This entire endeavor began with the belief that one
 
was not stuck making jam with the copious amounts of sugar both the FDA and commercially available pectin products mandate. It just didn’t make sense; nutritionally, aesthetically or historically.
     In the mid-Willamette Valley of Oregon, a huge percentage of residents are Earth-oriented: nursery- growers, farmers, environmentalists and simple gardeners. The fruits of our labors are everywhere from bursting bouquets adorning our small town lamp-posts, to shelves laden with carefully crafted foods at our plentiful farmers’ markets to, personal gift baskets assembled in our own kitchens from our own beloved gardens. And, it is in this last labor where begins the story of how Half Acre Home the business sprang collectively from the mind and the heart of one person in love with working the Earth.
     In 2006, I was blessed to begin plotting out my very first, very own produce garden and like any novice, I planted too many strawberries. I was very excited to learn how to preserve the copious bounty. However what I found was this:

Most commercial pectins rely on sugar molecules to gel the fruit. The recipe shown here calls for 7 cups of sugar to gel 5 cups of fruit... that’s a 58.3% sugar content!

     A majority of commercially available pectin products mandate a high sugar to fruit ratio for the jam to set right. The above example illustrates a jam recipe that calls for 7 cups of sugar to 5 cups of fruit: That’s 58.3% sugar or 41.7% fruit by volume. In other words, take a teaspoon of fresh strawberry and add 1.4 teaspoons of sugar before spreading it on your toast.
     It almost hurt pouring all that sugar into perfectly fine fruit: The sugar darkened the jam and covered the taste I wanted to preserve. I thought about how jam has been made for generations: Generations without grocers or logistics or distributions, without stock quotes and lobbyists. There had to be other, unadulterating and healthy ways of preserving my tenderly home grown fruit.
     I tried honey and low-sugar pectin products but honey left an aftertaste and even the low-sugar pectin products called for ratios like 4 cups of sugar to 6 cups of fruit: 40% sugar and 60% fruit. This was better, but I wanted an even more pure fruit content.

Half Acre Home preserves are hand-made, batch by batch with recipes using 66 to 75% fruit by volume. Illustrated above is my recipe using 9 cups fruit to 3 cups sugar.

     I’ve heard it said that “Persistence is stubbornness with purpose” and throughout my life I have been described as “stubborn.” In this story, that trait evolved to “persistent” the moment I found a pectin product that allowed me to stubbornly control the amount of sugar I employed in my preserves: A 100% pure citrus, low-methoxyl pectin imported from Denmark.
     High-methoxyl pectins like those found on grocery store shelves depend on sugar molecules to activate gelling. The pectin I use relies on calcium ions from food grade monocalcium phosphate to gel. Monocalcium phosphate is a rock mineral calcium source commonly used as a mineral supplement, an acidulant in baking powder and a yeast nutrient in baking.
     Persistently, with my new pectin, I played with variant ratios of sugar to variant fruits until I found combinations that enhanced and complimented the pure taste of the fruit without overpowering with sweetness what Nature has already made perfect.
     Thanks to the compliments and appreciation of friends and family for my hobby jams, Half Acre Home was born in 2009: That spring, I responded to an ad in the local newspaper asking for local goods to be considered for sale at the Silver Falls State Park Nature Store, outside Silverton, Oregon. I sent samples for jurying and was shortly in business producing four flavors of low-sugar preserves and my Bel-apeno pepper jelly. Month after month, word got out, interest grew, parents and nutritionally minded folks bought my products and here Half Acre Home is; steadily growing, giving back to the community that supported it’s fruition and providing you and your family a healthy alternative to sugar-laden, commercially processed junk-jelly.
     Today, Half Acre Home is a small but thriving business and I do my best to answer questions, meet demand and stand up as a advocate for health-conscious, environment-conscious, community-conscious evolution. I thank you, deeply, for your support.