With fruits at the peak of ripeness and flavor right now, it’s a great time to make jam and preserves, and it’s very easy

With only three ingredients — ripe fruit, sugar, and lemon juice — you can distill the tastes of summer into luscious jams

The better the quality of the fruit that you use, the better your jams will be

Over the years, I’ve tried many recipes and techniques for making jam, and I’ve found that the simplest method works best for me. I don’t use commercial pectin (a gelling agent for jam and jelly) at all. I don’t like the flavor of pectin, and I have found that most fruits have enough natural pectin to gel adequately. Pectin requires a specific range of sugar and pH to set up properly. When you skip the pectin, you simplify the whole process significantly.

I’ve been experimenting this year with substituting stevia (a natural sugar substitute) for a portion of the sugar

I’ve been very happy with the results, and no one else has even noticed that they are eating low-sugar jam