1-    No sugar added jams are good but for people who want sweet jams but no sugar from sugar cane or beet, is there a solution?

Again a question about sugar! There are natural sources to replace sugar from sugarcane or beet.

Good sources I know are honey, maple syrup and other plant syrups (agave, cereals,…), coconut sugar, grape sugar. There are probably others. Limits are the availability and the cost. I have no experience to share about these sugars for jam and trials are necessary to adjust the sweetness and solve the problem of conservation.

Honey and maple syrup are used in different jams alone or with “normal” sugar. Heating honey is not recommended because it inactivates the enzymes.

Coconut sugar now available in some stores is probably an interesting healthy option because of its low glycemic index. The price is around 250 P per kilo in Manila. I found one coconut jam made with coconut sugar.

A French company produces jams made with grape sugar.

One more time the jam world is in evolution and there are many ways to explore.

2-    I made pineapple jam a few weeks ago and I found some bottles this week with jam overflowing from the closed jars. What happened?

It is a problem of contamination. Neither probably yeast started to grow in non-acidic conditions and probably nor enough sugar. You have to adjust the acidity as close as possible to a pH 3.5, respect the quantity of sugar and take care during the transfer of the hot jam to the bottle to avoid contaminations with micro-organisms.

3-    Why there is much more ingredients in other jams than in the Lola’s garden jams?

Let’s see, with a critical eye, what are these “other ingredients”. The table below gives the list of ingredients of a common low cost strawberry jam, said “sugar free” you can find in supermarkets and why it is included in the formula.

• • Strawberry with a note: add trivial amount of sugar (2g) – These 2g of sugar allows evaluating the quantity of real fruit (around 20g for a bottle of 240g). We are far from more than 65% of fruits in Lola’s jams or fruits a tartiner. By the way, 2g of sugar, is it really sugar or sugar free jam?
• • Water – As there are a few quantities of real fruit, the matter of the jam is replaced with water.
• • Maltodextrin – is a chemical sweetener used to improve the mouth feel and absorbed as rapidly as glucose. It not safe for some people if it contains gluten (and that’s the case with Asian production of maltodextrin).
• • Pectin – The thickener agent which binds the water and jellify the jam.
• • Citric acid – To acidify the jam and reduce the risk of contamination.
• • Strawberry flavor – Of course, as the quantity of fruit is low, it is needed to give a (chemical) taste to the water.
• • Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate – chemical preservatives.
• • Calcium chloride – chemical firming agent
• • Aspartame, acesulfame K – Chemical sweeteners. According to sweetpoison.com “Acesulfame K apparently produced lung tumors, breast tumors, rare types of tumors of other organs (such as the thymus gland), several forms of leukemia and chronic respiratory disease in several rodent studies, even when less than maximum doses were given.”. “Headache is the most common adverse side effect attributed to aspartame…In anecdotal reports, aspartame has been linked to various neuropsychiatric disorders, including panic attacks, mood changes, visual hallucinations, manic episodes, and isolated dizziness.”
• • Red #40 and Blue #1 – Same as strawberry flavor, it is chemical ingredients to color the water. According to Wikipedia, “Red 40 was originally manufactured from coal tar but is now mostly made from petroleum…some studies have found some adverse health effects that may be associated with the dye.” And Blue 1 “It is a synthetic dye produced using aromatic hydrocarbons from petroleum….It has the capacity for inducing an allergic reaction in individuals with pre-existing moderate asthma. the Hyperactive Children’s Support Group and the Feingold Association recommends to be eliminated from the diet of children”.

    

You can now understand why there are more chemical ingredients in some jams and it is not to improve the quality!

Lola’s garden jam and Fruits a tartiner (NSA) ingredients are:

FOR                                      JAMS                                    FRUITS A TARTINER

                                                                                           NO SUGAR ADDED

Flavoring & coloring           Fruits more than 65%        Fruits more than 65%

Sweetness                       Washed or brown sugar      Stevia

Jellification                      If necessary lemon pectin   Agar from algae

Acidification                     Lemon citric acid and/or     Lemon citric acid and/or

Calamansi juice                calamansi juice

Conservation                    Sugar and, sometimes       Sterilization and fridge

Sterilization                     stocking

Original taste                   Natural spices and/or        Natural spices and/or

Calamansi zest                 calamansi zest

That’s the difference between home and industrial production and the choice is yours.

4-    Let’s speak about sugar

With the evolution of the knowledge, some consumers are more exigent and prefer the safest food. In term of no contamination with chemical products but also in term of quantity of calories. More informed about the risks of diseases or their own diseases, they adjust their diet and choose attentively what they eat. After all, as it is said in France:” We dig our grave with our fork!“

Jams are sometimes rejected by consumers because they content sugar. If this is understandable by diabetic people, it is not a good idea from people who have not this type of health problem. On the opposite, the sugar is the necessary source of energy needed by the body, especially for kids.

What should be important is the source of the sugar. I think everybody knows sugar in fruits has better qualities than the same sugar in  the plastic bag of the grocery. It brings with it minerals, vitamins, and many other organic components useful for the body.

Our extra quality jams contain around 65% of fruits, so, a large quantity of the sugar in the jar is coming from the fruit.

Second point is of course the quantity of sugar per day. Remember one teaspoon of jam is around 3g of sugar and one can of Coke, 40 g. Choice is yours!

5-    What is the best sugar for jam?

Difficult question: the answer depends what side you are, producer or consumer. Most of the producers recommend white sugar because it preserves the color of the jam. Sometimes, commercial white sugar includes pectin to guarantee a good jellification.  Because of the very low level of impurities the jellification is also stronger. The counterpart is the refining of the sugar is a chemical process and the result is the “…Refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes, only empty calories.” (http://macrobiotics.co.uk/sugar.htm).

The washed/brown sugar, the muscavado, the molasses are not recommended by producers because color impurities and taste modify the color, the taste of the fruit and the texture of the jam. Look at the difference between the result of a modern technique, respecting the color of the fruit, to make strawberry jam and the one you can buy along the road climbing to Baguio.

The worst result, in term of appearance, is obtained with muscavado and molasses which give a very ugly uniform brown color to any kind of fruit jam. Furthermore, the light and delicate aroma of some fruits is totally destroyed.

   

However, as brown sugar is less treated than white sugar, some consumers prefer jam made with non-refined sugar. Compromise is often necessary to satisfy (partially) everybody. The use of a light brown sugar allows to avoid, partially, the “dark side” of the white sugar and do not modify too much the aspect of light colored fruits. It is probably the best home production choice in these times where appearances seem more important than the reality.

6-    Why the Lola’s jam is more expensive than the jam in the supermarket at 60 or 80P?

You have to compare what is comparable. First, Lola’s jam are at the same price or less expensive than other jams of equal quality. Then there is different quality of jams based on the quantity of fruit. Extra quality jam has more than 45% of fruits. Lola’s jams contain generally 60% of fruit. By the way, the quantity of sugar from the fruit is more important and it is best for health than the added sugar. Low quality jams contain very few natural fruit but a lot of chemicals, colorants and so on, look at the label: you buy a pure chemical product which is very far from a home-made product.

Other point is Lola’s garden jam tries to offer you rare and original products and it needs research and trials to find the best quality processed product. Good quality ingredients or organic products have also high price.

And last point, our packaging is a little more expensive. Some friend calls it “sexy packaging”! Let’s say this is the “French sophisticated touch” and we know you like it!

7-    How to know if there is pectin in a fruit?

Pectin exists naturally in fruits. The concentration is not the same in all the fruits and varies with the ripeness. Worst, appears now fruits like tomatoes genetically modified and without pectin to keep marketable the fruit a longer time. Not far is the time we will have in our plates the shape and the color of a fruit but not the taste!

Anyway the question is to know rapidly if there is pectin or not. A simple test will help you: mix 1 tsp (teaspoon 5ml) alcohol 90° (it works better than with 70°) and 1 TBS (tablespoon 15 ml) of the hot jam. Depending of the clogging you can conclude:

– You get a compact block: the juice is rich in pectin,

– You get 2 to 3 small balls: the juice has an average concentration in pectin,

– You get small scattered balls: the juice is poor in pectin.

It is not easy to find information about the quantity of pectin of tropical fruits especially when you use local fruits not exported. You must experience yourself.

Example of fruits founded in the Philippines poor in pectin: cherries, strawberries, melons, pears, grapes…

Example of fruits founded in the Philippines rich in pectin: apples, guava, mulberries, citrus fruits in general…

8- I do my jam at home. Sometimes, I find molds when I open the jar. What is my mistake and is it dangerous for health?

Rule #1: Clean and sterilize the jars

First, jars and covers are cleaned with liquid dishwasher, well rinse and then sterilize in pressure cooker 10mn (under pressure) or boiled also 10 mn in water. The pressure cooker of the kitchen is generally limited in size but it is faster and less expensive in term of energy and water. After the sterilization or pasteurization, you stock the jars and covers up down on a clean table cloth to dry them before using. You can do this step during the preparation of the pulp of the fruits and all should be ready before starting the cooking of the jam. Sometimes, the cooking is fast and the bottles not ready!

That’s a very important rule because with the right concentration of sugar and an acidic medium you will avoid the development of micro-organisms. To know the concentration of sugar you need a refractometer. If you have not, you respect the recipe (generally same quantity of pulp and sugar) and you wait until the jam is really cooked, meaning ready for jellification (see later to know when the cooking is finished).

For the pH, it is not so easy. The pH should be between 3.5 and 3.0 and this cannot be measured with your tongue but with a pH-meter (now not so expensive) or special paper pH (not accurate). That is why, when the fruits are not enough acid, the recipe says to add lemon juice. As a good jellification of the jam with the pectin also needs the same level of pH, this parameter is a fundamental for good jams.

Rule #2: Respect the quantity of sugar and control the pH:

The fungus spores, yeasts, bacteria, etc. are in the air and the contamination can happen at any time during the processing. Furthermore, if some basic rules are not respected during the processing, the jams become a perfect medium for the growing of micro-organisms and molds will appear.

9-Why a slice of bread with jam falls down always the side of jam on the floor?

This great and fundamental question should be related with the laws of Murphy which say something like: if something wrong can happen, it will infallibly happen.
But some scientist having probably nothing more important to do demonstrated that it is more or less impossible the slice of bread falling from a table reaches the floor on the good side (without jam) because of the height of the table and the gravitational force: the slice of bread cannot turn more than 3/4 of turn. So the face with jam touches the soil first.

Note: if we push farer the computation, to fall on the good side, the table should have a size of 3 meters, and this type of table, you will agree, is relatively rare.

10- Where is the Lola’s garden and are you growing organically your fruit and vegetables?

Lola has no land, sorry! The only way to have a large choice of fruit and vegetable in sufficient quantity and at any time is to work with farmers. Our activities in Natural farming helped us to have relations with, when it is possible, organic farmers. Most of the fruits we use are growing naturally in mountains. For example the Kalumpit (Sarali) or Jackfruit are not chemically treated. Of course we cannot control imported fruits like apples or oranges used in small quantities. Hopefully, Negros island offers a large choice of fruits and vegetable and there is a real will to become organic. We hope in the coming years, the organic practices will be the common way for farming.

11- I read it is better to prepare jams in a copper pot. Is it true?

We have to refer to chemistry to answer this question. In traditional preparation of jam, the craftsman often refers to the use of copper pot. It is also said that, especially for red fruits, the copper must not be tinned (covered with tin). Tin salts which appear if there is oxidation of the tin can colored the red fruit in purple. If the tinned pot is very clean there is no risk. But why copper would be better? If you put red fruits on copper one or two hours, you will see the copper very clean: the juice of the fruit “clean” the copper oxides. Do you remember the pectin? During the cooking, the pectin of the fruits is liberated and is responsible of the jellification of the jam. The copper helps to “stick” together the pectin molecules and that is why copper pots helps the increase jellification of the jams. Jams made with copper pot are harder.

Hopefully stainless pot can also be used with success to prepare jam. Addition of natural lemon pectin can helps to the jellification. Anyway, it is now very difficult to find copper pot and if you find it, be ready to pay a very high price.

Personally, I prefer to use stainless supposed to be totally neutral. The release of copper oxide in copper pot tin oxide in tinned pot or aluminum oxide in aluminum pot is not compatible with our concept of chemical free jams. And for the jellification, natural lemon pectin is totally acceptable.

12- Is it possible to make jam with any kind of fruit?

First we have to define what a fruit is. The botanist will answer: “The ripened reproductive body of a seed plant.” Not very romantic but exact. So tomato, cucumber, pods of ipil ipil or a pumpkin are fruits. And the answer is yes we can, in theory, any kind of fruit, even nuts can be used to prepare jams. The conditions are always the same: to have enough pectin for jellification, the good quantity of sugar and the good acidity. Of course a good taste is also required! And hard fruits like nuts will need an extra preparation. It is also possible to use herbs, flowers, wines, alcohols,… but, like for any fruit, the art of the “confiturier” is to keep the delicate flavor of the natural product.

13- What is the difference between jam, jelly and marmalade?

In the universe of “fruit to spread”, four products look similar: the jam, the jelly, the marmalade and the butter fruit. They are, technically, different products:

Jam is made cooking crushed or cut fruits with sugar.

Jelly is made cooking the juice of fruits with sugar.

Marmalade is soft jellies made with small pieces of zest of fruits, generally citrus fruits (orange, lime, grapefruit, etc.) regularly distributed in the product.

For example, our pomelo-orange is very close to marmalade because of the zests but is a jam because of the pieces of pomelo and not only the juice. All the other flavors are clearly jams.

The butter fruit contains less sugar and should be kept all the time in the fridge even when not open. The taste of our breadfruit jam is much closed to butter fruit.

There is, of course different quality of jams depending of the content in fruits. In France, the jams containing more than 45% of fruits are classified “Extra jam quality”. All our jams are much more than 45% of fruits.

Some products you can find in supermarket contain gelatin. According to the Department of Health of the Philippines gelatin is not an allowed ingredient for jams. So, it is not jam. But no need to refer to the law, your taste buds will give the same answer!

14- Is there vitamins in the jam like in the fruit?

Yes, there are vitamins in the jams but, because of the cooking, some of the vitamins are destroyed and you cannot find the same quantity as in the fruit. On the opposite, the mineral value of the fruits (iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, etc.) is intact.

My opinion about jam and health is: jam is a food for pleasure like chocolate. Pleasure has a beneficial effect on the brain. And when your brain is happy, the mood is good and your body too!

More seriously, jams cannot replace fruits. Jam contains sugar and the quantity  eaten every day should be in relation with the type of activity, the age and the diet.
Some jams like Tamarin (Sampaloc) are known to fight against constipation. Medecine and jam is, as you know, a long old story. But this is another story.

15- You said you don’t use chemical product but there is citric acid in some jam.

We choose to use lemon citric acid which is natural. Acidification is a necessary step of the jam processing when fruits are not enough acid. When the pH is too high there is no jellification and the conservation is not good. When only a small adjustment is necessary, we use calamansi which enhances also the taste of the fruit.

16- Do you take back the empty bottles and cover?

We are not yet organize for that but we have to see with our partners if they agree to stock temporary the empty bottles. Of course, as ecologists we are in favor of this practice.

17- What is the pectin in some jams?

The pectin is a natural organic compounds present in some fruits like guava or apple. The pectin is involved in the jellification of the jam after cooking and when it gets cold. It depends also of the pH or acidity of the mixing and the quantity of sugar. It is irreversible. When there is not enough pectin in the fruit we can add a fruit containing a lot of pectin or an extract of a fruit like guava or, more simply a little commercial pectin. Of course we use natural pectin of lemon.

18- Is it possible to have jam with less sugar?

The answer of the law is clear: “The soluble solids value of the finished product may not be less than 65 percent.” (Regulation B-4.13-01 of DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ).

The answer of the microbiologist is: “The sugar guarantees the preservation of the fruit and so the jam.“
And the answer of the cooker is: “There is proper gelling if some conditions are fulfilled – the concentration of sugar at the end of the cooking, the quantity of pectin and the acidity of the mixing.”

Reducing the quantity of sugar is the door open to the growing of molds. In jam sugar free, the taste of sugar is coming from: Aspartame, Saccharin or Acesulfame-K. The effect of these sweeteners is not insignificant. It needs also more pectin and preservatives. It should be reserved for diabetics. Very frankly it is more a chemical product than the sweet jam of my Lola! Question of culture and taste education, probably…

To maintain the sweetness of our jam constant, we first measure the content in sugar with a refractometer and we adjust the sugar we have to add to a certain degree Brix (the unit to speak of the percent of sugar), always the same.

We prefer to use washed sugar to limit the presence of chemicals which could be added with white sugar. It changes a little the color of the final product but it is really acceptable. We don’t use brown sugar or muscavado because all the jam would be brown color.
Note that when the quantity of sugar is reduced, the preparation is called butter fruit and with less sugar the name is compote. Of course these products must be kept in fridge and the time life is very short.

“Is it possible to have more sugar in  my tubo?

19- I noticed skin of calamansi and orange in some jam. Is it normal?

Yes, all is good in the fruit! The skin of fruits generally contains vitamins and for example, it is better to eat the apple with the skin (after cleaning of course). The skin of some fruits, especially the citrus fruits (lemon, orange,…) are used to add a special taste to the fruit itself. The external skin is called the zest and is often used in confectionery. The internal white skin, the zist is less used because of its bitter taste. We use the zest of orange and calamansi in the pomelo jam to give this special bitter taste of the English marmalade of orange.

20- Can I repack the bottle of jam?

Sorry, the answer is no. Because the jam is poured boiling in the jar that there is no contamination. When it is cold, the jam can be contaminated by micro-organisms and all your repacking bottle have big chance to be rapidly mouldy. If you heat again to repack without risk of contamination, the structure of the jam will be destroyed. Better to order the jam you like! Each bottle is 130 P only.

21- How much time I can keep a bottle of jam?

When the jar is not opened:

Our jam does not contain any chemical preservative and only the sugar, at the good concentration, guarantee a good conservation. One year is generally the “best use before” date. Until I have laboratory control test at one year, I prefer to give a delay of six months (SEE LABEL UNDER THE JAR).
As we do not use chemical colorant and anti-oxidant, it is possible you notice with the time and only with some fruits a light darkening (due to a limited oxidation). This is not dangerous and does not affect the taste of the jam.

At the opening:

In very rare case, you can observe some molds at the surface of the jam. There is no dangerous micro-organism in the jam and the mold should be discard with a spoon. We can also exchange the jar.

After opening:

The jam must be refrigerated after opening because with the air and hot temperature, contaminations are possible. Anyway the taste is much better when the jam is kept in the fridge.