No Sugar Peach Jam: Canning Recipe (Low Sugar or Honey Option) (2024)

FAQs

How to can peaches without sugar or honey? ›

Instead of adding a nasty syrup like in most canning recipes, you're going to add boiled water with a bit of lemon juice to help the peaches retain their color. For 12 pint jars of peaches, you'll need to prepare 1 gallon of boiled water + 1/2 c. of lemon juice.

Less sugar may allow for greater bacterial growth. As a result, process times may be longer for these low-sugar or no-sugar jams and jellies. Some pectin products include preservatives to reduce bacterial growth, as well as to preserve color.

In a product made with pectin, replace up to 1 cup sugar with 1 cup honey for every 6-pint recipe; be sure to adjust the amount of liquid in the recipe. In recipes with no added pectin, honey can replace up to half of the sugar; decrease the amount of liquid by the amount of honey added.

Maple syrup is another good option. Lemon or lime juice is typically added to increase the acidity and make jam safe for canning. The amount of juice added is enough for safe canning but not enough to impact the fruity flavor of the jam.

Mix citric acid with a 1/4 of a cup of water, coat peaches to prevent darkening. Pack slices into jars, almost to the top. Bring the juice to a boil, add peach skins and pits if desired, simmer for a few minutes. Remove skins and pits and discard.

Peaches may be covered with your choice of sugar syrup, water, or apple or white grape juice. Sugar is not needed for safety in canning fruit; but in addition to adding flavor, sugar in the liquid helps to keep the texture of the fruit firm and preserve the color.

If you don't have the right amount of sugar, you run the risk of the jam or jelly being runny. There are products out there, however, that offer help if you want to cut down on sugar. One of my colleagues who makes a variety of delicious jams every summer told me about Pomona's Universal Pectin.

Sugar is added to canned fruits help preserve color, help firm texture, and for flavor. ⇨ Choose a light fruit juice such as white grape juice for canning if you wish to reduce sugar in home- canned fruit. ⇨ You may safely eliminate sugar altogether when canning fruits at home, if you prefer.

Cooking fruits intensifies their natural sweetness without adding sugar. Turn apples or pears into a thick sauce or grill up some pineapple, watermelon or stone fruits such as nectarines, plums or peaches. Dried fruits like raisins, dates, figs, prunes and apricots are good options, too.

Can I use stevia instead of sugar for canning? ›

Penn State Extension says, Stevia is stable to heat and could be used for canning fruit and other products where sugar is not critical to food safety or texture.

Expert Response. It is not a safety issue to use honey or maple syrup to sweeten syrup used in canning. The amount and kind you use is a personal preference. You can also can your fruits using water or fruit juices such as white grape, apple, orange or other flavors.

These preserves used honey as their sweetener, though sugar quickly surpassed honey in popularity for making jams. From that point onwards, you can essentially follow the spread of sugar around the world on a map. If a place had sugar and fruit, people would likely combine the two to make a preserve.

Sealed and Processed - Unopened.

When correctly sealed and processed in a boiling water bath for the specified time, where a vacuum is created, both traditional and low or no sugar jams will last years without refrigeration. We recommend 12 months to be very conservative.

Homemade jams made without sugar and processed by canning in a hot water bath will last about half that long – about one year – when stored in cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. Once opened, use those jams pretty quickly, in about six weeks, to guarantee freshness.

Peaches can be canned in water, apple or grape juice, or sugar syrup. Sugar syrup for canning peaches can be made by mixing sugar and water in the following amounts and heating until the sugar is dissolved: Very light syrup: Mix 1 1/4 cups of sugar in 10½ cups of water.

Low-acid peaches – Use hot-pack method. When jars are filled, add ¼ teaspoon citric acid or 2 teaspoons lemon juice per pint. Process as indicated in hot pack instructions.