I call it preserving summer in a jar. My family loves opening a jar of blackberry jam during the long winter months and tasting that hint of summer. Many lessons were learned from the first jam session which made the second session a much smoother process. Half the battle is to get the rhythm and team work down and to get into the groove of canning.
Having everything you need laid out before starting made the process much faster. Simply put, the more canning you do, the easier and more comfortable it gets with each fruit or vegetable you preserve.
The most labor intensive part of making berry jams is mashing and straining out the seeds. After spending a considerably amount of time manually removing seeds through a sieve when they made the raspberry jam, this time they decided to use the food processor to pulse the berries into small chunks such as great time saver! The small chunks were then mashed through the sieve, which saved a lot of arm power crushing the berries manually.
The aroma of the blackberries and sugar cooking on the stove was heavenly and the swirling deep purple color was beautiful. Jam can ONLY be made in small batches at a time about 6 cups at a time.
DO NOT increase the recipe or the jam will not "set" jell or thicken. Preparing the equipment: Before you start preparing your jam, place canner rack in the bottom of a boiling water canner.
Fill the canner half full with clean warm water for a canner load of pint jars. For other sizes and numbers of jars, you will need to adjust the amount of water so it will be 1 to 2 inches over the top of the filled jars. Wash jars, lids, and rings in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Sanitize the jars, lids, and rings. Never plunge room temperature jars into rapid boiling water or they may crack. Place the jars in a large pot.
Add 1-inch of water to the bottom, cover securely, and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Keep the jars, lids, and rings in the hot water until they are ready to by used. Preparing the blackberries: Gently wash, stem, and drain the blackberries removing any stems, cores, dried-up berries, and leaves. Crush the blackberries with a potato masher, food mill, or use a food processor If using a food processor, pulse to very fine chop to lightly crush them.
For best results, crush 1 cup at a time. Jam should have bits of fruit. Sieve all the pulp to remove the seeds.
You can keep some seeds in for effect, but I would not recommend for blackberry jam since the seeds are hard on the teeth.
Making the jam: Measure the exact amount of sugar into a separate bowl; set aside. NOTE: Reducing sugar or using sugar substitutes will result in failure for the jam setting up. To use less sugar, you must purchase and use the pectin for Less Sugar or No Sugar.
Measure the exact amount of prepared blackberries juice into a large 6 to 8-quart saucepan. Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. A full rolling boil is a boil that does not stop bubbling when stirred. Quickly stir in the sugar and return again to a full rolling boil and let boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. If you bring it back to a full boil fairly slowly on medium heat rather than high that will help reduce foaming.
Place jam into the jars: One jar at a time, ladle the hot prepared jam into the hot, sterilized jars. Wipe rim of jar or glass with a clean damp cloth. Immediately place a hot lid and ring on top of the jar; tightly screw the ring on the jar.
Processing the jam: Place jars on the elevated canner rack. I boiled and cooled the jam, then refrigerated last night. Great Recipe and instructions.
I just made sugar free raspberry jam yesterday and used chia instead of pectin. Came out beautifully. Set up very nicely. Good less expensive option to store bought pectin. Hi how did you use chia? I have some chia seeds and know they can thicken so interested how you made this work. Thank you so much for the recipe.
I just made this with blackberries from my garden. I used 5 cups of blackberries, 2 cups organic raw cane sugar, and 2 tbsps fresh lemon juice. I cooked the game in a cast iron pot. It made 8 4oz jars plus about 2 extra ounces.
I learned that I needed to turn my heat up to get the berries to a higher temp. I stopped it at F. I was amazed and when I finally saw the gelling. No wonder my jam was not good last year. It takes patience and lots of stirring but this was so worth it.
Now to go clean up my big mess. The pictures throughout the website are inspiring. I used four cups of our picked wild blackberries in our backyard to one cup of sugar, with a squeeze of lemon. I was a little nervous because I never made jam before, but after exactly 30 minutes of medium-low cooking the jam was perfect! Maybe even a little too jelly-like because we picked them slightly early.
Best jam ever, thank you! Has anyone made this with honey? Sorry if this is a silly question, but I have never canned anything before. Is regular white granulated sugar okay to use?
I saw some recipes that said you have to use special canning or fine sugar? Thank you in advance, your pictures are all so beautiful! The superfine sugar thing is mostly for no-cook freezer recipes where the jam wont be cooked so it needs to be fine so it can melt. For canning, you can use any sugar you want raw cane juice, turbanado, white sugar, maple, honey, etc. For a pure fruit flavor, go with white sugar. Thank you so much for the excellent tutorial and recipe!
I made x4 batches this weekend and it is excellent! Can I just put this in my mason jar with lid and straight in to the fridge? Do you think it would work to use a ratio of date syrup to berries instead of sugar and still be able to can it? How long do you think it will last once canned if date syrup is used?
Thank you very much! Off to pick berries now…. Has a strong flavor if I remember correctly, like mild molasses and that will get stronger as you cook the jam. Try it though, and let me know how it goes.
Thank you for getting back to me. I did make it and taste good, however the one sweeten with sugar taste better. Thank you for your help. I used 5 cups of blackberries and 1 cup of sugar and squeezed half a lemon. I put on med low heat around 3 or 4 on my stove , and it never foamed! It did simmer though. I ended up taking it off the stove after almost an hour.
I tried it this morn and the flavour is great though seedy, but the texture is barely spreadable. I had to warm it up. Any suggestions? If it never foamed then it never got hot enough. Medium heat varies based on your stove, definitly need to cook it a bit hotter than yours got. Followed your instructions and strained the seeds out before adding sugar. I did a ratio. Very sweet! Hardest part was getting it to F without making a mess or burning myself. It was a ride. Be sure to use freezer-safe jars ones with straight sizes, no shoulders at the top.
Just finished cooking a large saucepan of berries and sugar and dash of lemon juice. It turned out amazing. I will be using this recipe going forward as I like the idea of more berries and less added sugar. Came out too thick. Guess I overcooked it. Can it be thinned down s but. If yes, what should I use?
I add a grated apple to berry mixture for more pectin and quicker jelling. Thank you. For fewer pips, I liquided half the blackberries and rubbed them through a sieve.
Put in some crystalized honey and the juice of a lemon. I used the least of amount of sugar possible, according to your recipe, plus a TB of lemon juice… wow.
It was perfect. And sweet. I came looking for a low sugar recipe when seeing many recipes had about as much sugar as fruit. I not only used your recipe for blackberry jam, but I just made some raspberry jam, too. Sooooo good. Can you confirm that 5 minutes is the correct amount of time? Would the lesser time be because of less sugar and no pectin? The guidance from the national center for food preservation says 5 minutes if you use hot sterilized jars, and 10 minutes otherwise.
Cuisine American. Keyword jam. Prep Time 5 minutes. Cook Time 20 minutes. Servings 60 servings. Calories 30 kcal. Ingredients 6 cups berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries roughly slice the strawberries to help them break down 2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons bottle lemon juice.
Instructions In a large saucepan, add the berries, sugar and lemon juice. Gently stir the berry mixture and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a soft boil on medium heat and cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes or until the jam has thickened. To test the thickness of the jam, at the start of cooking time place a few spoons or ceramic ramekins in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Take out one spoon or ramekin and add a dollop of jam to the back of the spoon or ramekin. If it mostly sets, you're ready to go. If it's too runny, cook and tests in 5 minute increments until the jam sets on the spoon. Place your washed and dried berries and sugar in a large bowl. Gently stir together and let sit for minutes. Having the berries marinate in the sugar prior to cooking really brings out the flavorful fruit juices.
In a large nonreactive saucepan, gently stir together the berries and lemon juice. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Remove any air bubbles. Get the lids warming in hot but not boiling water.
Wipe the rims clean and seal tightly with the lids. Put the jars in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes. Make sure the jars are covered in water. The sealed jars can be stored in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.
If a sealed has failed, store the jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Makes 6 delicious half-pint jars. Frozen fruit has a higher water content than fresh fruit, so it tends to make homemade jam runnier. For best results, we recommend fresh fruit in this recipe. However, you can use frozen berries if you increase the sugar to 4 cups.
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