Fresh Jam

Oh how happy it makes me when I come up with a healthier, homemade version of something we eat alot of in our house.  This week, I made fresh jam to serve up with sunflower butter and bread - something my kids take to school pretty much every day.
I admit, everytime I look for "good" (mostly fruit, very little sugar and no additives) jam at the grocery store, I end up settling for something less-than the goodness I'm looking for.  It usually has SO much sugar in it and not very much fruit.  And even homemade jam has loads of sugar - in fact, you {apparently} can't really get a good consistency in your canned jam unless you add alot of sugar.

BUT fresh jam is so easy to make, you're going to laugh.  And the consistency is perfect.  I'm going to wager that it's cheaper too (even though I haven't done the math yet).

It doesn't have sugar (unless you decide you want it sweeter) and it's mostly made up of fruit.

Now remember, since this is not traditional, preservative-packed, store-bought jam, you're going to need to make it fresh every week.  If you make alot of it at once, I recommend storing it in a few small jars.  That way you can store one of them in the fridge for the week and the rest in the freezer until you need it.

Here's the recipe:

Fresh Jam


2 Cups of frozen berries/fruit  (I used cranberries and blueberries)
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1-2 Tbsp ground flax seed


Add the berries to a small saucepan, on medium heat, and "cook" it until the berries are soft enough to mash up a bit.  Add the maple syrup and use a potato masher to squash the berries to the consistency you like.  If it seems a little watery, don't worry...we'll fix that in a minute.  Taste it (without burning yourself) and if it's not sweet enough, you can add some sugar to taste.  I recommend getting used to less sugar though - there's nothing like the natural flavour of real berries.
Once everything is combined and the mix is bubbling just a bit, add the flax seed and cook for another couple of minutes.  The ground flax seed will absorb some of the liquid and add the gel-like texture you will need to make the jam spreadable.  Store in a few small glass jars in your fridge or freezer.  


This jam tastes amazing on:

granola
waffles
pancakes
crackers
sandwiches
ice cream
yogurt
or by itself with a spoon!

Try it out and let me know how it works for you!