After paying close to six dollars for jam that was organic and didn’t have high fructose corn syrup in it or dye, I decided that my house would only have fresh jam. I could spend the 45 minute drive and $6/pint for this great jam at a nearby farm or I could learn to jam myself. With it being summertime, I couldn’t ask for a better season to start creating jam with all the fresh berries around.
I read on how to do it and purchased the mason jars needed. However, I could not locate pectin to save my life. I’d ask and look in the baking section and every place else but right next to where I bought jars. Finally I had my pectin and luckily enough for me, Bountiful Baskets had a raspberry add-on one week and I took full advantage.
I had bought pectin and no cook pectin to try them both. After experimenting, my conclusion is – use the original pectin. No cook made it liquidy and much more of a jelly consistency.
Recipe for jam
The recipe above makes two pints, so I tend to multiply it, but warning try to not make more than ten batches at once. After I tasted how good the raspberry jam tasted I fell in love and wanted to try my hand at more flavors. I bought some strawberries from the store and that went well, so a couple weeks later BB had a strawberry add-on deal and I took advantage. That week we also got a bunch of kiwi in our baskets. Hrm, kiwi/strawberry jam, why not?! It was great… My favorite so far is blackberry/strawberry and raspberry/kiwi.
So here’s whatcha do …
Put all your fruit you are using in a pan on the stove and turn on the heat to medium-high and mash the berries. I use my Braun Hand Blender, which blends it well yet leaves some good chunks of berries.
Add the pectin in three batches and after each one, mix well. I use a whisk for this and the rest of the process and it works well. Bring to a boil that cannot be stirred down, then add sugar all at once. Whisk well and make sire there are no sugar clumps. Bring to boil to a point where again, it can’t be stirred down and then boil for one minute.
Once done, laddle jam into mason jars leaving 1/2″ headspace and can using the water boil method. I add labels for easy reading and because jam makes for great presents. I also use them for donations and have sold some, which helps recoup the mason jar expense.
Flavors thus far: Raspberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Black/Raspberry, Straw/Raspberry, Mixed Berry, Strawberry/Kiwi, Raspberry/Kiwi, Straw/Raspberry/Kiwi, and Black/Strawberry.
Photos
