Neither my husband nor I consume very much sugar.  But this doesn't mean we don't enjoy sweet foods; we simply limit ourselves to low-sugar and no-sugar items.  One of the products I use is Smucker's Sugar Free Blackberry Jam. 

This product looks and smells just like real jam.  But its taste is a bit different.  Put plainly, this jam is not as sweet as the real thing.  And, in many cases, it's not sweet enough for me. 

Let me explain:  When combined with other sweet ingredients, this product is fine.  It has a nice, blackberry flavor.  Spread on a sandwich, with peanut butter, this product is delicious.  Baked into the middle of a cookie, it's fine.  But when consumed plain, spread simply on a piece of toast, or used in some of my recipes, it's not sweet enough.

Last week I had some company and made one of my all-time favorite appetizers: Baked Brie.  I take a wheel of Brie cheese, spread jam on top, then wrap the whole thing with dough, and bake.  It's a real treat that my friends always enjoy.  But this is one instance where the Smucker's sugar-free jams are just not sweet enough.  No big deal - all I do is mix two packets of Splenda into the 4 oz. of jam, before spreading on the cheese.   Every last bite of the appetizer was consumed, in about 20 minutes, and I didn't hear anybody complain!

Regular jam is, basically, fruit, sugars, and products that give it the proper consistency.  The first ingredient of the sugar-free jam is water.  The next ingredients are blackberries, a few extra chemicals, then the stuff that gives it its texture, then Splenda brand sucralose. 

Where this product really shines is in its nutrition.  Besides being sugar-free, this is a very low calorie product.  One tablespoon contains just 10 calories!  No fat, no sodium, and only 5g of carb.  (Their regular blackberry jam contains 50 calories, 13g of carb, and 12g of sugar).

Bottom line: This product tastes pretty good, when mixed with other sweet ingredients.  On its own, it's not sweet enough, but can be "fixed" easily enough by adding a bit more sweetener to it.  As far as its formula goes, this product definitely contains more chemicals than the original.  But, for people who avoid sugar, at least Smucker's provides an option.  And if you do decide to use this product, at least it's very low in calories.




Recommended: Yes