I love jam and I’ve been trying to find a way to make nice tasting, healthy jam ever since I became raw. The problem is – most of my efforts didn’t lead to much besides a smoothie. Then I tried using Irish moss and agar agar to make it more gelatinised, but I wasn’t too keen, I was determined to find a way to do it in the most natural way possible.
Then finally…IT arrived in the mail, and made raw jam possible!
I am talking about my Vitamix – for those who don’t know yet, a Vitamix is a super blender that surpasses normal blenders by a mile. Due to 2 horsepower speed, it breaks down molecules so much in the food, that if you blend certain ingredients for long enough, they start to go jelly-like!
It was actually my grandma who discovered this as she likes to just leave her Vitamix on full blast and wander around the kitchen. She tried it first with just strawberries. That gave it a nice consistency but was still missing the typical consistency of jam that we like. Then came the secret ingredient…*drumroll please*…blueberries!! Just a handful of these yummy balls of happiness turned the whole thing into real jam!! Woohoo!! We eat this stuff with spoons straight out of the jar – that’s how good it is!!
Ingredients for a sugar-free strawberry and blueberry jam:
- 2 packs of strawberries (around 500g)
- 3 packs of blueberries (around 300g)
- Sweetener of choice, such as honey, coconut sugar or dates (up to you how much you sweeten it, I put 2 heaped table spoons of honey) * Note: stevia may be the best choice for those with health issues as it doesn’t raise blood sugar and is diabetic friendly
How to prepare:
The one requirement of this recipe is a Vitamix or an equally powerful high-speed blender, such as a Blendtec. You put all the ingredients in and blend it on full-speed for about 3 minutes.
Put it in a glass jar and into the fridge – it will go jelly-like once it gets cold, in an hour or two.
Enjoy with absolutely anything!
Here’s what it looks like in it’s freshly made state, as you can see, it’s not yet gelatinised, but it’s DELICIOUS nevertheless!
Recipe by Anya Andreeva, Live Love Raw