Blackberry Jam Class of 2020

This year we harvested a little more than 20 pounds of blackberries and another 8 pounds of raspberries.

Eight pounds of blackberries went into pies and the remaining 12 made a big batch of fresh jam. Total yield was 25 half-pints and 1 full quart jar.

Blackberries ripe and ready to pick

Terri picking the blackberries

One of 10 baskets of fresh picked blackberries

Simmering blackberries and a whole lot of sugar to make the jam

The raspberries also got jammed giving us a dozen half-pint jars of that as well.

Foolproof Berry Jam Recipe

I learned a super simple recipe for jams and jellies years ago which is not the basis for all our fruit preserves. If you remember just a couple basics you can use it to pretty much preserve anything.

The recipe below will yield a dozen half-pint (8 ounce) jars. You can halve or double according based on the amount of fruit you have. If your fruit isn’t super ripe, add an additional half cup of sugar to ensure a good set to your jam.

Ingredients

• 8 cups (2 quarts) Fresh ripe berries (blackberry, raspberry, boysenberry, dewberry, strawberry, etc.)
• 8 cups (2 quarts) Granulated sugar
• 6 Tbsp (1 1-¾ box) Regular pectin (not freezer pectin)
• ¾ cup Lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp Butter (optional)

Instructions

1. Wash berries and place them in a pot large enough to hold the berries and sugar. Add lemon juice and place on a stove burner on low heat.
2. Heat berries stirring and mashing with a potato masher (not a blender).
3. Turn up heat under the pot and stir in the pectin and butter (to prevent foaming). Bring pot to a full rolling boil (keeps boiling even when stirred) for one minute.
4. Add the sugar to the berries. Stir constantly and bring up to a full rolling boil again.
5. Keep jam at a full rolling boil for 4 minutes.
6. Remove jam from heat, ladle into clean jars and seal.
7. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for 24 hours so that jam will fully set.

Enjoy!

A dozen jars of fresh Black Raspberry Jam