Ever wanted to make your own apple jam?
Yep! Another apple post. I know soooooooooooooooooooooooo many people are all about the pumpkin this time of year. And pumpkin is ok. Not knockin’ it. But I am all about the apple.
I LOVE apples! It’s like the first “thing” ever. Yeah, it was all sin and stuff. But it was still there.
And it has awesome sayings.
- An apple a day keeps the doctor away. (LM was chanting that for a couple of weeks. School indoctrination!)
- Apple of your eye.
- The Big Apple.
- How do you like them apples?
- Upsetting the apple cart.
People LOVE apples! It’s not just me. Right?
And if you love apples, what could be better than apple jam spread all over your warm toast in the morning?
So after we got all of those apples at the orchard and made applesauce galore, we still had a bunch left. And last year I made apple jam. It was awesome! A nice change on the whole fruit jam/jelly thing.
It wasn’t easy to find a recipe either. Lots of apple jelly recipes but not apple JAM. (Still don’t get the idea of jelly. I like the bits and pieces.)
I found some recipe, I guess, since I made some, but I could find the recipe again when I went to make it this year. What gives, Google?
AND I needed it to be artificial-pectin free. Or pectin-in-a-box free. It has citric acid, and I can’t do that.
I know apples have pectin in them, which is just fine for me. And helpful for making pectin-in-a-box free apple jam. I just can’t do the extra citric acid stuff.
I found this post on pectin-free jam. She is using apricots, which got me to thinking about a recipe I got from Happy Girl Kitchen, which was also for apricots. Both recipes have the fruit sit overnight with sugar. That helps break down the fruit and thicken it up for cooking. So I took that idea and used it with apples.
I added cinnamon because…reasons. And then Ta-da! Apple Jam with Cinnamon (Pectin-Free). It’s tasty. Yummy! Oh-so-good!
Apple Jam with Cinnamon (Pectin Free)
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 6 pints 1x
Ingredients
- 6 lbs Apples (weighed after cored and chopped)
- 4 cups sugar (divided)
- ⅓ cup Lemon Juice
- 2 tbs Cinnamon
Instructions
- Core and chop apples until you have 6 lbs.
- Put apples in a very large pot. Pour 2 cups of sugar over the apples.
- Cover with a towel and let sit overnight. Up to 24 hours.
- Put the pot on the stove on medium high.
- Add the rest of the sugar and lemon juice.
- Cook uncovered for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour until the apples are boiled down to about half.
- Keep a watch on it, and stir frequently. It will burn easily, and you don’t want burnt apple jam. Ick!
- Add cinnamon. If you don’t like a lot of cinnamon, you can use 1 tbs or omit it altogether.
- Now, it’s ready to can.
Notes
For canning – Spoon into warm jars and can in water bath. (I follow the instructions on the bottom of the Ball Jar box, so I am linking to them here. Someday I will do a canning post because I am digging it.)
Here is a link for the canning pot I use and the canning equipment. If you haven’t canned before, you will need these. Yes, all of the equipment helps a lot. And yes the last two links are affiliate links.
Linking this to Gluten-Free Wednesdays (GFW), the weekly blog carnival that Shirley of gfe gluten-free easily, Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker and Lynn of Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures host.
Linking this to Gluten Free Fridays over at Vegetarian Mama.
This looks so appetizing! I’ll probably try it soon. Do you think I can cut the sugar by half? And did you dice the apples or finely chopped them? Thanks for sharing!:-)
Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays Party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you share next time!
-Cindy
How long does the jam last once it is canned. Thanks
It should last quite a long time as long as the top doesn’t pop. We just opened out last jar from last year. Still good, but the top hadn’t popped yet.
~Tia
How long do you process for? I went to the Ball website and they said to follow the recipe for processing time in the water bath. It appears as though most jam recipes require 10 mins of processing time – and then I would add an additional 10mins because I’m at a higher altitude, so 20mins total. Does that sound about right? I just want to be as accurate I can with the canning process. Thank you!
Well, shoot. I wonder if they changed it. I thought that it was more specific. I did 10 minutes. And I am right at sea level. And a year later we just opened the last jar today. Hubby says it’s still great. Intact, I am making more tomorrow. Got it sitting in sugar right now. Going to add figs for a change of pace.
Anyway, I digress. I would do 20 minutes. That should be fine. I have added 5 minutes sometime just in case. I feel like it couldn’t hurt. 😉
~Tia
Thank you! Super excited to try this. Do you dry store the extra jars or refrigerate until ready to use?
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Oooo, canning terminology. I’m still a novice. If I understand correctly, all of the jars that seal right (i.e. the lid doesn’t pop up) go into the pantry until needed. The ones that don’t seal correctly, (i.e. the lid does pop up) go into the fridge to use right away.
~Tia
Love this post! I’m making jam for the first time tonight and planning to use this recipe. I was wondering what would happen if I used, say, a cup less of sugar? Wasn’t sure how much of a difference it would make!
You could try it. Make sure to use the 2 cups for the over night because it helps to pull the liquid and pectin out of the apples. Just an FYI – most recipes I found actually called for almost twice as much sugar as what I used. We try to cut down when we can.
Hope it turns out great for you.
Hello my English aren’t so good and I’m not sure… Did you peeled the apples?
Nope, I didn’t peel the apples. The pectin in the peels help. And I like the peels.
~Tia
This looks delicious! Do you suppose I could half this recipe?
I don’t see why not, but I can’t say for absolute sure. 😉
~Tia
Do you have to wait the full 24hrz or is sitting over night 12 hrs enough?
Are you talking about after canning? You just want to make sure they are completely cool. That way you can check the top to make sure it doesn’t pop.
~Tia
How would I go about replacing the sugar with Honey? I know the conversion is usually about 1/2 cup to every 1 cup of sugar. My concern is A. 2 cups of honey sounds like a lot; and B. Honey has a high water content so I was nervous that the Jam wouldn’t set properly and be too watery. What do you think?
My whole family loves it. I also made some some caramel rice crispies with homemade caramel and spread some jam on top of them and it tasted like caramel apple pie. This jam is heavenly.
★★★★★
That is wonderful! So glad you like it. We just went apple picking yesterday, so I get to make a new batch soon, myself.
~Tia
Can I use honey instead of sugar?
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I’m so excited by this!! Do you think it might be pssible to add caramel flavor somehow?