Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, these are very nutritious and healthy to eat. What a shame that all the jars of jam at the grocery are sweetened with extra doses of fructose without the fiber to balance. It's not hard to do, especially with a bread machine that has a "jam" cycle. That's right, my Zojirushi bread machine. For more on fructose and Dex+, see the tabs, above.

I'm sure this could be made on the stove; I tried once, and was disappointed. Apparently they mean it when they warn about not over-stirring tapioca. If I didn't have the Zo, I'd probably try different thickeners that are easier to handle, but keep the rest of the recipe.

How does it taste? Well, like intense blueberries. Nice, clean, bold solid flavor. Same for strawberries. My daughter says it's way better than regular jam. It's a little less thick than store-bought jam, which makes it easier to spread, and it can also be used as a topping.

 

Blueberry preserves, left, and strawberry jam, right. Blackberries would be good too, or maybe a blend.

Measure 2 pounds of blueberries, and put 8 oz of them in a bowl. These are frozen wild blueberries. I really like how small they are.

 

I thaw the 8 oz of berries, and mash them a bit. I've found the tapioca needs to be mixed with liquid before starting the jam cycle (left). Dextrose in; sugar in; I love using scales. "Tare", pour in stuff, "tare", pour in more. No dirty measuring scoops! (right)

The berries weren't juicy enough for all that dextrose and sugar. Thankfully the lemon juice was enough to bring it together.

 

On the left, a pinch of salt (two fingers). The white sugars make the blueberries look pink. And on the right,  a half-pinch of Accent (one finger).

 

Three droppers of vanilla (left). I love it when I don't get more things dirty! Tapioca is in, and the blended chia seeds (right).

Mix it all together with the frozen berries, close the lid, and press "start". In an hour and twenty, fresh preserves!

I like the little beads of tapioca in the preserves, although my husband hasn't really noticed them.

Blueberry or Strawberry Jam Dex++

Blueberry preserves; almost fits in a pint jar.

Ingredients:

907 g (2 lb) Strawberries, frozen, unsweetened
312 g (2.72 cup) dextrose monohydrate 26 g (2.08 Tbsp) sugar

6 g (3.5 cup) Benefiber*

46-61 g (3-4 Tbsp) lemon juice
4 g (1 tsp) vanilla extract

1 g (0.25 tsp) salt

1 pinch accent

38 g (4 Tbsp) Tapioca, pearl, dry**

*Or substitute 102 g (1.21 cup) Benefiber for Dex#; or 4 Tbsp Chia seeds, ground in a spice grinder

**Jam will have small spheres of tapioca, adding an interesting texture. For a smoother texture, blend pearls first. I may try using 5 Tbsp tapioca starch/flour. .625

Strawberry, blended into jam.

Directions:

1. Pour 24 oz of berries into bread machine pan, no need to thaw.
2. Thaw and crush the remaining 8 oz of the berries in a medium bowl.
3. Mix together and add dextrose, sugar, and Benefiber if using. Stir sugar blend, lemon juice, vanilla, salt, and accent into the crushed berries, then add Tapioca, followed by ground chia seeds if using.
4. Mix the crushed berry blend into the bread pan, and stir to combine.
5. Run the jam cycle.
6. Keep as-is for preserves. For jam, scoop out berries, puree with stick blender, then stir back into the liquid.
7. Store in two pint jars and eat what doesn't fit, or underfill three pint jars.

UPDATE:

I've doubled the recipe, and also have started using Benefiber in place of Chia. Chia has a flavor that we don't really care for. In this recipe, it doesn't stand out that strongly, but I tend to replace it now anyway. Also, for thicker jam, add more tapioca.