Learn how to make the best apple jam with this easy recipe. This homemade jam tastes just like apple pie, flavoured with vanilla bean, cinnamon sticks, and star anise, and it doesn't require any pectin! Seal the jars using a water bath canning method to have enough to keep you going until the next apple season or store them in the fridge.
Jam-making and preserving are usually reserved for the spring and summer months and revolve around the usual rhubarb jam (no pectin, jalapeño jam, strawberry jam, and blueberry jam. Winter is typically for marmalades, whether orange marmalade, grapefruit, lime marmalade, or a combination like this three-fruit marmalade. But what about autumn?
In the fall, I like to make plum jam and cinnamon apple jam, which tastes like apple pie in a jar. It's the perfect ode to fall. It tastes amazing dolloped on toast, slathered with salted butter. You can also use it under the sliced apples in this puff pastry apple tart or this apple galette!
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Key Ingredients
You don't need much to make apple jam. Here's what you need:
- apples—use apples that hold their shape when cooked for a jam with more texture (like Cortlands, HoneyCrisp, Gala, or Golden Delicious) or use apples that break down when heated for a smoother effect (like McIntosh apples)
- sugar—you can use white granulated sugar or brown sugar for more flavour or a combination
- spices and flavours—I like to use whole spices to flavour jams so I can fish them out before transferring it to jars. For this apple jam, I used cinnamon sticks, star anise, a vanilla bean, and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- lemon juice—I use fresh lemon juice, but bottled will work
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Apple variety—for an apple jam with distinct apple pieces, use Cortlands, Russets, HoneyCrisp, Gala, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith varieties. They hold their shape, even with extensive cooking. For a more saucy, spreadable texture, use McIntosh apples or a variety that is good for sauce.
- Spices—use your favourite warm whole spices so you can remove them later before transferring to jars. I love to infuse apple jam with cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean, or even star anise!
- Apple-pear jam—you can replace half the weight of apple with pears.
How to Make Apple Jam Without Pectin
The most challenging part of this recipe is prepping the apples. It's a little tedious and takes time, but it's worth it because the rest of the recipe is quick and easy!
Step 1: Since you have quite a bit of diced apple to prep and chop, it's best to place the peeled and/or diced apple in a bowl of lemon water to prevent the fruit from browning (image 1). Once you've diced all the apple, you can drain it and combine it with the other ingredients (sugar, spices, and lemon juice) (image 2). Heat the mixture to dissolve the sugar (image 3), then take it off the heat and place a round of parchment directly over the fruit (image 4). Let everything macerate for a few hours or overnight.
Tip
Weigh the fruit after peeling and coring to know how much sugar to add later. The weight of sugar you will need should be up to half the weight of peeled/cored apple. I started with 1.2 kgs of whole apples, which yielded 1 kg after peeling and coring, so I used 450 grams of sugar.
Step 2: After macerating overnight, the liquid in the pot will be darker in colour, but the fruit will still be light (image 5). Bring the mixture to a boil and heat it until syrupy (image 6).
Note: if you boil the apple jam to 220 °F (the jam setting point for most jams), the jam will gel like a jelly and be very thick after 24 hours. For this jam, you may prefer to heat to below the setting point to create a more syrupy jam.
Step 3: I like to use a masher to break down some of the apple chunks to create a more spreadable texture (image 7). Some prefer to go so far as using an immersion blender to blend the jam. Transfer the jam to sterilized jars using a non-reactive funnel (image 8).
Note: this makes a small batch of jam so you can store it in the fridge. If you prefer to seal the jars, fill them to ¼ inch from the top before closing them and boiling them in a canning pot immersed in boiling water for 10 minutes.
Top Jam-Making Tip
One of the easiest ways to make sure your jam will set properly when it cools is to check the jam temperature to make sure you achieve the jam setting temperature, also known as the jam setting point. Using a thermometer and a home canning kit will make your life infinitely easier if you are going to make a lot of homemade jams.
For this jam, boiling to the set point will likely yield a jam that is gelled like a jelly, so you may want to go below that. Dollop a spoonful of jam onto a frozen saucer to check the set as it's cooking so you can boil it to the desired texture.
Other Apple Recipes
Everybody loves baked goods made with apples. They are so comforting! For something a little different, try this apple butter pie or this maple apple pie. And if you want a big cake to serve a crowd, make this apple bundt cake served with salted caramel.
If you are short on time or for a weeknight dessert, this apple crisp is always well-received! And if you live alone, you can still make an apple crisp for one in 2 minutes of cooking time!
If you tried this recipe for the best cinnamon apple jam (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Cinnamon Apple Jam
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg Cortland apple(s) such as Cortland apples, peeled, cored and diced or sliced thinly
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 250 grams light brown sugar
- 52.5 mL fresh lemon juice
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 cinnamon stick(s)
- 2 star anise
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Combine the apples with the sugar, lemon juice, and spices in a pot. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar.
- Transfer the mixture to a container, top with parchment, and store in the fridge overnight.
- The next day, place the apple jam mixture into a pot and heat on medium-high. Cook the mixture until it thickens, stirring often.
- Take the pot off the heat, and let stand for 5 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove the spices and vanilla bean.
- Transfer the mixture to sterilized jars, leaving a ¼-inch headspace. Process for 10 minutes in a water canner, then let rest 5 minutes in the canner before transferring jars to a towel-lined tray. Let stand overnight, undisturbed.
Notes
- For the apples, if you use an apple variety that breaks down when cooked (like McIntosh), the jam will be more smooth, whereas if you use an apple variety that holds its shape when cooked (like Cortlands or Honeycrisp), your apple jam will have more texture.
- You can dice or slice the apples, depending on the texture you want.
- Weigh the prepared apple after removing the peel and the core. Use up to half the weight of apples in sugar. I started with 1.2 kg of fresh apples, which yielded 1 kg after peeling and removing the core, so I used 450 grams of sugar.
- This jam is quite sweet and you could use slightly less sugar, especially if you are using a sweet apple variety. But remember less sugar may impact the texture and the shelf life.
- For the spices, use whole spices if you can so that you can have a beautiful jam without any murkiness from ground spices. You can use any spices you like. I prefer warm autumn spices, mainly cinnamon sticks.
- For the sugar, you can use granulated sugar, brown sugar, or a combination of the two. Brown sugar will impart more flavour.
- Use a thermometer (like the ChefAlarm) to help you know how close you are to the jam setting point. For this jam, boiling to the setting point will result in a gelled jam, much like jelly, whereas heating to under the setting point will result in a more fluid, syrupy, soft-set jam.
- This recipe makes about 3x 250 mL (1-cup) jars but make sure to sterilize a few extra just in case. The yield depends entirely on how much water you boil off!
Nutrition
This recipe was adapted from Preservation Society Home Preserves, which is available to purchase from Amazon.
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