We’ve come into a bountiful berry season at our farm, and it’s time to make raspberry jam!
First, prepare your equipment. It takes 45 minutes to bring the water in my canner to a rolling boil – the same amount of time it takes my dishwasher to wash/sanitize/heat up my canning jars. How convenient! You’ll also need to warm your jar lids in a small pan of hot (not boiling) water a bit before you plan on actually putting the jam in the jars. Timing is everything when processing food, and the more you do it, the easier it will get!
While your canner is working up a boil and your dishwasher is sanitizing, you can work on the actual jam. Prepare 2 quarts (8 cups) of berries by gently washing them.
Place those berries, 1 package of powdered pectin, 1/3 cup water and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a large pot.
Bring this to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. After it is boiling, add 6 cups of sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Return this mixture to a rolling boil. (Remember, a rolling boil is one that cannot be stirred away.) Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. After a minute, remove the pot from heat.
Skim the foam off the top, if you desire. (Save it, though. It’s great for spreading on toast.)
I recently learned a trick at this point: before ladling the jam into those hot jars you’ve got waiting in the dishwasher, let the jam cool for ten minutes as you occasionally stir it. Rumor has it that this will make the seeds distribute properly throughout the jam, and you won’t be left with jars being clear jelly on the bottom and all seeds on the top.
When your jam has cooled a bit, ladle it into those waiting jars…
…leaving a quarter inch of headspace.
Adjust the two piece caps and place in canner.
Process for ten minutes. (Time starts when the water returns to a boil.)
Take the jars out of the canner and listen for the ping of the sealing lid.
Success!
The recipe demonstrated above makes 5 or 6 half-pints. It is from the Ball Blue Book: Guide to Home Canning, Freezing and Dehydration – and is simply called “Raspberry Jam.”
You can also freeze your berries for later use, which I wrote about here.
Read about more of my farm adventures at A Farmish Kind of Life!
