Can I use stevia to make jam?

Can I use stevia to make jam? J. Edwards

Let's change the word "'jam" to "conserve" or "preserve", as in "strawberry preserve". Because that is what you are doing when you make jam. You are preserving the fruit by adding sugar to it and cooking it together. Foods that are really sweet don't spoil quickly. Make chocolate syrup and it won't go off in a hurry. Sugar draws liquid from cells. Notice how undiluted honey doesn't ferment? That's the sugars in honey killing off the wild yeast that could ferment it. You've heard of sugar-cured salmon? When you start cooking preserves, the normal sugar-to-fruit ratio is about 50:50. The sugar pulls water out of the fruit and the water partially evaporates during cooking, so you end up with about 65 per cent sugar. If unwanted microbes get into the preserve the sugar pulls water out of them as well. The sugar also helps the pectin from the fruit form a gel – which is why jams go thick or have a jelly. Stevia is not sugar or a type of sugar. It is a plant that has a compound that activates the taste buds, creating a sensation of sweetness.

Stevia extract has 200 times the sweetening ability of sugar but has almost no carbohydrate. It also doesn't help pectin gel. There are recipes for fruit coulis that are sweetened with stevia but these last about a week and need to be refrigerated. If you have health problems you might want to do some more reading on the negative health effects of long-term consumption of stevia and other artificial sweeteners.

What can I do to stop blueberries from sinking to the bottom of my muffins? P. Lyons

With their smooth skins, round shape and heavy density, blueberries are the bathyscaphes of the berry world and will descend to the depths of any batter. Drop a berry into a bowl of water and only the largest will float. Before adding the flour to the creamed butter and sugar, dust the blueberries in the flour. This will create a rougher surface that will cause drag and slow them sinking to the bottom. Don't roll them in extra flour, unless you add proportionally more liquid, otherwise you won't have the same flour to liquid ratio, which would draw moisture out of the batter to hydrate the extra flour.

How do I stop my guacamole from going brown? K. Ford

Vitamin C. It's an antioxidant. It stops oxygen from the atmosphere from turning the avocado brown. Add vitamin C in the form of lemon or lime juice to cubed avocado before you mash it into guacamole and then add more juice to taste. The best guacamole is made just before serving. In Mexico it is often served on a bed of ice. If you have some leftover guacamole, lightly oil plastic film and press directly onto the surface of the guacamole to stop air getting to it and refrigerate. Use within three days.

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