Learn how to make strawberry jam with no added sugar and still get a beautiful gel and set.
One of the problems with making strawberry jam at home is almost all of the recipes you see use a huge amount of sugar in order to get it to set.
In fact, some recipes have more sugar than they have berries.
Why I Love This Recipe
Homemade jam is a staple on our pantry shelves. But I don't love that so many recipes call for equal (or more) parts of sugar to fruit. When I make jam I want to taste the fruit, not the overly sweet taste of sugar.
I started with my low-sugar strawberry jam recipe (that doesn't require pectin) and liked that so much I also made a low-sugar cherry jam, a low-sugar blackberry jam, a low-sugar spicy peach jam, a low-sugar apple pie jam, and a low-sugar blueberry jam.
Though all those recipes are amazing, there are times in my life when I'm trying to avoid as many added sugars as possible. That's why I love this recipe so much! The incredible fresh strawberry flavors shine, while there's still just enough sweetness to please that sweet jam craving.
This post is sponsored by Azure Standard (a company I've used for years and am very excited about partnering with).
Is There Jam With No Added Sugar?
Certainly, if you've looked at the grocery store, you've found jars of fruit spread with no added sugar. If you turn the jar around and look at the nutrition facts, you will see sugar in the jam, but that's simply because fruit contains sugar.
If you're looking for a truly zero fruit spread, you'll be hard-pressed to find it, but that doesn't mean our fruit jam at home needs extra sugar!
Can I Can Strawberries Without Sugar?
Jam recipes that use traditional pectin will require sugar to get a set (aka not runny syrup). However, I love using Pomona's Pectin (the only pectin I'll buy) because it uses calcium water and pectin to get a set which means you can make your jam without added sugars.
With Pomona's Pectin, you can also use alternatives to sugar, such as honey. (See ingredients list below for links on where to find Pomona's Pectin.)
Supplies Needed for Strawberry Jam
- Strawberries – Homegrown is great; the second best is locally grown and handpicked the day you make your jam. But truly, you can't go wrong even with store-bought strawberries.
- Blender, Food Processor or Potato Masher – This is to mash the berries just a bit, so they're more of a jam consistency.
- Pomona's Pectin – This is the only approved pectin I will use in my kitchen that doesn't require sugar for the jam to set. Find Pomona's Pectin in bulk through Azure Standard (<– use that link and enter code “MKN10” for a discount on your entire order for first-time customers – a minimum of a $50 order required).
- Sweetener – Yes, I know this is a no-sugar strawberry jam. You can omit all sweeteners if you'd like, but I prefer my strawberry jam just a bit sweeter than the fruit allows on its own. Stevia is approved for canning jams and jellies. You can find an organic brand at Azure Standard (see above link).
- Water Bath or Steam Canner – We'll be processing this jam into jars so it's shelf stable. Before starting your recipe, get your water bath canner or steam canner heating up.
- Jars and Lids – Wash your jars in hot soapy water and rinse well before you start this recipe. I like having mine ready and waiting on a folded kitchen towel next to my stove. You can choose pint jars or smaller ones for this recipe.
- Bubble Remover/Headspace Tool – You'll need to fill jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace, so having a tool to remove any bubbles and measure the headspace is helpful. Here's a great canning tool bundle.
How to Make No Sugar Strawberry Jam
The very best strawberry jam is made from local strawberries grown in season. The process is simple. Prep, measure, mix, cook, and can.
Prep Strawberries
You'll want to wash, hull and halve your strawberries.
Pro Tip: If 1/4-1/3 of your strawberries are slightly under-ripe, you'll get a better set on your jam. This is because the under-ripe fruit has slightly higher levels of natural pectin.
Next, mash or blend the berries just a bit. I like my jam chunkier, so I only blend each batch for a few seconds at a time, pausing to stir the berries so they're evenly blended. This step is completely preferential, so you do what you like best.
Measure
After your strawberries are blended up to your liking, this is when you'll measure your final amount.
This step is important. You don't want to measure your halved strawberries before blended because you'll use the wrong amount of pectin and risk your jam not setting properly.
For this recipe, I'm using six cups of mashed strawberries.
Get the mashed strawberries heating over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed pot on the stove.
Pectin + Calcium Water
When you're using Pomona's Pectin, there are two packets that you must use. One packet is the pectin, which you'll add to your sweetener (if using), and the other is calcium that you mix with water and then add to the mashed strawberries.
The beauty of calcium water is that you can mix it up and store it in the refrigerator in an airtight jar, and it will last your entire canning season. If the powder separates from the water, give your jar a good shake before measuring.
For this recipe, I need one Tablespoon of powdered pectin and one Tablespoon of calcium water.
Using Stevia Concentrate
Add measured fruit, lemon juice, and calcium water to the pan and stir.
Boil 3/4 cup water or juice to a boil. Add pectin powder to a blender, vent the lid, and blend for 1 to 2 minutes until the powder is fully dissolved.
When fruit is at a boil, add pectin water/juice and stevia to taste. Stir and return to a full boil.
Add Stevia to taste, too much can sometimes taste bitter so add in increments when you do.
Pro Tip: It's normal to see some foam appear on the top of your strawberries as they're coming to a boil. No need to skim this off.
Cook
Continue stirring the jam, keeping it at a low boil, for one to two minutes. Don't stop stirring as you risk your jam scorching on the bottom.
Hot Pack Jars
Using a funnel and a ladle, fill your canning jars with the hot jam, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
Wipe the rim with a dampened towel to remove any berries and/or juice, place the two-part canning lid on and tighten until fingertip tight (as tight as you can get it with just your fingertips).
Pro Tip: Keep a red kitchen towel on hand for wiping the rim. Otherwise, you may stain your towels.
Can
The last step is the canning. You can use either a water bath canner or a steam canner (I love my steam canner!).
The processing time is ten minutes for all jars (pint-size or smaller).
For steam canners:
- Steam can for ten minutes.
- Once ten minutes have passed, turn off the heat and leave the lid on for five minutes.
- Remove the lid and wait another five minutes before removing the jars.
- Place hot jars on a kitchen towel-lined counter in a non-drafty area for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, remove the bands, wipe the jars, label the jars and store. (Learn how to properly store jars for long-term storage here.)
For water bath canners:
- Can for ten minutes.
- Once ten minutes have passed, turn off the heat and remove the lid. Wait for five minutes before removing the jars.
- Place hot jars on a kitchen towel-lined counter in a non-drafty area for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, remove the bands, wipe the jars, label the jars and store. (Learn how to properly store jars for long-term storage here.)
My Favorite Canning Lids
Because canning lids were very hard to come by for a couple of years, I've found a couple of alternatives that I love. Both Denali Canning Lids and For Jars. I have canned with both these brands, and each had a 100% success rate with their seals.
For Jars offers bulk buys of lids if that interests you, otherwise both brands offer the standard-sized boxes.
I have coupon codes for both of these, so be sure to use these links and enter the coupon code to get your discount.
- ForJars Canning Lids – ForJars offers both bulk and regular-sized packages of canning lids in standard and wide-mouth sizes. Use this link and enter code “Modern10” for 5% off your order.
- Denali Canning Lids – Denali offers regular-sized packages of canning lids in standard and wide-mouth sizes. Use this link and enter code “SPENDNSAVE” for 15% off every order of $75 or more.
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No Sugar Strawberry Jam Recipe
Equipment
- Steam Canner or Water Bath Canner
- Canning Jars & Lids
- Large Pot
Ingredients
- 6 cups strawberries mashed
- 1 Tablespoon calcium water see Pomona's Pectin box for instructions
- Stevia concentrate optional (I used 5 dropperfuls)
- 1 Tablespoon powdered pectin Pomona's brand
- 3/4 cup water or fruit juice
Instructions
- Wash, hull and halve your strawberries.
- Prepare jars by washing them in hot water, and get water bath or steam canner heating up.
- Place strawberries into a blender (food processor, or mash by hand) and lightly mash to your preferred thickness.
- Once berries are mashed, measure how much you have (this will determine how much pectin and calcium water you need). My total was six cups.
- Place the mashed strawberries in a pot over medium heat and bring to a low boil.
- Add calcium water to the pot of mashed strawberries.
- Boil 3/4 cup water or juice to a boil. Add pectin powder and just off the boil water/juice to a blender, vent the lid, and blend for 1 to 2 minutes until the powder is fully dissolved.
- When fruit is at a boil, add pectin water/juice and stevia to taste. Stir and return to a full boil. Add Stevia to taste, too much can sometimes taste bitter so add in increments when you.
- Continue stirring to avoid scorching, and cook for one to two minutes.
- Using a funnel, ladle hot jam into jars, filling to a 1/4 inch headspace. Use bubble remover to remove any bubbles and recheck headspace and top off, if needed.
- Wipe the rims of each jar with a damp towel, add the two-part canning lid and tighten to fingertip tight (as tight as you can get them using your fingertips only).
- Process jars for 10 minutes.
- For steam canners: Leave the lid on for five minutes, remove lid and wait an additional five minutes before removing jars to a towel-lined counter.For water bath canners: Remove the lid and wait five minutes before removing jars to a towel-lined counter.
- Wait 24 hours before removing bands, wiping jars, labeling and storing.
Notes
- This recipe is for pint canning jars or smaller.
- Follow the instructions for your canner (water bath or steam canner) as the instructions vary slightly.
- Using sweeteners is optional. My family prefers a slightly sweet strawberry jam.
- You can use either liquid Stevia or powder, in either form, start with a single serving (one dropperful or 1/8th of a teaspoon), then taste. Continue adding until it's the sweetness you prefer. I landed on 5 dropperfuls for our family's taste.
Nutrition
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How long do you boil just the strawberries before adding the calcium water? Then how long before adding the pectin/monk fruit? Thank you. I’m looking forward to trying this recipe!
This is fantastic! So do you have other no sugar jam recipes? Or, would you recommend butters instead for some fruits like peaches?
What is Calcium water and Monk fruit?
I really want to try this. But it’s weird that when I click the link to print the recipe, the instructions are different. Is it just me ?
I’ve tried using swerve and my jam gets crunchy bits in it 😬 Does monk fruit not crystallize? Do you use just monk fruit with erythritol?
@Donnarae, you may want to watch the related video on YouTube. She explains there that monk fruit is not an approved sweetener so she does not recommend using it.
I can’t wait to try this! It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. I have a ton of the powdered stevia will that work just as well as the liquid?
Please clarify step #7? It’s hard to figure out what the direction is from the way it is written. Thx!
Could you edit/correct step 7 please. I’m not sure what you are trying to say.
Hi. Have you ever made muscadine jam? I’ve never made jam but have some muscadines I’d like to try it with.
Can you use peaches instead of strawberries?
Hello! I recently watched the yt video about this recipe, and I thought you mentioned monk fruit, but the video doesn’t seem to be up any longer. Now that I came to the website looking for the recipe, I see thar it says stevia concentrate. I was wondering what brought about the change? My friend is treating her cancer holistically/nutritionally so no longer eats any refined sugar, so I wanted to share your video with her; we were just discussing homemade jam tonight and she was very interested to learn more about it.
I’d appreciate any assistance you could offer; thanks for your time!
@Arlene, you may want to watch the newest video about this. She explains that she found out monk fruit is not an approved sweetener so she pulled her old video and posted a new one using only stevia. However, this can be made with honey or, even better, no sugar at all! But only if you use the pectin stated in this site, the Pomona’s Pectin. So glad you’re there helping you’re friend through this time. I’m sure she appreciates the strength your helping provide. ❤️🙏
Couple questions.
1. When making pectin solution, you say use water/juice. Is this were you are later referencing lemon juice or is a different juice preferable?
2. “Boil 3/4 cup water or juice to a boil. Add pectin powder and just off the boil water/juice to a blender, vent the lid, and blend for 1 to 2 minutes until the powder is fully dissolved.” Are you meaning boil the juice, add the powder to dissolve, then put into a blender to fully dissolve?
3. You say add stevia concentrate. Is that stevia powder or liquid? How much do you add for your recipe? What is the starting point to determine my taste 1 Tbsp, 1 cup, etc??? People here are mentioning monk fruit; is it a 1-to-1 stevia or monk fruit?
4. Is this recipe the same for other fruits?
Well, I guess she ignores the comments and questions. Disappointing, was hoping to try the recipe. 🙁
All of these questions are answered in the detailed video I did demonstrateing the recipe, it’s in the post.
In the video I say monk fruit is not an approved sweetener, there is no lemon juice in this recipe. I mean boil the 3/4 water or juice, add the pectin power to it, then put it in the blender and blend. It’s not the same for every fruit because not every fruit it is acidic enough without the addition of specific amounts of concentrated bottle lemon juice, this recipe is for strawberries.
Hello!
I was excited to try your no sugar or low sugar strawberry jam recipe too! I was also hoping to find out a range of stevia amounts that could be used in place of sugar for a recipe without pectin. (I know you said that you would recommend pectin, but that stevia could also be used without pectin in the “low sugar strawberry jam” recipe. So I was wanting to find out a range of stevia amounts that could be used for your low sugar strawberry jam recipe). Thank you so much!!
Also, I was wondering if you might be able to send a link to your downloads section (recipes)? I was trying to use that and it does not appear to be working. I would love to have these recipes! Thank you again!