Like so many of these Canning 101 posts, I’m writing this one to address one of the questions I am frequently asked. I’ve covered this topic as part of larger blog posts before, so if you’re a long-time reader, some of this may be familiar. But it felt like time to pull out this question specifically in the hopes of helping people find the information more easily.
So often, people look at one of my recipes and see the volume of sugar it calls for and have something of a heart attack thinking about all those cups. And so, they write in to ask, “can I safely reduce the amount of sugar in this recipe?”
The answer is that you can always safely reduce the amount of sugar in a recipe, because sugar doesn’t make things safe. The only thing that makes a jam, jelly or other sweet preserve safe for canning in a boiling water bath canner is the acid content, because that’s what prevents any potential botulism growth.
However, when you reduce the amount of sugar in a recipe, you can compromise that preserve’s shelf life, yield, and ability to set up.
Sugar is a powerful preservative, because once you have a certain concentration of sugar in a recipe, the sugar sucks up all the available water. Mold and bacteria need water in order to develop, and if there’s no water available, they cannot grow.
This is why preserves with higher amounts of sugar hold their quality longer than lower sugar preserves. As long as you’re okay with a somewhat decreased shelf life and a relatively short lifespan once the jar has been opened, then go ahead and reduce the sugar.
Things get a little trickier when you take set into account. Sugar has the ability to change physical consistency as you heat it. If you’ve ever made candy, you’ve seen how you get different outcomes the higher you allow the temperature of the cooking sugar to go.
When you make a sweet preserve, you boil the fruit and sugar together, cooking out the water and increasing the concentration of sugars (both natural and added) to the point where they can elevate in temperature to around 220 degrees F. That’s the point at which sugar starts to thicken into a gel and is then able to bond with the pectin (again, both the natural pectin in the fruit and any pectin you added) and that’s how your jams and jellies set up.
If you pull out a lot of the added sugar in a recipe that is depending on sugar to achieve set, the chances are good that the finished product may be forever runny (true story. As a kid, I thought all homemade jam was inherently runny, because my mom always reduced the sugar to the point where set could not be achieved).
You can often reduce the sugar a little bit, but if you do, you may need to cook it longer so that the proper concentration can be reached. That reduced sugar and longer cooking can end up reducing the yield by as much as a cup or two.
Now, if you’re working with Pomona’s Pectin or some other low/no sugar pectin, you can ignore everything I’ve said about set and yield, because those pectins use an entirely different paradigm in order to achieve set. But the advice about shelf life will still hold true.
One final word. Do not take this blog post to mean that I am advocating super high sugar preserves. My favorite ratio for basic jam is two parts fruit to one part sugar, which is actually a fairly conservative amount of sugar, when you look at the traditional jam recipe canon.
When I make smaller batches, I drop the sugar to a three parts fruit to one part sugar ratio, because smaller batches lend themselves to more rapid water evaporation and sugar concentration. And I’m currently writing a book about preserving with a half dozen natural sweeteners, so I am more than open to using a wide world of sweeteners. But I feel strongly that people understand why an ingredient is in place before they go and start changing things up.
Thanks so much for this useful article! I made this jam the other day and while it’s delicious, it’s very sweet. If I use Pomona’s Universal Pectin, how much sugar could I reduce? Since this doesn’t include pectin, how do I know how much pectin I should use if I reduce the sugar?
https://preppykitchen.com/strawberry-jam/#recipe
I’d suggest looking at a recipe from Pomona’s Pectin. https://pomonapectin.com/strawberry-jam/
Thank you so much for this post!! In your ratio of 2:1 fruit to sugar, do you use a low sugar pectin or the standard pectin?
I typically use standard pectin. My cooking times are often longer than what their recipes call for.
L’été je met les cassis et grosseilles rouges au congélateur et je sort une ration que je cuit avec le minimum de sucre (1,2 cuillère a soupe) le jus 1/2citron cuisson 10m’et j’ai 1 pot de confiture pour 1 semaine… Cela se conserve 2,3 semaines sans problème
. Que j’ajoute a mon yogourt le matin avec mes flocons d’avoines 😋 j’ajoute parfois des fruits frais.
That sounds delicious! And yes, if you’re working with small quantities that you plan on using quickly, you can reduce the sugar more. I was primarily speaking here to jams that are made in larger batches and then preserved for many months.
Thank you this is really helpful I don’t like jams that are sweet I like fruit flavors
Thank you so much. I now feel to have the knowledge and confidence to experiment with my jam making.
You’re welcome!
Is there a chart showing exchanging powdered pectin- (regular & low sugar to/ from liquid with adjustments to the sugar based on the measurements of the fruit?
Unfortunately, not that I know of.
Thank you. Appreciate the advice re: 2 parts fruit to 1 part sugar.
So glad to be helpful!
Thank you, very informative. Have canned for 50+ years but was wondering now that jello recipes are out withsugar and sugar free jello.
It has never been advised to process jam recipes with jello.
Thank you so much for sharing this information. I’m not new to jelly and jams. I don’t normally mess with a recipe. This year the strawberries have been extra sweet. I don’t use pectin in this jam.
I am going to maybe use a cup less sugar. Wish me luck lol. Your information made me realize, not everyone knows things as much as you think.
People will down right scare you. Thanks again
I hope your jam sets up beautifully!
What about chili pepper jelly? . The peppers don’t have pectin like most fruit does. I’d like to cut down the amount of sugar in my recipe. We use a handful of hot peppers, maybe 8-10 pulsed in a food processor to 8 cups of sugar to make 9 pint jars. Would we lose the thickening. I use certo liquid pectin.
The only way to reduce the sugar in pepper jelly is to switch to a low sugar pectin like Pomona’s.
You said you use 2 parts fruit to 1 part sugar. What would the amount of juice be to each part of sugar?
I don’t really understand your question. Are you asking about making jelly rather than jam?
Need to add to my query
I did use real fruit classic pectin with each batch
1 1/2 tsp to each cup
Greetings
Yesterday I cooked up 3 batches of blackberry jelly.
First batch; 4cups juice & 4cups sugar plus some lemon.
Second batch: 4cups juice & 2cups sugar plus lemon and a tbs of butter
Third batch: 4cups juice plus pulp & 2cups sugar plus lemon and butter
When I finished capping etc, I put them in boiling water bath for 10 min
Before this the jelly seemed to be thickened but after the water they have not thickened, this is after 12 hours later, still not thick.
I did keep some jelly without water bath and it seems thicker than the ones in the jars.
Question, do you think it will thicken up? Did the water bath break down the chemistry to thicken?
The water bath does not impact the set. Please give it a few more days, as jellies often need a little time to achieve set.
When you need 8 cups strawberries which then comes to 5 cups crushed strawberries with 7 cups of sugar (ridiculous) Can you lessen the sugar if you add lemon juice to give it it’s acidity to thicken or set the jam.
If possible can you lessen the sugar by 2.3 cups and add lemon juice like maybe 1 cup. That still puts almost 5 cups sugar in the recipe (still ridiculous)
Does this make any sense ?
It all depends on the recipe you’re using. There are lots of good lower sugar recipes available, including many on this site.
Hi marissa,
Please redacted this information immediately. High acid foods are good at staving off botulism, however it is absolutely not true that sugar has no impact on safety. Highly sugar sweetened foods are protected from microbe formation and propagation due to its tendency to dehydrate microbes and interfere with enzymes in the organism.
The concentrations of sugar that we are typically dealing with in canning are not high enough to prevent botulism. My information stands as written.
Hi from Aus. Thank you for this. I’m always confused by add sugar + pectin in Ball recipes. Previously I’ve just used jam sugar and lemon peel. Is that ok? If I use jam sugar do I also need pectin?
I’m definitely going to read your safe creative canning !! and save your page.
I get the confusion. Jam sugar has the pectin included in it. So you don’t need to add any additional pectin if that’s what you’re using.
you mention that. you are currently writing a book about preserving with a half dozen natural sweetener
can you please give me the exact name of the book, if finished…i would like to pruchase
The book is called Naturally Sweet Food in Jars. You can find information about all my books here: https://foodinjars.com/cookbooks/
1. Pls advise whether I may preserve grapes solely in sugar, liken to grapes enzymes.
2. Should i sharke the mason jar consistently ?
3. should I uncap occsionally to let our air ?
4. Also, how long should i preserve it in room temperature aound 26 degree celcius?
awaits ur favourable reply.
thx
I’ve never heard of this processing technique. I’m not able to advise.
Every year at the end of the growing season my grandmother always made ice green tomato pickles. They’re super sweet. Very crunchy takes a couple days to make them because of soaking them in the lime. Well with her passing the job has now become mine and I’ve been doing it for 40 years. But it calls for 11 cups of sugar 5 lb of sugar. Is there any way to reduce it? There’s no pectin or anything. It’s just green tomatoes and then the spices. Just wondering. Please help
In a pickle like this one, the sugar plays a big role in the finished texture of the pickle. It might give you a subpar product if you reduce it.