Raspberry Jam with Maple Syrup

I used the bulk of my raspberries to make jam with. We use jam everyday and love it! Usually I try not to put any sweetener in my jams and jellies, fruit is plenty sweet on its own. But raspberries are acidic and tend to get sour as jam, so I opted for maple syrup to take that acidic edge off.

Ingredients

12 cups mashed raspberries
2 cups 100% cranberry juice
1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon Low or No-Sugar-Needed Pectin
1/2 cup organic maple syrup

Wash the raspberries and then mash them in a large cooking pot. Add the cranberry juice and slowly sprinkle in the pectin, stirring as you add so it does not clump. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add in the maple syrup and then bring to a hard boil. Boil hard for one minute while stirring constantly. After the minute is up, remove from heat.

Skim off any foam and carefully pour hot jam into pre-sanitized and ready jars. Add rings and lids (that are prepared) and place in Canner . Cover the highest jar with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a hard boil and process for 10 minutes (for pints and half pints) with canner covered. Let jars sit for 5 minutes before removing from canner. Allow jars to sit for 24 hours before removing rings and storing in a cool, dark place.

Yields 15 cups of jam

*Note: You can make a half batch (or smaller) of this recipe. Just maintain ratios as listed above to have a safe canning experience. 

Paleo Raspberry Crisp

Gabriella talked constantly about wanting to make a raspberry crisp (she keeps calling it cobbler and Xander called it berry pot pie) so today she and I made one together. This recipe calls for 2 types of sweetener, which normally I only use one. But we had already added the first kind and she saw the maple syrup jug and said, "mommy we can put maple syrup in so you can eat it!", so we added a little. 

This is Gabriella's first time helping make up a recipe and she did great!

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh raspberries, rinsed and dried

Crisp Topping:
1/2 cup almond flour
1/3 cup organic coconut flour
1/4 cup organic coconut sugar
1 Tablespoon organic maple syrup
3 Tablespoons organic coconut oil
1 teaspoon organic vanilla
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon

Pour berries into a 9 inch pie plate. Combine all other ingredients in a mixing bowl and mash together with a form until completely mixed.

Crumble the topping evenly over the berries.

Bake at 375F for about 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Watch carefully not to over cook because coconut flour burns very quickly in the oven!

Remove from oven and enjoy once it has cooled a bit.

Organic Blueberry Pomegranate Jelly with Maple Syrup

I had a few more bottles of the Santa Cruz Organic juices so I made some more jelly with them. This batch was made using 100% Blueberry Pomegranate Juice.

Ingredients
2, 32 ounce bottles of Organic 100% Blueberry Pomegranate Juice (64 ounces total)
1 1/3 cup water
3/4 cup organic lemon juice
1/2 cup organic maple syrup
6 Tablespoons Low or No-Sugar-Needed Pectin

Stir together juices and water in a large cooking pot over medium-high heat. Slowly sprinkle in pectin and stir so it does not clump. Bring to a boil. Add in maple syrup. Bring to a boil again and hold at a rolling boil for 1 minute. Then remove from heat.

Carefully pour into pre-sanitized and prepared canning jars and top with prepared lids and rings. Place jars into Canner and cover completely with water, to 2 inches over the highest lid. Process at a full boil for 10 minutes with lid on but not pressurized.  Let sit for 5 minutes after processing is done before removing jars. 

Allow jars to sit in a cool place for 24 hours before removing rings and storing.

Note: This jelly will not set up at room temperature and is more like a syrup. When placed in the refrigerator it will set up firmer to be more of a jelly consistency. 

Want more amazing gluten-free recipes and diy projects? Check out the Gluten-Free and DIY Tuesdays page on Allergy Free Alaska's blog.

Blueberry-Pomegranate jelly is on the left and my Organic Apricot-Peach jelly is on the right. 

Homemade Ketchup

I haven't had ketchup for over 3 months. In fact, the only "dip"/salad dressing I have used in months is homemade ranch dressing (I'll post that recipe later). I was baking up some French fries for a snack this afternoon and I decided I needed something to dip them in. So I whipped up some ketchup that is sweetened with maple syrup instead of the usual HFCS (high fructose corn syrup). Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon raw organic apple cider vinegar (I use Braggs)
1 Tablespoon organic blackstrap molasses
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (if you don't want your ketchup to have a little zip to it, omit this)
1 1/2 Tablespoons Organic Maple Syrup
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried onion powder (or minced dried onion)
3/4 cup water
1/2 Tablespoon organic flax oil
1, 6 ounce can of organic tomato paste

Combine all ingredients into a small sauce pan. Stir over medium heat just until warm enough to blend thoroughly. Do not boil or simmer. When it is completely blended, pour it into a glass jar to store in the refrigerator. Recipe yields just under one pint.

 

 

This recipe does not taste "just like" store bought. It almost has a taste that is a cross between BBQ sauce and ketchup (from the molasses and crushed red pepper). To get that super sweet ketchup taste you would need to add more sweetener to it and we just don't use that much "sweet" around here. I had both my kids dip their fingers in to taste test it. They both immediately shoved their fingers back in for seconds before I could move the jar away from them. So I say that it is "kid approved"!