Healthy homemade jam is always a great idea! This simple, lightly sweetened, and immune-boosting jam might become one of your winter favorites!
“To be healthy — eat seasonally,” words of wisdom which I like to remind to myself in this busy modern world. There is no doubt, it is easy and honestly quite tempting to get a plastic container of berries at the supermarket. Here, in the US, everything is available regardless of the season. Of course, I appreciate it, but at the same time, I believe that to a certain degree it makes us forget our natural rhythms and throws us off the balance. Growing up in Siberia with a big summer house, I learned well how to live seasonally. For me, summer is for fresh and juicy berries and crunchy vegetables (hello, sweet cucumbers and radishes!) Fall is for delicious apples, flavorful squashes and pumpkins, winter is for citrus, warming stews, and hot chocolate, spring is for fresh and vibrant greens! I am not saying that I eat my greens only in spring, haha, I eat them all year round! But I am always trying to make an accent on cooking what is in season now. Of course, from time to time I need to remind this simple idea to myself and put down those pinkish strawberries from a plastic container at a supermarket)).
I am not talking about deprivation here. I am talking about mindfulness. My simple wintertime solution is to get a big bag of frozen berries and make healthy homemade jam out of them. It is not only economical but also much healthier. It has been proven that frozen berries are almost always flash frozen the same day that they are harvested, preserving the natural nutrients and antioxidants that are present at the peak of freshness (1).
Sometimes I simply defrost berries in the saucepan and stir them into my morning porridge or chia pudding, other days, when I am in the cooking mood, I am making jars and jars of jam. Well, maybe not quite a jam – more like an unsweetened version of jam. And I really love it, not because of “healthy”, but because I enjoy the natural sourness from berries. I would rather mix a little bit of my jam with a few circles of banana in yogurt to make the taste balances than adding another tablespoon of sugar to the recipe. But that’s me. I understand that not everyone will appreciate my affinity for the sour taste. So, today I am sharing my ultimate jam recipe which can be easily customized to everyone’s taste.
The Ultimate Jam Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup of frozen cranberries
- 1 cup of frozen mixed berries
- A handful of goji berries
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger grated
- 1-2 tbsp coconut sugar to taste
Instructions
- In a small saucepan mix berries and ginger. Bring to a boil. Add sugar.
- Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Let the jam cool and become thick.
- Process in a blender for a few seconds.
- Store in an airtight glass jar.
This jam can become a great addition to any coconut yogurt bowl, chia pudding, and porridge. It is also an exceptional topping for a cracker with nut/seed butter. It makes delicious peanut butter and jelly variation.
Enjoy and let me know what you think about this recipe! Use #lemonsqueezylife on social media or drop a comment below! Thank you so much!
Much love,
Zhenya
Resource:
https://nwwildfoods.com/blog/are-frozen-berries-healthier-then-fresh/
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