Blueberry Jam

My homemade blueberry jam

I'm not a fan of excessive sugar in cooking and the idea of putting the same amount of sugar as fruit in jam is just ridiculous! After a lot of internet research and a look through my cookbooks I turned to my new favourite book The SuperJam Cookbook. I adapted my recipe from one in there, where it advised using white grape juice in place of sugar.

Roxanne's Blueberry Jam

Ingredients

1 litre purple grape juice

400g blueberries

2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

(1) Boil the grape juice until it reduces to about one quarter of the original. (It is crucial that is reduces by this much, I took mine off too soon and ended up faffing about straining the blueberries so I could boil it further - so be patient).

(2) While the grape juice is bubbling away cook the blueberries and lemon juice in a large saucepan (big enough to hold the grape juice too). Once the blueberries have cooked for a while give them a mash to break them up a bit.

(3) When the grape juice has reduced add it to the blueberries and bring to the boil. Continue to cook until it thickens. (Because of my faffing I can't give an extact timing for this - so use your instinct!)

(4) Spoon the jam into a sterilized jar (you are supposed to do this by putting jars into the oven and such jazz, but I just gave mine a thorough wash, then filled with boiling hot water and shook it up. Warning this makes the jar very hot...)

Verdict

I thought it had all gone wrong when the jam wouldn't thicken (because I didn't cook my grape juice for long enough). But...against the odds it set. And tasted good! You don't miss the sugar at all, as the grape juice gives it enough sweetness.