Canning without sugar

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  • This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 13 years ago by Gem.
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  • April 18, 2012 at 7:34 pm
    pangit
    Participant

    For those of you who can, do you do it without sugar?  If so, what do you use and how does it turn out? And, what do you use it in?

    I use an extra-light syrup.  Basically, I use the recipe for the light syrup in my canning book and use less sugar than that.  So, there really is minimal sugar in each jar.  But, I’d like to try no sugar at all this year and I’d like to have some confidence that everything won’t go brown or go bad.

    We can peaches, pears, cherries, apple sauce (no sugar or preservative at all used), apricots, green beans, and tomatoes.  At times we’ve also done grape juice and apple juice.

    Of course we don’t use sugar in the green beans and tomatoes!! =)

    April 18, 2012 at 8:00 pm
    Rachel White
    Participant

    yes, I’ve done fruits without sugar or I use honey, instead. From my Stocking UP III book, it writes that you can pack fruits without sweetener, the sweetener not being needed to prevent spoilage; just use water, make a fruit juice from the fruit you’re processing, use store-bought juice or make a honey/water syrup.

    When I’m cutting up the fruit-apples for example-I place them in a lemon water or ascorbic acid and water mixture to prevent browning. I’ve then heated this water slightly and used it for canning the fruit. When canning, I’ve also used plain water or the honey mix, which is:

    2 cups honey with 4 cups hot water

    If you use the honey mix or the lemon juice water or ascorbic acid water mix,then it shouldn’t go brown.

    The lemon juice/water mix is:

    1 Tblsp. lemon juice to 1 gall water

    or

    1 Tblsp. ascorbic acid powder to 1 gall water (this is my favorite)

    HTH,

    Rachel

    April 19, 2012 at 12:10 am
    Gem
    Participant

    I do think that you risk browning, but that is only cosmetic.  Maybe bringing the acid level up as Rachel suggested might reduce some of this?  I know that when I have made low or no sugar jams the color is definitely duller and less vibrant.  They also spoil much more quickly in the fridge – they will get moldy after a while, where traditional jams stay for months LOL.  So I have learned to package them in the smallest jars so we use them up quickly.  This probably won’t be an issue with canned fruits as you will probably be using them for pies and whatnot.

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