Kiwi Jam

In my backyard, there's a shed. My boyfriend calls it "the shop." I call it a slanty - because it’s a shanty than slants to the side in a most precarious fashion. One day, while cleaning it out a bit, a bunch of mason jars were discovered. Most of them sat unused, others held refrigerator pickles. I wanted to make use of them to can, but honestly had no idea how nor all the other necessaries to do so.

Fortunately, when my mom came to visit a few weeks ago, she helped me get started. A few batches of "red gravy" (spaghetti sauce for those of you who don't have the privilege of having lived with an Italian from South Philly) and I was hooked on canning.

It started innocently enough. Strawberry jam - delicious and versatile - PB&Js, Ice cream topping, in Greek yogurt! Then I was offered free blueberries to pick. Things got a bit out of control after that.

See what I mean? I am a jar short of needing a jam intervention. Strawberry was like a gateway jam, after that was blueberry, peach and peach strawberry. Then things got more creative with Fig Spice and Pineapple Habanero. But this is the last batch, I swear!

This is certainly not the strangest jam I've made - Pineapple Habanero wins that contests. But Kiwi jam wins on prettiest jam. Its just so….green. This is also the first jam recipe that required experimentation on my part. All the jams I'd made thus far had been sugar free or low sugar, using Truvia or agave nectar. I was morally opposed to adding 7 c. of sugar to anything intending to be eaten. Because Kiwi jam was a little more uncommon, I couldn’t find a low/no sugar recipe.

Go ahead, make a batch of jam, its really quite easy. Just stop after a batch or two!

Makes 2 half pints (2 8oz jars) of Jam

Ingredients:

6-7 ripe Kiwi (to get about 2 c. chopped fruit)

1/3 c. unsweetened pineapple juice (note - if you can't find pineapple juice, get pineapple pieces/rings in its own juice, you may need a bit of the fruit anyways)

1 1/2 T Ball Low or No Sugar Needed Pectin

20 grams Stevia Sweetener (I used 10 packets of Great Value Zero Calorie Sweetener)*

Optional - 1 drop green food coloring

*This is equivalent to about 6 packets of Truvia or 1/4 cup sugar. You can use regular sugar, honey, or agave nectar as well. The pectin allows you to add up to 1/2 c. sweetener but this jam is sweet enough with 1/4 c., possibly even a little less.

Process:

Peel your kiwi and either finely chop them OR put them in a food processor and pulse a few times (my preferred method - much easier)

Measure out exactly 2 c. of the chopped kiwi. If you've underestimated your kiwi, add a bit of chopped pineapple to get it up to 2 c. (I had to add slightly less than 1/4 c.)

Add the fruit and juice to a medium sized pot over medium heat. Gradually stir in pectin.

Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down over high heat, stirring constantly.

If you decide your kiwi jam isn't a pretty enough green for you, you can add ONE DROP of green food coloring. Trust me, that's all you'll need.

Add the sugar substitute and return to full rolling boil. Once it has return, boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly.

You may either can this using a hot water bath (process 10 minutes), put it a container and in the fridge, or you can be a total cheater (like me). I package the jam just as if I was going to process it in a hot water bath, I just make sure all the parts (jars, rings, lids, jam) are hot and as soon as the rings are tight, flip the jar upside down and let them all sit upside down for 10 minutes. Word on the street is that the FDA canning overlords don't approve of this but granny's across America have done this for ages and it works out just fine as long as you make sure the cans seal - Listen for the pop! [Note: I might have been exaggerating a bit regarding grannies doing this for ages, but it does work as long as you're not planning to store the jam for more than a year.]