Making the most out of the garden: Homemade Jam
We were so happy to find blueberry, blackberry and raspberry bushes in with the other garden plants this year. And even better the bushes produced some fruit for us the first year. Along with the first time growing bushes, we decided we wanted to try another first making jam with our berries. Yes, we had to add additional berries, but it was nice to be able to,say some were from our own plants.
Homemade Berry Jam
Below is the recipe that we used for Cooked Jam.
HOMEMADE BERRY JAM
4 Cups of crushed Blackberries
1 Cup of crushed Red Raspberries
7 Cups of sugar
1.75 ounces of Sure Jell Pectin
Wash the berries and then mash them with a potato masher. If you prefer less seeds you can push part or all of the berries through mesh sieve. Once the berries are mashed add them to deep pan to cook. Add the Sure Jell (pectin) and cook until it comes to a rolling boil. Add the sugar and return to rolling boil. Once it is at a rolling boil set the timer for one minute.
While you are getting the fruit to a rolling boil, put the cleaned jars in a deep pot on either a rack or a cloth. It has to be deep enough to cover the jars by at least an inch to boil them and seal them. The goal of this step is to get the jars up to the same temperature as the jam so that the glass will not accidently break. Also the rack is there to protect the jars from the bottom of the pot but you can substitute with a cloth, just be sure to leave some space between the jars so they heat all the way around.
Once the fruit, pectin and sugar combination has boiled for a minute, it’s time to fill the jars. Fill the jar up leaving ¼ inch at the top of the jar. (If you don’t leave enough your jam will boil out.) Before you place the lid on, be sure to wipe of the rim to make sure that the lid will seal. When putting the ring on the lid, just turn until you feel a slight resistance. The jar is ready to back in the water. Continue to fill up the rest of the jars. Once all of the jars are filled and in the water boil for 10 minutes. The jars will need to cool overnight. With this cooked recipe the jam will be good in the sealed jar for up to 1 year. This recipe makes about 9 cups of jam.
Additional recipes for jam can be found on http://lifeismylemonade.blogspot.com/
As couple of final notes: 1) Be sure to use accurate measurements. 2) If your diet requires reduced sugar, please make sure to find a recipe that accommodates your needs rather than adjusting the above.
