JamBusters! launched three low sugar products in June 2018. A rhubarb jam, a lemon jam and a chocolate cherry preserve.
One of the things I probably like the most about meeting so many different people when we vend JamBusters! is the feedback they give us. One reoccurring theme in the four-and-a-half years we’ve been doing this is the sugar content in our products. The reality is that sugar is a requirement in the processing of the jams and jellies we make and vend. But I’ve often wondered if there was a safe alternative we could use to possibly address this concern.
I have discussed it with George on more than one occasion and about a month ago I bounced the idea of having low sugar products off of him again. He was very positive and supportive of it and so I took that as a sign to do some additional research. In the meantime, George chose to seek some of his own feedback during the following vending dates. He had a couple of people say that they couldn’t eat jams or jellies because of the amount of sugar.
So George hinted at the possibility of JamBusters! introducing a few low-sugar products. The feedback was very positive and it confirmed for him that maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea at all. I did find a lead to a specific product that uses calcium water to activate the pectin in the preserving process. This looked promising and from what I could tell from comparing recipes it would chop my sugar requirements by more than half. A big savings right there.
My next move was to order some of the product to more or less run a few tests on to see if it was really going to be beneficial. The package arrived quickly and I tested it on a rhubarb jam and a lemon jam recipe. George was my unofficial tester and he quite liked both of the products. He was particularly taken by the rhubarb because it contain fruit from our garden and the low sugar processing created a nice, smooth and spreadable rhubarb jam that wasn’t chunky.
George jumped on marketing the new products online and almost immediately received positive feedback. The first date at the Oliver Indoor Flea Market with the low sugar products went very well. In fact, the rhubarb was an instant hit and the lemon was a close second. We were so pleased with the response that we are going to add several low sugar items to our JamBusters! line of products. The third one, created this week, is a chocolate cherry preserve.
The cherries we picked just the week before in Oliver and even I’m somewhat amazed with how tasty the low sugar products are. What really gets my attention is that the amount of sugar required in each recipe I have used so far is cut by over 50-percent. In other words, over half the sugar is removed. We see this as opening a new door for us in our product line much the same way the addition of salsas and antipasto did. We are very excited about this!
I have discussed it with George on more than one occasion and about a month ago I bounced the idea of having low sugar products off of him again. He was very positive and supportive of it and so I took that as a sign to do some additional research. In the meantime, George chose to seek some of his own feedback during the following vending dates. He had a couple of people say that they couldn’t eat jams or jellies because of the amount of sugar.
So George hinted at the possibility of JamBusters! introducing a few low-sugar products. The feedback was very positive and it confirmed for him that maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea at all. I did find a lead to a specific product that uses calcium water to activate the pectin in the preserving process. This looked promising and from what I could tell from comparing recipes it would chop my sugar requirements by more than half. A big savings right there.
My next move was to order some of the product to more or less run a few tests on to see if it was really going to be beneficial. The package arrived quickly and I tested it on a rhubarb jam and a lemon jam recipe. George was my unofficial tester and he quite liked both of the products. He was particularly taken by the rhubarb because it contain fruit from our garden and the low sugar processing created a nice, smooth and spreadable rhubarb jam that wasn’t chunky.
George jumped on marketing the new products online and almost immediately received positive feedback. The first date at the Oliver Indoor Flea Market with the low sugar products went very well. In fact, the rhubarb was an instant hit and the lemon was a close second. We were so pleased with the response that we are going to add several low sugar items to our JamBusters! line of products. The third one, created this week, is a chocolate cherry preserve.
The cherries we picked just the week before in Oliver and even I’m somewhat amazed with how tasty the low sugar products are. What really gets my attention is that the amount of sugar required in each recipe I have used so far is cut by over 50-percent. In other words, over half the sugar is removed. We see this as opening a new door for us in our product line much the same way the addition of salsas and antipasto did. We are very excited about this!
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