A Healthy Jam or Pickle.

The nice thing about traditional jam is that it is sweet, a mix of about 50% each of sugar and an almost infinite variety of fruit and fruit mixes.

Jam goes so well with toast, muffins and crumpets as well as cakes and biscuits.

The other good thing about jam is that it is a preserve and thus will be good for years. Now we have refrigerators we can do with out the sugar to make the jam keep.

The bad things about jam are the sugar content and the manner of its preparation wherein the fruit is cooked at great heat in the sugar and thus this annihilates any nutrition the undamaged fruit might offer.

What I propose is a washed fruit pulp mixed or gently blended with pectin and/or psyllium with lemon pulp and juice.

The pectin and the psyllium produces the set and the lemon juice and pulp a hefty compliment of tart.

I recently bought about half a kilogram of tamarind from our local Indian shop,  soaked it in about half as much water again to free up the pulp from the seeds and skin. Having removed the skin and seeds I gently blended it with the psyllium and lemon.

I decanted all of it into large size ice cube trays and popped it in the freezer.

I take a cube or so before I need it, let it defreeze and it's good for two or three days at least in a smallish lidded container.

I must say the tart of this tamarind version  is enough for it to be called a pickle and spread over cheese it’s just great.

Not the most convenient having to remember to defreeze some but no sugar and whatever fruit pulp you use it has not been irreparably damaged by heat.

The principle of this jam is choose your fruit, blend it’s pulp with lemon and psyllium and or pectin, freeze and use as necessary. You will find your own amounts but go easy on the psyllium in the beginning - dissolve it in the lemon juice or  a litte very hot water before adding to mix.

Play around using finely chopped onion, swedes, anything in fact to bulk out the volume if you want to make more of a chutney.