Can I give homemade raspberry jam to a vegan friend?

[Secretsquirrelshh]

Interesting ethical question. Our raspberries in our garden have done well this year. I always soak them before freezing them and then making jam when I have enough.

Sometimes when I'm soaking them, tiny white wriggly insects come out - I'm assuming some sort of fruit fly larvae, and I don't expect for a second every single larva is out (but it makes me feel better that I've done something rather than nothing). I think I accept that there will probably be a few larvae and it's best just not to think about it too much.

I was planning on giving a jar of my raspberry jam to my vegan friend, but can I do this in good conscience, knowing that there may be a little bit of insect protein in there?

Sorry OP, I read this thinking it was a joke post! 🫣
Of course it’s fine to give her your jam.

Massively overthinking this. Does your friend ever travel in a vehicle? Presume yes. In which case friend has been part of the death of hundreds of splattered insects on the windscreen

You have just put me off jam. No bad thing, it's fattening and good for tooth rot. When I soaked raspberries (in the days when I made jam) I rinsed and re-rinsed them several times. You should spray your raspberries to prevent pests btw.

Freezing any fruit before turning it into jam (and then boiling up the fruit and sugar mixture) will obviously kill any wildlife in or on the fruit but it you were making the jam and sugar mixture known as freezer jam you could firstly shake the raspberries out of doors, to dislodge any visible wildlife.
Probably still won’t make it 100 percent vegan though.
And even if you make apple or plum jam using hedgerow or garden produce the fruit is quite likely to contain maggots that you will have to discard as you are prepping it. These are unlikely to survive…
I’d say homemade jam is not really compatible with strict veganism. Although the Jains, a vegan sect within Hinduism, examine their bedding and accommodation every day to see if any insects have died overnight inside it, and then make suitable reparations via prayer, remorse and good works. That seems reasonable and pragmatic.

Spray with what? Pesticides are much worse for the environment (and arguably your body) than a couple of little fruit fly larvae.

Having read a couple of the articles linked above, I think it's definitely a case of "what you don't know won't hurt you".

Wait, so I have to make my friend jam, and THEN atone for it via remorse, prayer and good works? What if my next good work involves making jam for someone? I could get stuck in an endless loop of jam remorse. 😉

But that’s just for Jains. I happily swat flies in my house.😉

I’m vegan and would happily accept homemade jam!

I wouldn’t mention that your jam potentially has larvae in full stop

And I speak as a meat eater!

It’s not something one really wants to think about

Can I ask what you soak your raspberries in OP?
Just water, or do you add something like bicarbonate soda?
Tia

Oi! There's a queue here.

I just use water, but I've heard others say they use salt water and then rinse.I don't like the idea of using buckets and buckets of water and worry my raspberries might end up tasting salty, so just use plain water and try not to think about the extra protein!

The invertebrates that you washed out didn't go on to live long and happy lives. If it's a welfare thing those wee beasties also died for the jam. Tell her and let her make her own mind up. It's a generous gesture regardless.

I have always been a bit concerned about eating bugs in soft fruit.
The other day my DP had bought a punnet of cherries and encouraged me to eat some.
I put a few in a bowl, reluctantly ate a couple, picked up the next one only to see something wriggling out of it!
🤢
No more cherries for me, without pre-soaking.
Or any other soft fruit...

I'm sure I've eaten all kinds of gross things over the years, but if I can avoid it I will!

I can't imagine any reasonable vegan who would turn down this lovely jam on ethical grounds. Let them eat jam

I'd eat your jam but I draw the line at figs that digest wasps.

I'm vegan. I grow and eat raspberries. I don't use pesticides at all. As someone said much earlier in the thread I avoid consuming/using animal products as far as possible and a pesticide will have caused more damage to wildlife and ecosystem.

This is very true. Washed down the sink or eaten by an unwary vegan!

I'm not a vegan and I don't want to eat bug jam....

Going by this thread you may have to eat no jam as it's basically impossible to remove every chance of a bug.

But why such a fuss? fruit and vegetables fresh from the garden is bound to have a few bits and bobs in it. when we were kids we would just take a raspberry, strawberry, etc and eat it straight from the plant. no washing, no pesticides, and we survived! perhaps nowadays we fuss too much now

You don't put gelatin in jam you put pectin or lemon juice

And eat insecticide instead.No thanks.

You don't need to add gelatin to jam

Most is washed off by rain. I used to eat gooseberries etc from the plant. We are all far to fussy these days.