With Thanksgiving behind us, there is an abundance of cranberries left at the grocery store. If you’re like me and like to eat seasonally, or you just enjoy cranberries in general, this naturally sweetened cranberry chia seed jam is just for you!
This recipe is so simple and easy to make. I love to use it on my homemade sourdough toast or even as a topping on oatmeal. It is so versatile and perfect for anything you like to add jam to.
Fruit Pectin or Chia Seeds?
Many people wonder ‘do you need fruit pectin for jam?’ and the answer is NO! Chia seeds are an amazing replacement for fruit pectin in jam.
I decided to use chia seeds in this recipe because they are very easy to access, I live in a small town in the south and my local Walmart carries organic chia seeds in the baking aisle. You can also purchase them online here.
Although you might think the chia seeds would add a weird texture, you truly don’t notice they are there. The key with using chia seeds is to allow them to expand, which is why I suggest keeping this in the fridge overnight before digging in, once the chia seeds have expanded into the liquid they turn soft and barely noticeable.
With cranberries being naturally sour, I did not add lemon to this jam. In the first test batch I did, I added lemon which intensified the sour flavor and left you with that “sour” face. Omitting the lemon allowed the jam to shine through with sweetness like jam normally does. If you don’t mind a more lemony taste, (it was very delicious, just too sour for my taste), you could easily add a small squeeze of lemon.
Natural Sweetener:
Natural sweetener means jam with no added sugar. Although this jam will still taste sweet, it is sweetened naturally without any processed sugar.
For this recipe, I used maple syrup because frankly, that’s all I had on hand. I like to buy fresh organic raw honey from a local farm and they have been out for a few weeks which means I have had to temporarily switch to maple syrup as my natural sweetener in recipes. However, this is not a bad thing! The jam is delicious with maple syrup and maple syrup is more easily accessible to most people since it is sold at almost every grocery store. If you’re like me and love to use honey as a sweetener, you can simply substitute maple syrup for honey in this recipe.
If you love this jam but you are afraid cranberries will begin to disappear from the grocery store, you could easily stock up on your next shopping trip and keep them in the freezer. Freezer cranberry jam is still delicious since the cranberries are cooked then blended being frozen does not change the recipe at all. You can also can this recipe if you want! I chose to not can this because it’s a bit more of a complicated process and with cranberries being abundant right now I don’t have to worry about running out of jam for a few more weeks.
Ingredients:
12oz bag of cranberries
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup or Raw Honey
1 Tbsp Chia Seeds
Directions:
Pour the entire bag of cranberries into a saucepan
Mix the cranberries consistently to avoid them sticking to the bottom of the pan, if you find they are sticking you can add a splash of water however I found mixing them frequently prevented sticking. You want the cranberries to begin to “pop” and get soft, this will take about 10 minutes or so.
Once the cranberries have softened enough to blend, transfer them to a blender. BE CAREFUL when blending hot items! Make sure your lid is on securely and release the heat from the top as needed. Blend the cranberries until they are smooth and no chunks remain. I used a high-speed blender (Vitamix) to make this easier.
Once the cranberries have been blended smooth, strain them through a fine-mesh strainer back into the saucepan. I used a rubber spatula to push the cranberries into the strainer to make the process faster.
After all the cranberries have been strained back into the pan, disregard what is in the strainer. Your mixture should be smooth at this point.
Turning your heat to low, mix in the maple syrup, or honey, and chia seeds. Allow this to be stirred on the heat for 5 minutes until it begins to softly bubble. Turn off the heat and let your mixture cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a glass jar.
This jam is best if it rests overnight in the fridge, or 6-8 hours in the fridge, this allows the chia seeds to expand and become soft. You might notice the jam is set up after an hour or two but the chia seeds will still be hard and unpleasant to eat until they have softened completely.
This naturally sweetened cranberry chia seed jam will store in an airtight container for up to 1 week in the fridge.
