[catllar]

Hi guys - haven't asked for help on here for a while but I've still been around! I want to make  jam using seville oranges and angel-hair pasteque.  As OH is prediabetic I want to cut down on sugar so wondered if anyone has ever used fructose in jam making and if so how much do you use compared to "proper" sugar? 

I don't know if you have these angelhair pasteque in the UK - it's a type of winter squash. I've prepped the fruit by baking the depipped chopped oranges and cooked the pasteque in the oven for 3 hours before pulling out the flesh. It's almost impossible to cut these beasts open - many people here throw them from the top of the stairs or off the balcony to split them - honest! A friend of mine said she cooks hers and then it kind of bursts apart and you can pull out the stringy flesh and get the seeds out easily - must say it doesn't look that wonderful at present, but   might improve eventually!

[joyfull]

found this website that has a recipe for sugar free jam if it is of any help to you:-

http://www.sugarfreerecipes.co.uk/making-your-own-sugar-free-jam.html

[Kleftiwallah]

Prediabetic ?  I'm a diabetic but never heard of Prediabetic,   

is it like being slightly pregnant? ! ? !     Cheers,     Tony.

[catllar]

Haha - very funny!! Tony!

I'd never heard the term before but chatting to French pals they all knew what it meant! Apparently once your blood sugars get above a certain level you are considered prediabetic - that, so I'm told means that you have a dodgy pancreas and a slight problems dealing with sugars, but this can be controlled by diet only. Once you get above another number, you are diabetic and need the whole drug thing!  Thisprediabetic stage gets picked up over here in quite a lot of people before any symptoms show up. We have regular blood tests here, at least once a year and if you've got any other probs then they do you every 12 weeks, as it were!  So yes, kind of like slightly pregnant!

[Mosslane]

Hi Catliar. My OH is also prediabetic. We also have annual blood tests and it showed his blood sugar was high. We now only use fructose or honey as a sweetner and his level is normal. Also in the 6 months we have both lost 10 kg so it shows what sugar does! I'm pleased to see your question as I love making jam etc. Made marmalade but it used gelatine and it doesn't keep well. Be interesting to see what other think.

[catllar]

Thanks Joyfull, I had a look at that site and whilst it's interesting for the future it doesn't throw much light on my current query SO like a big girl I jumped in and did the following. By the time I'd prepped the fruit I had 1.5 kgs of fruit (pasteque and seville orange) Apparently for this qty of fruit I would need the same of sugar, but all I had was 750g of fructose - and the shops were shut - so that's all I used. As I wasn't too sure about cooking the fructose for a long time, I decided to add pectin to a short boil. In went one packet of pectin (very scientific, me!) Supposed to use 1 and a half but didn't have any more  - will have to see how it keeps - perhaps in the fridge'd be best. If you get any more advice Mosslane, be good to hear it!

[Lewjam]

The only thing i would be wary of, is as far as i know the sugar in the Jam is the preservative, so reducing the amount means it wont keep very well.  Or will keep better in the fridge?

I may be talking rubbish, just something my mum used to tell me when i was making jam.

Lew

[joyfull]

perhaps even tip some into plastic containers and freeze - if you do it in small quantities it won't have time to go off 

[trappa]

Good luck. Can you keep us updated as to how it keeps without sugar, im guessing at not very long. My dad is diabetic and he likes chutney so i make his with minimum sugar but tell him it wont keep.

[catllar]

Update on the jam situation: Unopened jars still keeping well  in the larder. Opened jar is in the fridge as normal for 10 days now and still no fur coat, so I guess it's OK!