Recipe: Sugar-free Jam

 yum sugar

I made this jam last night using Fran's (franlife.blogspot.com) recipe as a base and then created from there. I made this with dried figs, orange juice, nutmeg and dried ginger. It wasn't as sweet as I anticipated which was nice because it was served with cheese and crackers. However, if I was going to use it as a jam for toast I would have used apple juice. Enjoy!

1 cup chopped dried fruit of your choice
(such as prunes, apricots, raisins, apples, papaya...)
1/2 cup or more juice
(such as apple juice or apple cider, orange juice, fruit nectars...)
dashes of assorted spices (dried ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice)

Soak the dried fruit in the juice & spices overnight OR chop the fruit and stew in the spiced juice over low heat for 15 minutes. Be sure, there's just enough liquid to completely cover the fruit. Using a small food processor or wand-style hand blender, puree the mixture until smooth. That's it! Store in a jar, refrigerated.

• Vata: be sure to stew fruit as dried fruit vitiates vata. 
• Pitta: great while avoiding strawberries & cranberries. Use spices lightly or omit altogether
• Kapha: use sparingly.