Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia jam

For any of those who read my past posts, you probably think I have a bit of a fruit obsession. And I kind of do. Berries are my life. Some are great antioxidants, some are said to have cancer-fighting properties, they keep your mind sharp and are packed with fibre! Not to mention, they do the trick when you need a sugar fix. What's not to love?

What I love about chia jam is that it's a choose-your-own-adventure type of recipe. You can use whatever fruit you have lying around, decide how sweet or tart you want it, which sweeteners you want to sweeten it with, and you can add so many different elements to deepen the flavour (dying to try one with some cinnamon or bourbon). Today however, I just wanted to make a simple mixed berry chia jam for O's breakfast tomorrow.

Honestly, this takes 20 minutes TOPS from start to finish. Barely any prep work (if any, depending on your fruit selection) and is cheaper and healthier than your local grocery store options. O loves it and will usually lick it right off his toast in the mornings.

For this recipe, I used PC organics frozen berries - the power fruit blend, which is O's favourite, and the frozen raspberries. But really, you can use any berries, fresh or frozen, just keep in mind, if you're using strawberries, definitely give them a good chop first.

Also, I sweetened it with some maple syrup. I've sweetened with sugar before, and it melts well. I'm not sure about the other dry sweeteners, but honey is also a good option.


Ingredients

2 cups fresh or frozen berries
Maple syrup (or your favourite sweetener) to taste - I use 2 tbs
1-2 tbs chia seeds


Method

1. In a medium pan, add fruit and maple syrup over medium heat and bring to a low boil - your berries should be a bit watery at this point.

2. Reduce to a simmer, add in the chia seeds and stir well.

3. Let the jam simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently until it's at your desired thickness.

4. You can add it to a food processor, like I do, to make it nice and smooth with no berry chunks. Or even mash it with a potato masher or fork right in the pot, but this is an optional step.

5. THAT'S IT!!!