Carrot Cake Jam
Looking for a new kind of jam to add to your pantry or give as a gift? Why not try my all time favorite Low Sugar Carrot Cake Jam. It’s tasty and refreshingly different and quite easy to make. I like the fact that it uses finely grated carrots, which you don’t often find in jams and jellies.
Carrot Cake Jam
I should say Lower Sugar Carrot Cake Jam because it has about 1/3 the sugar of any other recipes out there. Believe me, when a recipe only makes 5-6 half pints of jam but calls for 7-9 cups of sugar, that’s TOO much sugar.
I use Pomona Pectin, which is available at most grocery stores in the natural foods section. Once I switched to using this pectin I’ve never gone back to regular pectin with all of its sugar needed to jell.
You can buy Pomona Pectin straight from them, in bulk even. Or you can find it on Amazon. Or in almost any health food or natural food store.
Lower Sugar Carrot Cake Jam
This recipe still has sugar in it and sugar from the fruit but it has substationally less sugar than any other recipe I have seen. It is low sugar carrot cake jam because of the pectin used. I love Pomona Pectin and use it exclusively because it jells no matter what. Which means it can be made with ANY amount of sugar or none at all. This is my favorite pectin, I use it all the time.
But I don’t have Pomona Pectin
If you don’t happen to have Pomona Pectin, or you don’t want to try it out, you can just follow the proportions for strawberry jam on any pectin you have on hand. It’s the best recipe conversion I have for standard pectin; it’s not perfect though. But it will get the job done.
As far as canning this be sure to give it a good 10 minutes hot water bath. Do not under ANY condition turn jars of hot jam upside down to “sterilize the lids” this doesn’t work, it’s dangerous because the jars do not seal from the hot water bath. Which means you are not getting a good seal on the jars.
Carrot Cake Jam
Equipment
- Hot Water Bath Canning Pot not a pressure canner
- Dutch oven to make the jam in
- Canning Funnel
- Jar Tongs
- 5 Canning Jars and Lids half-pint size
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots
- 1 1/2 cups chopped apple peeled and cored first
- 1 3/4 cups crushed canned pineapple including juice
- juice of one orange
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- pinch ground ginger
- 4 teaspoons calcium water comes with Pomona Pectin(it’s the reason it always jells!)
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 teaspoons Pomona Pectin
Instructions
- begin heating water for a boiling water bath in a hot water bath canner
- wash 5 half-pint jars and matching lid assemblies, fill the jars with hot water, set aside along with the rings
- put flat lids in a small saucepan and heat over low heat on the stove
- in a large stainless steel pan combine carrots, apples, pineapple with juice, orange juice and spices bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently
- reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
- stir in the calcium water
- and return to a boil
- mix the pectin with the sugar
- and stir into the jam
- cook and stir for one minute
- remove from heat, ladle into prepared jars
- wipe rims, and place lids on the jars, tighten gently
- place in the canner and bring the water back to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes
- use canning tongs to remove from the water
- let them set undisturbed until cooled
- check to make sure the jars are sealed-any unused jars need to be put in the fridge and used first
