Pearberry Jam is a low-sugar or low-honey cooked jam made with Pomona’s Universal Pectin. Pomona’s Pectin contains no sugar or preservatives and jells reliably with low amounts of any sweetener.
Servings 4 cups
Ingredients
- 3 cups pear peeled, cored, and mashed
- ½ cup processed raw cranberries
- 2½ teaspoons calcium water see step #1
- 1/4 cup lemon juice bottled
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon optional
- 1 Tbsp grated orange peel optional
- 1 cup sugar or ½ cup honey
- 2 teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin mixed with sweetener
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.
- Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Wash lids and bands and set aside.
- Wash, peel, core, and mash pears.
- Wash cranberries, then finely chop in food processor or blender.
- Measure correct amounts of both pear and cranberry into sauce pan.
- Add calcium water and lemon juice, and mix well. Add optional orange zest and ground spices, if using.
- Measure sugar or room temperature honey into a bowl. Thoroughly mix 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 jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
- Remove hot jars from canner and fill jars with (marmalade/jam/jelly), leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims and put on lids and screw bands, tightening bands only to “fingertip tight” (until resistance is met, and then just the tiniest bit more).
- Place jars in the hot water, on the rack inside the canner. (Make sure jars are upright, not touching each other or the sides of the canner, and are covered with at least 1-2 inches of water). Place the lid on the canner, bring the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.)
- Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then, remove jars from canner. Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then, confirm that jars have sealed, then store properly. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.
Stella
So how small are you supposed to make the cranberries? The pic is not, I’m sure, a fair representation of how they’re supposed to be. Is it chunky or more like blended smooth?
Shelby Collings
Hello Stella, great question! When I make this recipe, I quarter the cranberries before cooking them and mashing. I like the smaller, more even texture it gives.
Elizabeth
Could plums be used in place of the pears? I have no idea what type of plums they are, just from a neighbors tree.
Shelby Collings
Yes, they sure can!
Rebecca
The sweetener in this recipe- is it 3/4 C sugar plus (your choice of an additional 1/8 C sugar or 1/2 C honey), or (3/4 C sugar plus 1/8 C sugar), OR 1/2 C honey, replacing all sugar?
That bit doesn’t scale up in the print menu, by the way. I can’t wait to make this for holiday treats this year!
Shelby Collings
Yes, you can certainly use all sugar! So sorry about the scale glitch, it is a work in progress 😊
Nancy
Could plumcots/prucots be used in place of the cranberries? I’m also using canning/hard pears so can I increase the sugar if needed? Thanks!
Shelby Collings
Yum! Yes, that should work just fine for this recipe 😊