Jams? Eat them natural 🆙

How good are the jams. If they are natural, however, it is better. Here's how to do it!

The recipe for natural jams

Obtain natural jams it's not very complicated, just get a few ingredients, find a free afternoon and respect some important hygiene rules.

Ingredients

A kilo of fruit to taste, preferably from organic farming
An Apple
The juice and peel of an untreated lemon
200 grams of whole cane sugar (the amount of sugar to use depends on the tastes and type of fruit, which can be more or less sugary; indicatively, for a jam that maintains the flavor of the fruit without sweetening it too much, just add a percentage sugar equal to 20% of the weight of the fruit).

Preparation: tgarlic in small pieces all the fruit, including the apple, which should not be peeled; add the lemon (juice and grated peel). Apples serve as a thickener; lemons, in addition to acting as a thickener, are natural preservatives. Cook the fruit for a few minutes, remove it from the heat and let it cool; only at that point add the sugar and put it back on the heat, always stirring with a wooden spoon, until the desired consistency is obtained.

At this point, pour the still very hot jam into the jars, which you have previously prepared and sterilized. Close well with the appropriate lids and place them - upside down - on a flat surface, so that they are vacuum packed. Keep the jars upside down for about a quarter of an hour.

Homemade jams must be consumed within a year, so it is advisable to apply a label with the date on which they were prepared.

What if there is no time to make homemade jams?

Obviously, it is possible to find natural jams also on the market. The important thing is to read the labels carefully and check that the product contains only fruit and possibly sugar and natural additives, for example lemon and vinegar.

Sugar is an excellent preservative and this is the main reason why it is found in many jams and is also used in home recipes. If you want to buy products that have preserved the flavor and organoleptic characteristics of the fruit as much as possible, it is better to opt for those without added sugars or to check that the percentage of fruit is high, i.e. equal to at least 70/80% of the product. The wording "extra jam" is not enough because, by law, a jam is extra when it contains a percentage of fruit not less than 45% of the net weight.

The ideal, always with a view to the search for natural products, is to opt for those from organic farming.

Where are natural jams found? There are more and more small farms that specialize in the production of natural jams, often using only the fruits of their own crops. By doing a research in your area you will certainly find, thus rewarding, in addition to the natural aspect, also the ecological one, linked to zero kilometer productions.