Dehydrated Jam

[Orion]

I sometimes miss good jam on walks. There's a sour cherry jam that I really love. But jam is kind of a heavy item.

So is it practical to dehydrate jam and then rehydrate it (preferably with cold water) in the field?
Or, alternatively, can one make a decent simple jam out of freeze-dried fruit, water and some sugar?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

[gayet]

You are unlikely to achieve an edible result in trying to dehydrate jam - it is mostly sugar and and fruit fibre when you get to the dry end. More and more like tooth breaking toffee.

You could try getting some fruit leathers (not too stiff) and finely chopping it up, then add a small amount of water the night before you want it on your breakfast toast. Next morning, stir really well, mashing up any bits that were a bit larger and spread to your heart's content. Success will naturally depend on getting the water addition right - too much and fruit slop, too little and sticky lumps of fruit leather. Then the type and quality of fruit leather will have an impact. This is unlikely to be as sweet as jam, nor the same viscosity, but it might suffice.

No I haven't tried it.

[WalkGirl84]

With the fruit leather idea you could actually melt the leathers? In a snaplock bag in a bit of warm water should do the trick. Snip the corner off the bag and squeeze it out.

[TML MHz]

I have successfully dehydrated green mango chutney to leather consistency. I ate it as a leather as a side to my curry, and it maintained its flavour. I imagine you could dehydrate jam the same way, but I don't know how you would go rehydrating it to spread on toast.

[Orion]

That's kind of what I thought...

So I tried the second option I mentioned. I mixed freeze-dried fruit, sugar and cold water.
It worked pretty well, actually.

These are the amounts I used, but it was just one attempt and I eye-balled it.

5.9g - freeze-dried raspberries, crushed
10.8g - sugar
9.4g - cold water

I'm sure the proportions could be improved. But it was a very acceptable version of jam.
I'm going to start taking a little baggy of pre-mixed sugar and crushed freeze-dried fruit
on trips. And some peanut butter.


(Raspberry "jam" on toasted flatbread)

[Violet_Femme]

If eating food with seeds in them like rasberries, blackberries, is there are chance we contribute to them growing in the bush is we use bush toilets?

[Gadgetgeek]

Not likely, the general cooking should kill seeds of that nature, they survive the quick digestion of birds, but that's about it as far as I understand. fresh might be a different story, but to be honest, most berries are a pretty delicate plant until established, so its unlikely they would get much of a foothold. If they are getting planted its by birds. I know that in some places in western canada, its still a way to find old homesteads to look for raspberry thickets, and blueberry/chokecherry/saskatoon berry shrubs. But those were planted and well established before nature tried to take over.

[Violet_Femme]

OK, makes sense. Thanks!

[Orion]

Most jam is "cooked" as part of the canning process, in order to kill microorganisms.

But the jam in my photo wasn't cooked, or at least I don't believe so. The raspberries were freeze dried. And I reconstituted them with cold water. Whether the seeds are viable in that form I can't say.