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jeanwedding

anyone make ambrosia conserve?

Do we really have to use that much sugar? FIVE cups?

will use unsweetened coconut since it is all I buy). Do have to use those bottled maraschino ? look like they have so much sugar etc?

store had them on sale 2 for $5......

anyone make it? like it ?

thanks

jean

Comments (5)

  • readinglady
    12 years ago

    Which recipe are you referring to?

    Carol

  • jeanwedding. zone 6
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I typed in the Ball book but it did not show up in original post when I edited it.....
    Thanks
    jean

  • pixie_lou
    12 years ago

    I've never made it so I can't comment on the taste.

    This is a conserve - which is pretty much a jam with nuts added. To get a jam to set, you need the right ratio of acid, pectin and sugar. If you cut back on your sugar, you conserve may not set - and you will end up with pineapple, cocunut, cherries and almonds floating in a syrup.

    Some people use pomonas pectin or the ball low/no sugar pectin so they can reduce the sugar content in their jams. Since this recipe does not call for pectin at all, I don't know how you would adapt the recipe. I personally have made peace with the fact that jam is basically fruit and sugar, with equal or more sugar than fruit.

    The tips tell you that it is OK to use either sweetened or unsweetend coconut. So using the unsweetened is fine. Maraschino cherries are the typical cherries used in ambrosia, but substituting fresh cherries should be fine.

  • digdirt2
    12 years ago

    Wife says she has made it and considers it more of a topping for desserts such as ice cream or pound cake. She says it is exceptionally sweet, so much so that she recalls that I didn't care for it but the grandkids loved it. I honestly can't recall it.

    As Pixie said if you reduce the sugar you may well end up with syrup since it is important to the set when no pectin is used. But clearly if all that sugar and the m. cherries sound too sweet for you then it would seem to be a recipe you'd want to just skip rather than try to modify.

    Dave

  • readinglady
    12 years ago

    OK, now I've found the recipe. There's minimal natural pectin in that recipe, so I think as Dave said, without a lot of cooking, that probably never was meant to achieve a firm set. (Too bad the Ball book doesn't say that or list it as a "Topping" rather than a conserve.) Cutting the sugar would just exacerbate the problem.

    Normally I'm all for natural recipes without commercial pectin, but in this case I'd think the low-sugar/no-sugar pectin types would be perfect for this.

    Now that I think about it, it's possible this has some potential thickened with some ClearJel and processed as for pie filling. I wouldn't use it for pie filling but as a dessert topping or in kolachy or something.

    Carol

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