Strawberry POM jam

So I had an idea... take the strawberry agave jam I made a little while ago... and add in pomegranate seeds!! I mean I already used POM juice in the jam... why not go full on with the seeds!?

So what do you think? :) An even tarter jam, with a little added snap of the pom seeds! Wicked fun!

check out the cute POM logo on the labels... LOL oh wait is that copyright infringement??? It's not like I'm selling these so no worries right? :D

Tart Strawberry POM Jam sweetened with Agave
recipe by steph chows

2.5 lb bag of whole frozen strawberries
1 cup agave nectar
1 cup pomegranate and nectarine juice or strait up POM juice
1 package Ball no sugar fruit pectin
1 pomegranate, seeded and skin/pith discarded
7 sterilized 1/2 pint jars

Place frozen strawberries in a large pot, heat on medium until they start to thaw and sauce up. Once they are soft enough mash them with a potato masher. Add agave and juice and turn heat to medium high. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring the whole time. Keep stirring and let it roll for 1 minute. Gradually add in pectin and continue to stir and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in POM seeds, pour into sterilized jars. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove from water and let cool undisturbed overnight. For more specifics on canning check our this post here.

This jam was super flavorful and the pom juice gave it a nice tart kick!

Strawberry Agave Jam

You got that right! It's jam time!! And it worked!!! It didn't turn into sauce! It's jam!! And it's delicious! I told you a little bit ago that the peeps at Wholesome Sweeteners asked me to figure out how to make jam with agave... well here it is!

I used frozen berries since it's not so much berry season right now. I'll test it again in the spring to see the correct lbs of berries when they aren't frozen. But if you missed out making jam, you could totally whip up a batch of these right now!

come on you HAVE to have cute jam labels when you make home made jam... at least it's a requirement for me :) plus it makes the best Christmas gift!

Tart Strawberry Jam sweetened with Agave
recipe by steph chows

2.5 lb bag of whole frozen strawberries
3/4 cup agave nectar (if you like slightly sweeter jam use 1 cup)
1 cup pomegranate and nectarine juice (use apple or white grape for a non-tart jam)
1 package Ball no sugar fruit pectin
7 sterilized 1/2 pint jars

Place frozen strawberries in a large pot, heat on medium until they start to thaw and sauce up. Once they are soft enough mash them with a potato masher. Add agave and juice and turn heat to medium high. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring the whole time. Keep stiring and let it roll for 1 mintue. Gradually add in pectin and continue to stir and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into sterilized jars. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove from water and let cool undisturbed overnight. For more specifics on canning check our this post here.

This jam was super flavorful and the pom juice gave it a nice tart kick!

Jam sweetened with agave

The people at Wholesome Sweeteners posed a question to me... is it possible to make jam with agave instead of white sugar? This would be perfect for people with diabetes since agave has a lower glycemic index than white sugar. This is also great for people looking for a more natural alternative to high sugar jams. I've never used agave in jam before, but I was up to the challenge to experiment! They shipped me off a case of agave and I got cracking!

It's too bad it's not prime berry season anymore... but I made due and busted open a big box of strawberries I had frozen this summer (hand picked by me and Johns mom!). I wanted to try and make this batch using all organic products and went researching online for alternatives to boxed low sugar pectin. I came across some entries about using 1 Tbs of arrow root powder plus 1 Tbs of water mixed to make a paste... supposedly you add this to your bubbling jam and it magically solidifies your jam! ummm right...

For starters I was lucky enough to find arrow root powder in the bulk section of my local co-op. This way I could just buy a few tablespoons of the stuff instead of a 1 lb bag of it, and bonus it was 100% organic!


Note to my roommate: really I haven't developed a drug habit... this bag of white powder... well you see it's arrowroot... not crack... no really! Why are you looking at me funny??

The results of using agave and arrow root... a really delicious strawberry sauce... not jam. I'm waiting to see if it solids up anymore but after 2 days... it's still looking pretty liquidy.


So half the battle is won. The agave complimented the strawberries amazingly! The next try is going to be with a box of pectin... and once raspberries are back in season and not $50 a lb I'm going to make some raspberry jam using agave (since raspberries have natural pectin in them so you don't need a box of it), the agave is seriously delicious though!!

An exact recipe to come soon once I have it more so figured out :) So stay tuned! OH and if anyone has any suggestions... please feel free to let me know!