bcskye... I cross posted over the kitchens forum as well and they also gave an easy to follow breakdown on how to do this. I'm excited to get started and plan on ordering tongs, jars, and the book from Balls. I want to start with apple butter ... I"m glad to hear that Splenda works... I'll use that! Do you use sugar free pectin? Great idea about the towel or alternatives. It saves me from getting a grate of some sort. I'm going to also attempt jam and a great salsa that was suggeted. Thanks for your help!

remodelfla, I make apple butter with much less sugar than any of the recipes calls for, just user a sweeter variety of apple. I made it with Yellow Delicious for Dad, who was diabetic, and got away with just a bit of brown sugar Splenda. I always bake my apple butter, put it into a roaster in the oven at 350F, stir every hour or so. It'll thicken in 5 or 6 hours, just cook it until it's as thick as you want it.

I've also been very successful in cutting sugar in homemade jam to about half if I don't use any pectin, I just cook the jam to jell point, about 220. Use a candy thermometer if you're nervous, I just dab a bit on a frozen plate, put it in the freezer for a minute, then draw my finger through the jam. If it doesn't run back into place, it's done.

Butters are easiest to cut the sugar on, or use Splenda. Pear butter, apple butter, peach butter, strawberry, cherry. Vanilla is a nice addition with pear, almond goes well with cherry, you can spice it up or down as you like, add some almond or vanilla extract or fresh vanilla beans or even amaretto or other liquor. Cointreau is nice with peach.

I canned for years with a soup pot that I put a folded towel onto the bottom of, and I just used tongs to get the jars out. A jar lifter is a wonderful device, I'd encourage you to at least get one of those.

Jams, jellies and butters are the easiest things in the world to can. You don't even have to sterilize the jars, just wash them well, as long as you put them into a boiling water bath. Most of my half pints and pints of jam get processed 15 minutes.

One word about Splenda and low sugar spreads, they won't keep as long once they are opened. Sugar is also a preservative of sorts, and a full sugar jam will keep longer than a low sugar spread.

Good luck, and happy canning.

Annie

Annie is right about the Splenda and low sugar spreads not keeping as long once they are opened as the regular sugar spreads. I usually do mine in 1/2 pints and they are used up (by just me) before they have a chance to go bad. I do use Pomona Pectin when I make them since you don't need any sugar with it and haven't had any problem with it. As everyone says, it will gel plain water. I also have the Clear Jel and Instant Clear Jel, but haven't really experimented with them yet. You'll find lots of information about them in the Harvest Forum or their websites. I also just bought some Stevia and am anxious to try it in preserves.

Great idea! I'm a newbie too, but I just wanted to share that the Cracker Barrel Restaurants sell their spiced (unsweetened) apple butter at an unbelievable $2.99 per jar! Even with shipping they're big jars and came boxed! I love the stuff, just eating it with a spoon is fine with me. I find many of the canned jellies, jams and butters have way too much sugar for my taste and my waist!