Sugar-free jam and fruit purée

DIY sugar-free spread and fruit purée

As summer slowly draws to a close, it’s time to enjoy popular fruit varieties such as apples, pears, plums, prunes and quinces.

Even if a freshly picked apple tastes simply delicious and the smell of ripe plums in the air immediately reminds you of fresh plum dacha, the fruit can also be used to make jam or fresh compotes.

So today I would like to show you some sugar-free alternatives for preserving jam and fruit purée.

Fruit is healthy and contains enough fructose so that you can do without the excessive added sugar in many store-bought jams and compotes. And if it’s still not sweet enough for you, you can use honey, dates or date syrup, maple syrup, rice syrup or sweeteners such as stevia or birch sugar. Additional spices such as cinnamon, vanilla, aniseed, ginger or cloves give the spread or compote even more flavor.

Feel free to experiment with the variety, your taste buds will be delighted!

In addition to the fresh fruit, you will need sterilized preserving jars. You can either buy these in various sizes and lid colors or simply rinse and reuse screw-top jars. This not only saves time and money, but also resources.

Sugar-free plum jam recipe

The trick: the plums are prepared in the oven!
Pit 2 kg of plums or alternatively plums and cut them into small pieces. For a special taste, you can season the plum pieces with cinnamon, cloves and aniseed or add a little balsamic vinegar or rum. Place everything in a large roasting tin and cook in the oven at approx. 120 degrees for a good 2 hours. Stir regularly to prevent the plums from burning at the edges. After an hour and a half of cooking, add the juice of a freshly squeezed lemon and stir again. The jam is ready when the mixture is nice and dark and viscous.

Then pour the hot jam into the preserving jars (leave a little air when filling the jars), screw on tightly and immediately place on the lid and leave to cool.

This plum jam tastes fruity and will keep for a good year in the screw-top jars – if you haven’t already enjoyed the jam completely.

Recipe for sugar-free quince jam

Peel 1 kg of quinces and put them in a large pot with a little water. Add a little maple syrup or birch sugar or two to three diced dates to sweeten to taste. Spices such as cinnamon, vanilla or ginger give the jam additional flavor notes. Boil everything down well for approx. 10 minutes and then puree the mixture with a hand blender.

Pour the hot jam into freshly sterilized preserving jars, screw them shut and leave them to cool on the lids. This jam will keep in the fridge for at least 2 weeks.

Recipe for sugar-free apple compote

Remove the cores and, if necessary, the skin from 2 kg of your favorite apple(s) (e.g. sweet-tasting Golden Delicious or tart Boskop, you can also mix varieties) and cut them into small pieces. Boil the apple pieces in a pan with a little water and the juice of a freshly squeezed lemon for 20 minutes. Here, too, you can create additional flavors with the pulp of a vanilla pod, cinnamon, ginger or cloves. Then mash the mixture for a stewed apple or use a hand blender for a fine puree.

Pour the apple compote into freshly cleaned preserving jars, screw them on and leave them to cool upside down.

The result is a deliciously tasty apple sauce that not only goes well as a spread or dessert with yoghurt, quark or ice cream, but also with delicious potato pancakes or Kaisrschmarrn (every now and then you can feast from the heart).
A little tip for vegans: If you like baking, you can use fine applesauce as a binding agent.

If the consistency of the spreads is not firm enough for you, you can replace gelling agents with agar agar, which is commercially available. Alternatively, depending on the amount of jam, a whole apple can be added, as the pectin in the apple also has a gelling effect.

Vary the types of fruit in the above recipes as you wish and enjoy delicious sugar-free jam or fruit purée.

I wish you every success!