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Sugar and Sucralose in Home Food Preservation

Sucrose or sugar is often used in home preserved food. It provides sweetness, offsets acidity in pickled products, provides structure in jam and jelly, and protects the texture of frozen foods.

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Updated:

May 6, 2024

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Strawberry by Neelam279 on www.pixabay.com in public domain

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Canning Fruit

When canning fruit, adding sugar is optional. Fruit may be canned in water, juice, or a sugar syrup. Fruit canned in a sugar syrup will be sweeter and may have better texture. Some food preservers are concerned about the amount of calories sugar adds to the products they are making and want to reduce or eliminate the sugar or use a sugar substitute.

Sucralose

Sucralose, a common sugar substitute, can be used in canning and freezing in certain recipes. Sucralose is sold under many brand names with Splenda® being the most popular. If desired, sucralose may be added to sweeten water to can fruit. The sucralose will add sweetness but will not create a thick syrup or preserve the texture of the fruit. Other sugar replacements may not be suitable for canning. Let's Preserve: Ingredients Used in Home Food Preservation provides more detail about those ingredients.

Frozen Fruits

Sugar protects the texture of frozen food by suppressing the freezing point of water. When food that contains sugar is frozen, the product does not freeze as hard as plain water. The damaging effects of sharp ice crystals are lessened and texture is preserved. Fruit can be frozen in a dry sugar pack or in a syrup pack.

To make a dry sugar pack, use about 1 cup of sugar for every 2 to 3 pounds of fruit. As fruit sits in the sugar, juice will form. Record the amount of sugar added so that it can be factored in when using the fruit in a recipe.
To make a medium syrup, dissolve 1¾ cups sugar in 4 cups of water. Allow ½ to ⅔ cup syrup for each pint of fruit; 1⅓ cups for each quart of fruit. Syrup should cover fruit. A stronger or weaker sugar syrup may be prepared to match the sweetness of the fruit or personal preference.
Pectin syrup can also be used to freeze fruits that have a poor texture when frozen without sugar (e.g., peaches and strawberries). To make pectin syrup, combine 1 package of powdered pectin and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Heat to boiling and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add 1¾ cups more water and cool. More information about freezing fruit can be found in Let's Preserve: Freezing Fruits.

Pickles

When making pickles, it is important to follow research-tested recipes exactly as written. There are approved recipes for no sugar-added pickles. Follow those recipes, do not alter standard recipes.

Low or No Sugar Jam and Jelly

When making jam or jelly, it is important to purchase the correct type of pectin to make reduced or no sugar-added jam/jelly. If a sugar substitute, such as sucralose, is used in place of sugar and regular pectin is used, the product will not gel.