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.

Berry Picking

The kids and I found a wonderful berry farm to pick at this year! We got up at 6 am (normal wake up is 8) and drove an hour to get to the berry farm by 8 am, but it was worth it!

It was practically the end of strawberry season so we only picked just over a pound of very tiny ones. Xander wasn't particularly helpful with those because he ate most of what he picked!

But isn't he just so cute?!

The real score were the raspberries! The bushes were taller than me, well maintained and in very long, straight rows. The rows were about 6 feet apart so there was plenty of space to roam, but nowhere foe the kids to run off to.

The farm uses "natural growing methods" which basically means no chemicals but not certified as organic (its pricey to do).

Gabriella was an amazing helper! I was pleadantly surprised at how well she did picking and staying focussed consudering she is only 4. I took both kids by myself and was not expecting to get a whole lot accomplished but was pleasantly surprised.  We picked 11 pounds in 50 minutes! 

Gabriella hard at work.

It always frustrates me when people complain about their kids, don't interact with them, don't do things because they have them, etc. Our kids are miracles and I LOVE having them with us!  I feel like they enrich and add to our lives, not take away from it. (Don't get me wrong, I love a good date night with the hubs!) At any rate, after picking I told Gabriella how proud I was of her and that she was now my official berry picking buddy. You should have seen the look on her face!

Be watching for lots of raspberry recipes coming!!