Berry Chia Jam

This quick and easy jam is thickened with chia seeds and flax, and is full of antioxidants. fiber, and omega-3s without any refined sugar!

This recipe is a quick and inexpensive jam that you can not only whip up in no time, but it's something kids love. You can freeze it as well. And the best part is, you get to control how much sweetness you add- unlike the jarred stuff from the store! It is full of antioxidants, fiber, and omega-3s without any refined sugar.

The recipe is adapted from Angela Liddon's Magical Blueberry Vanilla Chia Seed Jam on her blog, Oh She Glows (you can find her recipe here). She has tons of amazing plant-based recipes on her blog, and her second cookbook, Oh She Glows Everyday, includes ways to make most of the recipes more kid-friendly. However, there are lots of variations of this recipe available online! Dreena Burton has a version here where she uses chopped pitted dates along with the berries.

I chose to use date syrup as the sweetener for this jam, as it is considered a whole food. Dates are high in antioxidants and fiber, are prebiotic and increase beneficial gut flora, and may also fight colon cancer (see the Nutrition Facts website for more information). Date syrup is made from pureed whole dates and preserves all of the goodness of the entire fruit; most other sweeteners like agave and coconut sugar are just extracted sugar and do not have any inherent health properties. I wasn't able to find date syrup in my local grocery store, and so I ordered it online. Date syrup and date sugar (whole, dried pulverized dates) do have somewhat of a strong flavor, but I like the taste they give to baked goods and certain other recipes. You'll be seeing me use dates to sweeten lots of other recipes to come! You could use chopped dates in place of the date syrup, or make your own date puree. Alternatively, you can sub maple syrup for the date syrup.

The jam is thickened with chia seeds and ground flax seeds, both of which are high in fiber and omega-3s. I've been trying to find ways to incorporate flax into my diet, because it is just so incredibly healthy.

You can use either fresh or frozen berries here, and I recommend going with whatever is most cost-effective and whatever you have on hand. Frozen fruit is picked and packaged when ripe and tends to be a better choice when the fresh fruit is not in season and therefore tastes flat. I love keeping a big bag of frozen blueberries in my freezer so I can whip this up whenever I feel like it! And often I will mix both fresh and frozen together. I prefer to use blueberries, because I love blueberry jam on whole wheat toast, and also because there is no chopping involved, but strawberries are delicious here as well. I've also used a mix of raspberries and blackberries which I enjoyed, but those berries can get a bit seedy and some kids may not care for the texture.

I hope you enjoy this berry chia jam! Please send me a message to let me know if you made it and what you thought!