Homemade Jam...It's Easy!

You can turn anything into jam...and there's nothing better than the homemade kind...no preservatives, no additives, just fruit...and, well, yes, sugar.  I made blueberry jam today from the berries we've been picking from our bushes and freezing (place washed, de-stemmed blueberries on a cookie sheet and put them in the top of the freezer; once frozen put into a labeled, dated zip lock freezer bag) this summer.  It's an easy process that requires a little effort but it's well worth it. 

Lise's Blueberry Jam

Ingredients:

9 cups blueberries
6 cups sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I used Meyers lemon juice that I froze last Dec)
1 tbsp butter
There is no pectin in this recipe, I prefer to keep things as natural as possible and have been experimenting with the results...so far, I find pectin to be unnecessary


Directions:

Smash the blueberries in small batches with a potato masher...I like to leave some whole berries...

...put the berries in a nonreactive pot and stir in the lemon juice...

 ...add the sugar and combine thoroughly.

Heat the mixture on medium heat until the sugar melts and then increase the heat to high...

...when the mixture begins to boil, add the butter (you can't see the butter here, it melted immediately).  Continue to boil the mixture until it thickens and passes the spoon test (I tried to take my own pictures of this but wasn't successful). 

Remove the jam from the heat, and pour into warm, clean jars (I clean my jars and keep them warm in the oven on the lowest temperature, and keep the seals warm in a pot of warm water).  A large mouth funnel makes the job easy...

...wipe the rim clean and place the seal and ring on jar, tightening the ring by hand (use pot holders to hold the hot jar).

Place all the jars in a heated water bath pot and boil with the lid on for 20 minutes (this time is determined by your altitude...make sure you use the appropriate time)...

The end result is worth the effort, and if you're going to eat sweet things, this is a natural way to go about it.

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise