Since I made some Asian coconut jam – leftover mandarin orange jam (leftover from Chinese New Year), Hainanese Kaya and Pandan Kaya, I was really in the mood to make more jam. I bought some frozen cranberries and since I always have chia seeds and honey rock sugar in my kitchen, these three ingredients naturally came together in this cranberry jam recipe.
If you love home made jams, do check out my Strawberry Chia Seed Jam without Pectin, Pineapple Jam (perfect for making pineapple tarts for Lunar New Year goodies, and refined sugar-free Orange Marmalade with Chia Seed.
I have spread it on toasts, used it on thumbprint cookies, or just top it up on Greek yoghurt, it’s really so jam packed with flavour and nutritional goodness. The cranberries are both sour and a little bitter, with less than four percent sugar, thus I didn’t add any citrus flavours, and definitely need to add some sweetness to balance the taste. I read somewhere that cranberries were traditional used by Native Americans to preserve meat, make fabric dye and used them as medicine, while most wild animals avoid cranberries probably due to its taste. That said most commercial cranberry products such as juices contain lots of sugar to make it palatable.
What are cranberries?
Cranberries are small, round, deep-red berries that is related to the blueberries. Due to their very sharp and sour taste, they are rarely eaten raw. Cranberries are grown on vine-like plants similar to strawberries, and typically come from North America or eastern Europe, They are usually harvested around September to November.
Cranberries are known to have protective antioxidant effects, thus there are cranberry nutritional supplement sold in the health stores. Most of the antioxidant effects are found in the skin of the cranberry. This cute little fruit is also well-known for helping to prevent urinary tract infections, as well as support heart health, protect against gastric ulcer and stomach cancer and certain other cancers.
Watch My Cranberry Chia Jam Video on YouTube
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Low Sugar Cranberry Chia Jam
Detailed Step-by-Step Video
Ingredients
- 250 g cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 40 g honey rock sugar , or just sugar
- 80 ml water
- 1 tbsp chia seed
Instructions
- In a small pot over medium-low heat, add cranberries, water, honey rock sugar. Stir and let the sugar dissolve.
- Once boiled, reduce heat. Cranberries will turn soft, just a gentle press with the spoon will break it apart easily.
- Use a potato masher to mash the cranberries (you can use a fork or spoon too).
- The cranberries mixture will start to thicken and you will see some juice visible. Add the chia seed.
- Keep stirring to mix the chia seed well as the jam thickens.
- Once the jam reaches gel-like consistency, it's ready. Turn off heat and let it cool.
- Store in an airtight container. It will last about 10 days in the fridge.
Notes
Sharing this recipe with Fiesta Friday, Southern Plate.
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