I have to admit, I have a really big sweet tooth. It’s been a continuous challenge for me since I started eating clean. The worst part is going through the grocery store lines and looking at all that chocolate that they like to display right at eye level. It’s maddening. But, so far I’ve managed to hang in there.
The thing with changing your way of eating is…
…you can’t just go cold turkey and never allow yourself anything that you actually enjoy. If you do, it’s not only a sure fire way to fail, but you are then actually on a “diet” instead of an eating plan that you will stick with for the rest of your life.
So to keep my sanity, I’ve had to start looking around at what I will allow myself while still sticking to my clean eating plan.
I have tons of persimmons sitting around my condo. My sister-in-law asked me to make persimmon jam to take to her family down south for the holidays, and I somehow managed to bring home 8 bags of them instead of just one which would have sufficed for this little project (she has two persimmon trees). In the weeks since Thanksgiving, my crock pot has not turned off. I have bags of frozen persimmon pulp in my freezer just waiting for me to get creative in the kitchen.
So when I started craving something sweet, I needed to consider some persimmons, more out of necessity than out of craving. But you know what they say, “necessity is the mother of invention”. And boy do I have a little invention for you today! This Clean Eating Persimmon Jam is absolutely to die for!
(Makes 3-4 medium mason jars)
4 cups persimmon pulp (See recipe for pulp here)
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups agave or honey
1 cup water
Directions
Place all ingredients in a large pot and cook, stirring frequently, until you start to see the fruit “gel” or “clump”. It won’t be the entire pot that does this, just a little from the bottom of the pot when you stir.
Once you see this, immediately remove from heat and pour into jars. Allow jars to cool for an hour, and then store in the fridge. I’ve heard different opinions on whether or not you can can using agave. Some say there isn’t enough of a preservative quality in the agave, and others say it’s just fine. I’m not experienced with canning, so I can’t give any advice. I recommend looking at other more qualified resources for this information.
Eat and Enjoy!
Note: Nutrition data not available for this recipe
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