Apple Jam

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5 from 6 votes

A sweet and tangy apple jam made with only three ingredients!

Prep Time4

Cook Time30

Additional Time10

Total Time4 40

Course: Jam

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apple jam

Servings: servings, Makes 4 to 5 half pint jars

Author: Ashley Adamant

Equipment

Water Bath Canner
Canning Jars, Lids and Bands

Ingredients

6 lbs apples as purchased
4 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice fresh or bottled

Instructions

Peel, core, and cut the apples into a 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice.
Transfer the diced apples to a large bowl, sprinkle with the sugar and bottled lemon juice, and gently toss to coat the fruit evenly.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight, up to 24 hours (4 hours minimum), so the fruit can macerate.
Prepare a water bath canner, jars, and lids.
Strain the macerated apples through a large fine mesh sieve set over a jam pot, reserving the fruit and capturing all the juices in the pot.
Bring the reserved juices to a hard boil, then carefully add the drained apple pieces.
Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the jam reaches the gel stage (220 degrees F at sea level, or until a spoonful wrinkles on a plate chilled in the freezer) or your preferred thickness.
Ladle the hot jam into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. The jam is thick, so de-bubble with a spatula or chopstick, top up the headspace as needed, wipe the rims, and apply two piece lids until fingertip tight.
Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off the heat and let the jars rest in the canner for 5 minutes before removing.
Cool the jars on a towel lined counter for 12 to 24 h

Notes

Measuring the Apples: The recipe starts with 6 pounds of apples as purchased, which yields about 4 pounds of prepared fruit, or roughly 16 cups, once peeled, cored, and diced. Cut the apples into a 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice and resist going smaller, since the pieces don't cook down much and that dice is the texture of the finished jam.

The Ratio: This recipe is really a ratio, so it adapts to whatever your trees hand you. Use 1 cup of sugar for every pound of prepared apples (1 cup sugar to 4 cups diced fruit) and 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice per pound of prepared fruit. Working all in weights, that's 2 pounds of sugar to 4 pounds of prepared apples.

Choosing Apples: Use firm fleshed pie varieties that are both tart and sweet, like Empire, Granny Smith, or Honeycrisp, alone or mixed. Soft varieties like Golden Delicious and Jonagold fall apart in the pot and turn the batch into something closer to applesauce than jam.

Maceration: Don't skip the overnight soak. Drawing the juice out of the diced apples firms the fruit so the pieces hold their shape during cooking, and the strained syrup becomes the base of the jam. In a pinch, 4 hours is the bare minimum.

Pectin: No added pectin is needed. Apples are naturally rich in pectin, and the bottled lemon juice adds more during maceration. The jam sets by cooking to the gel stage, 220 degrees F at sea level (slightly lower at altitude), or until a spoonful wrinkles on a plate chilled in the freezer.

Lemon Juice: Use bottled lemon juice, not fresh. Bottled juice has a consistent, tested acidity, and it's what keeps this jam reliably safe for water bath canning, so the amount can't be reduced.

Sugar: The ratio here is already moderate for a no pectin jam, and the sugar is part of what thickens the preserve. Cutting it further means a softer set, a longer cook, and a smaller yield. For a truly low sugar jam, use a citrus based pectin like Pomona's and follow the package directions instead.

Set and Texture: You control the final texture by how long the batch cooks, anywhere from softly spoonable to quite thick. Start testing around 20 minutes, and expect up to 30. No pectin jams finish setting as they cool, which can take 24 to 48 hours, so don't judge the set while the jars are still warm.

Batch Size: This recipe halves cleanly with no changes to the method. Skip the 2x button for this one, though. A doubled batch takes much longer to reach the gel stage and the apple pieces soften along the way, so work through a big harvest in back to back single batches instead.

Altitude Adjustments: 0 to 6,000 feet: 10 minutes. Above 6,000 feet: 15 minutes.

Storage: Sealed jars keep for 12 to 18 months in a cool, dark place away from direct light. Refrigerate any jar that doesn't seal and use it within a week or two. Once opened, refrigerate and use within 1 to 2 weeks.

Nutrition