Sugar free options?

[nachoqtpie]

Hey everybody!

I'm looking for sugar free options for jams, jellies, and sauces (mostly spaghetti sauce).

Thanks!

 

[baymule]

Nacho, I grew San Marzano paste tomatoes last tear and canned a few jars. It made a lovely sauce, no sugar needed. Start with the San Marzanos!

 

[XtreemLee]

I have never, and would never sweeten a spaghetti sauce, sweetening became a trends when folks switched to tomato paste (and added water) instead of using fresh tomatoes (after ww2), tomato paste is bitter and you can try to hide that with sugar. Good tomatoes, gentle cooking and basil and onion, bell pepper, celery add plenty of sweetness in my opinion. If you really want to turn your sauce up a notch and sweeten it, add grated carrots and beets.
The only sweetener I have in the house is local raw honey...

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I fixed some preserves a few years ago, using Splenda, in place of sugar and I got away with it. I don't recall if the Ball Blue Book has recipes requiring no sugar, but whenever I decide to preserve, I fall back on that book, but for me, it is mainly figs, which I have no need for instructions.

 

[nachoqtpie]

You can use Splenda and it works @rhoda_bruce? I was thinking of going with that but I didn't know if it would work or not. I have some delicious sounding jelly and jam recipes but didn't want to make them if the Splenda (or any other sugar sub) wouldn't work.

I know some people use sugar in their spaghetti sauce. I have only made it from scratch one time and nobody cared for it. *sigh* I worked for HOURS taking out the seeds, removing the skins... LOL I thought "This is going to be GREAT!" but alas it was not. :-( Got a sure fire recipe that I can try?

 

[XtreemLee]

Okay, but this is a traditional rustic marinara, and it won't take hours.

Ingredients - serves two to three (this happens to be a gluten free/vegan dish also, but most traditional marinara's are)
6 Tomatoes
4 Cloves garlic
1 Onion
1 Cup or Top 2 inches of a bunch of celery (about 1 cup)
1/2 Green or Bell Pepper
1 Package Fresh Basil or 20 to 30 leaves
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

Sea Salt 2-3 teaspoons
Black Pepper 1-2 teaspoons

I always bruise my garlic and let it sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing and adding to warm coconut oil. By bruising the garlic and letting it sit it develops wonderful enzymes and sweetness. It also makes it easy to remove the skin. Just use the flat of a knife and smash the bulb a bit. Then peel and slice thin (I go for 1/8 inch or 2mm slices), then gently heat at medium-low, or lower, you do not want boiling just a gentle sweat. This is one of the tricks of a gourmet, garlic is sensitive to heat, just gently sweat it till opaque if you brown it you killed it and the oil, toss it and do it again...

While the garlic is sweating dice the onion and add to the pan, be gentle with those but they can be added shortly after or with the garlic, sweating these to opaque will take five to ten minutes. I usually add the onion soon after the garlic, I just keep cutting and adding, celery next. Gentle sweating of both the garlic and onion will mildly caramelize and add natural sweetness, you can't duplicate that with sugar.

Take a bunch of celery and slice down through the leafy tops, looking for a thin slice about 1/8 inch (2 mms), this keeps the leaves small and they are critical to flavor, if you don't use celery tops it isn't rustic or traditional. I use the first two inches about 1 cup.

Green pepper, dice to 1/4 inch (5 mm) and add to pan. *Note: I am a minimalist/pragmatist and I use all of the edible vegetable (that means the brown dried tips of the celery went into the pan), a tip for those who want to capture true flavor, eat the core of the green pepper. The best way to attack a green pepper is to slice off the top in a way to sever the woody stem from the core, then take a spoon or a fingernail and scrape the seeds from the core, once you pull it out. Once the core is de-seeded then dice to 1/8 inch pieces and add to pan, I waste no pepper pith either, dice it and chuck it in...

To de-seed the tomatoes you cut them in half on the equator, then squeeze them forcing the seeds and water out. One tomato should take 20-30 seconds to de-seed. Do NOT skin, once de-seeded dice into 1/2 inch or 10mm cubes. Add to pan and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Add Sea salt and pepper adjust to taste. (Salt is necessary to a human being continuing to function and blood pressure is not a real concern, it's a fake issue made up to sell you drugs and make you afraid, in Europe they have regimes to help increase blood pressure.)

Taste to add more salt and pepper as needed and add sliced basil. Basil I just bunch up and slice thin 1/8 inch (2 mm). Add to pan and cook another 10 minutes.

Now if you are wise you will skip possibly dangerous and nutritionally vacant pasta and use a head of cauliflower instead. How I prepare the cauliflower is fun, suffice to say I waste zero cauliflower, the leaves, stem and core all eat just fine. I just adjust the size to how much cooking time it will take. I put the cauliflower in a pan with three tablespoons coconut oil and sauté till tender crisp.

Then plate the cauliflower top with marinara and if they don't like it kick em out, and get some Mediterranean friends they will love you...

 

[nachoqtpie]

@XtreemLee Ooooh!!! That sounds really good!! The only thing that is not currently growing (or will be growing) in my garden is the garlic and onion! I really wanted to put some of those in this year, but, hubby was against it... so instead we got a bed of flowers.

How would I modify this to make enough for canning?

 

[rhoda_bruce]

You can use Splenda and it works @rhoda_bruce? I was thinking of going with that but I didn't know if it would work or not. I have some delicious sounding jelly and jam recipes but didn't want to make them if the Splenda (or any other sugar sub) wouldn't work.

I know some people use sugar in their spaghetti sauce. I have only made it from scratch one time and nobody cared for it. *sigh* I worked for HOURS taking out the seeds, removing the skins... LOL I thought "This is going to be GREAT!" but alas it was not. :-( Got a sure fire recipe that I can try?

I never exactly got it in writing that it is officially safe to use, but I read it can be used, cup for cup, as a sugar would and I knew it was a 'diabetic sugar' so a few years back, I called a nurse I work with, who is very old school, really smart and also a diabetic and she informed me that one of her husband's uncles does that and the preserves are very good.
I would think that by now there would be lots on the internet about this very subject, which at the time, I couldn't find. Not sure how the fruits hold up with Splenda as its preservative, rather than actual sugar. It was my understanding that Splenda was made from sugar, but idk. That was way back and I have no sources. But everyone I gave my figs to are still alive.

 

[Britesea]

I've not worked with Splenda, but I've made low sugar preserves using the special pectin-- they turn out tasty, but they seemed to go moldy a lot faster than the full sugar versions. I don't know if the same thing would happen with Splenda, but I suspect it would with stevia

 

[wyoDreamer]

I need to practice my typing anyway, so here goes:
taken directly form the big yellow book "BALL Complete Book of Home Preserving"

Syrups Sweetened with Artificial Sweeteners
As a general rule, we don't recommend using artificial sweeteners when preserving fruit, as these products can produce a variety of negative effects. For instance, sweeteners containing saccharin may become bitter and present off-flavors during processing, and those containing aspartame may also lose strength during processing or storage.
Most sugar replacements tend to produce some degree of off-flavor when heated. For home canning, sucralose - Splenda - is known to be the most stable when heated, and thus mimics the sweetness of sugar with the least noticeable flavor differences. When using sucralose, start by substituting it for sugar in the extra-light recipe at left. If this syrup is not sweet enough for your taste, increase the sucralose to the level of sugar in the light recipe. Then test one or two jars to make sure the flavor suits your preference once the fruit is processed. Remember, you can always add sweetness, but it is impossible to remove it. If you are watching your sugar intake, for best quality, it may be preferable to preserve fruit in water or unsweetened fruit juice and add sweetener to taste just before serving.

From the chart -
Ultra-light syrup is 1/2 cup sugar to 5 cups water
Extra-light syrup is 1 1/4 cup sugar to 5 1/2 cups water
Light syrup is 2 1/4 cup sugar to 5 1/4 cups water

I canned apple slices in apple juice and it turned out really good. They are yummy in oatmeal. Drained, I use them basic baking like caramel apple bread, apple spice cake, and such.