stack of pancakes drizzled with fruit syrup

Fruit Syrup

Fruit Syrup is a low-sugar or low-honey syrup made with Pomona’s Pectin, using your choice of fruit and Pomona's Pectin jam or jelly recipe.
Pomona's Pectin contains no sugar or preservatives and jells reliably with low amounts of any sweetener. Find a retailer near you using our Store Locator under "Find a Store" tab above.

Notes

1:  As with Pomona’s Jam & Jelly recipes, you can halve or quarter the recipe to make just one or two jars of syrup for immediate consumption. The syrup will last for 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
2: Remember to do your math! We've learned the hard way it is best to do the math and write it all down before you start!
Servings 5 cups

Ingredients

  • If you are making fruit syrup from mashed fruit, find the jam recipe for that fruit in the Cooked Jam, Jelly -- Low Sugar or Honey section of the recipe sheet that comes with Pomona's Pectin.
  • If you are making fruit syrup from juice, find the jelly recipe for that fruit in the Cooked Jam, Jelly -- Low Sugar or Honey section of the  recipe sheet that comes with Pomona's Pectin.
  • Use ¼ the amount of pectin in the jam or jelly recipe. All of the other ingredients in the recipe stay the same.

Instructions

  • Before you begin, prepare calcium water.
    To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well.
    Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
  • Wash jars, lids, and bands. Place jars in canner, fill canner 2/3 full with water, bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and keep jars in hot canner water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small sauce pan; cover and heat to a low boil. Turn off heat and keep lids in hot water until ready to use.
  • Prepare fruit or juice.
  • Measure mashed fruit or juice into sauce pan.
  • Add calcium water and lemon or lime juice (if called for in the recipe) and mix well.
  • Measure sugar or room temperature honey into a bowl. Thoroughly mix correct amount of pectin powder into sweetener. Set aside.
  • Bring fruit mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-sweetener mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the mixture comes back up to a boil. Once the mixture returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
  • Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals; lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.

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27 Responses

  1. Stephanie
    | Reply

    I made boysenberry syrup using 4 C juice, however I followed the boysenberry jam recipe (since I couldn’t find a jelly one.) for all other ingredients i used(3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 c bottled lemon juice, 1/2 tsp pectin, 2 tsp calcium water. Is that safe or should I have used 1 tsp pectin and 4 tsp calcium water? Thanks, new to canning and love your low sugar product.

    • Shelby Collings
      | Reply

      That great Stephanie!

  2. Rebecca
    | Reply

    I used this recipe to make lilikoi syrup today, adapting as instructed from a tried and true Pomona’s lilikoi jelly recipe. It didn’t seem to jell at all so I’m going to try the suggestion given in another comment to reheat and add more pectin to the batch. My question with lilikoi has to do with separation. Is there a way to keep the lilikoi juice from separating while the jars cool after the canning bath? Even the jelly tends to separate a bit prior to setting. Any tips?

    • Shelby Collings
      | Reply

      We believe that what you have is called “fruit float.” When the jars of jam are very hot and there is no jell yet, the pulp, which is lighter than the juice, is able to float to the top of the jar. Strawberries are prone to fruit float although it doesn’t always happen. Other fruits can have fruit float also. You are not doing anything wrong. However, if you want to discourage fruit float from happening, you can mash your fruit a little more and you can cook your fruit for a little while before you bring it up to the full boil. You could even add a little of your sweetener to cook with the fruit, still leaving enough sweetener to adequately disburse the pectin powder without going over the sweetener limit.

      In the future, when you take the jars out of the water bath, leave them for about an hour to start cooling and seal. Then come back and check to make sure they are all sealed. If you see that you have fruit float, turn the jars upside down to force the pulp to redistribute through the jar. Come back in about 45 minutes and turn the jars right side up to once again force the pulp to redistribute through the jar. Check again in another 45 minutes and if you have a distinct dividing line, turn the jars upside down again. Turn the jars right side up again in about 30 minutes. You always want the jars to end up right side up. By keeping the pulp well distributed throughout the jars, there will not be a dividing line when the jell finally starts and locks everything into place.

      If your jam has jelled in a separated state, you can gently stir the pulp and juice back together when you open the jar to eat it. Separated jam in sealed jars will store safely.

  3. Leann
    | Reply

    Hello! I’ve been searching for a recipe for a medium or light ginger syrup made with honey and probably some lemon juice. All the ones I can find call for a equal amounts sugar/honey and water, making a heavy syrup. I was originally looking for a recipe without pectin, but I can’t find anything close to what I want. Would one of your recipes work? Any suggestions?

    • Shelby Collings
      | Reply

      Hello Leann,

      You could give our Cold Comfort recipe a try, and simply decrease the lemon juice amount to 1/2 cup, and omit the cayennne.

      Please let us know if this works for you!

  4. Mary
    | Reply

    i made syrup from wild grapes using the concord grape recipe. the syrup is very thin. can i redo it? and do i add the calcium water and the pectin both again. the jelly i made turned out great but the syrup is way too thin.
    found Pomona pectin last year on line and love it. the only one i will use from now on. love the recipes.

    • Shelby Collings
      | Reply

      Hello Mary,
      Thanks so much for choosing Pomona’s! You can absolutely redo your Fruit Syrup. Here are some questions to determine how much more pectin you’ll need…
      (1) How much jell do you have?
      (2) How much pectin do you need to add? The way to determine this is by looking at the jell you have and estimating how much pectin you will need to add to achieve the jell you want.

      For example, if you have no jell at all, you will add the full amount of pectin from the recipe you were following. If you have about 25% of the jell you want, add 75% of the amount of pectin called for in the recipe. If you have 50% of the jell you want, add 50% of the amount of pectin called for in the recipe. If you have 75% of the jell you want, add 25% of the amount of pectin called for in the recipe.

      Once you determine how much thicker you’d like your syrup, you can choose which fix works best for you, here.

      Have a great day!

      Kindly,
      Shelby

      • Mary
        | Reply

        do i add the calcium water again also. i used half the pectin i did last year as was a little thick but this time very little jell at all.

        • Shelby Collings
          | Reply

          No, if you added it in the first time around, it should be sufficient for this new addition of pectin too.

  5. Mary
    | Reply

    i made Wild Grape syrup following the fruit syrup recipe but the syrup is very thin, just looks like juice. can i redo it and do i add the calcium water again as well as pectin?
    all jam i made turned out great! also shared a box of pectin with a friend who has a diabetic son-our new go-to pectin!

  6. Mary Berry
    | Reply

    I would like to make huckleberry syrup ,which recipe to follow. I’ve never used your product before

    • Shelby Collings
      | Reply

      Hello Mary Berry,

      Thanks so much for choosing Pomona’s Pectin! I would recommend using our Blueberry Jam Recipe, and omitting the vanilla bean and lavender if you do not wish to mix them with your precious Huckleberries. You will need to add an additional 3 TBSP. of water to your mixture to compensate for not having the lavender tea.
      Then follow the directions for Fruit Syrup.

      Enjoy!

  7. Nadine
    | Reply

    I want to make a low sugar syrup from wild black berries, but don’t want the seeds in my syrup. At which step would I separate the juice from the seeds and pulp? Am I correct in assuming that I would then follow the Jelly recipe? I’ve made plenty of jams, but never jelly. Thank you!

    • Shelby Collings
      | Reply

      Hello Nadine,

      Great question! You would just follow the Blackberry Jelly recipe in the directions and the be sure to one use ¼ the amount of pectin in the jam or jelly recipe. All of the other ingredients in the recipe stay the same.
      Thanks for choosing Pomona’s!
      Kindly,
      Shelby

      • Bry
        | Reply

        Hi this was my question as well, but would like some clarification please. Would I follow the recipe for blackberry jelly in the top section or the bottom section “from juice concentrate”? What I have after food milling out the seeds is a lot thicker than juice but maybe not quite as thick as mashed up blackberries..

        Also, I pick wild blackberries (northwest Canada) so would those be considered “Sour” or “Sweet”. I’d rather not have to add extra acid if I don’t have to. Thanks!

        • Shelby Collings
          | Reply

          Hello Bry,

          You would follow the recipe for Blackberry Jelly under the Jam, Jelly, Marmalade- Low Sugar or Honey section. If you are using a food mill vs. juicing, you will want to use less pectin to make your fruit syrup.

          We would suggest erroring on the side of caution and adding the lemon juice if you are unsure whether your berries are sour or not.

  8. Aaric
    | Reply

    I am so glad you posted this! I did experiments 3-4 years ago trying to get the right proportions, and I came up with 1/4 the pectin as well. I did also quarter the calcium water, and I am curious why you say to use the same amount as for jam?

    • Mary Lou Sumberg
      | Reply

      Dear Aaric,
      The reason we say to use the same amount of calcium water as for the jam recipe is because you are using the same amount of fruit as the jam recipe and we want to be sure there is enough calcium in that amount of fruit to activate the pectin.

      Some fruits and some geographic areas have more calcium naturally in the fruit than others, but we have no way of calibrating for this, so we use an amount that we know will work.

      Congratulations on figuring out the syrup proportions on your own! Thanks for using Pomona’s Pectin — and happy jamming.

  9. Shannon
    | Reply

    I have a question. I want to make apricot syrup using your pectin. I’ve been using fresh apricots that I peel and mash for preserves (which have all turned out delicious using your pectin and following your recipe), but I want a very smooth syrup and would like to blend up the apricots instead of just mashing them. My question is: what method/recipe do I follow for making the syrup from blended apricots? Do I still follow the jam recipe for apricots that I’ve been using and just substitute 1 cup mashed for 1 cup puréed? And all other ingredients and steps are the same? Thanks for your help!

    • Mary Lou Sumberg
      | Reply

      Dear Shannon
      You can make apricot syrup from a puree by following the directions on the Fruit Syrup recipe page on the website.

      For 4 cups of mashed apricots, you would use 3/4 teaspoon of pectin (1/4 of the jam amount of 3 teaspoons). For 4 cups of apricot juice, you would 1 teaspoon of pectin (1/4 of the jelly amount of 4 teaspoons). So for a puree, which is in between mashed and juice, you want at least the 3/4 teaspoon for 4 cups, but not quite a full teaspoon so a generous 3/4 teaspoon or a scant 1 teaspoon.

      To make less than 4 cups at a time you need to do the math!

      I hope this makes sense — if not feel free to write back. And let us know how it turns out. We’d love to hear.

  10. Randal Oulton
    | Reply

    A question has just occurred to me… since you are reducing the pectin, do you also reduce the calcium water proportionately? I’m guessing you don’t, because you say, “All of the other ingredients in the recipe stay the same.”

    • Mary Lou Sumberg
      | Reply

      Hi Randal,
      Yes, you answered your own question correctly.

      Would love to hear how your syrups turn out if you make some.

  11. Randal Oulton
    | Reply

    It’s great to have tested alternatives to the sugar and calorie laden fruit syrups that are in the USDA and Ball books; looking forward to trying them. Keep up the good work!

    • Mary Lou Sumberg
      | Reply

      Hi Randal,
      Thanks for your comment. Hope things are going well in your world.

  12. Terri G
    | Reply

    Can you do this with fruit juice and stevia or xylitol, instead of sugar or honey?

    • Mary Lou Sumberg
      | Reply

      Hi Terri,
      Yes, since xylitol measures like sugar you can just substitute the xylitol for the sugar. If you are using stevia that measures like sugar than yes you can substitute in the same way.

      If you are using concentrated stevia, then you would need to dissolve the pectin in some of the boiling juice in a blender as described in our directions that come with the pectin. You’ll find this on what we call the back side of the directions — the pink upper left corner — Directions for Cooked Jam, Jelly, Jello — Stevia Concentrate or No Sweetener.

      I hope this answers your question. Thanks for using Pomon’as and happy syrup making!

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