Mixed Berry Jam

Name: Mixed Berry Jam
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 cups crushed mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, any mix; measured AFTER crushing); 4½ tbsp Ball RealFruit Classic Pectin; 3 cups granulated sugar; ½ tsp unsalted butter (optional, keeps the foam down)

Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, crushed, cooked one minute at a hard boil with Ball Classic pectin and sugar, and water bath canned. Ball's recipe. The pectin does the setting, so the fruit is barely cooked and tastes like the bowl it came from, and the whole cook is under ten minutes. The canning is where the time goes, and the science.

Total time

50 min

Serves

6

Difficulty

Medium

play_circle Watch episode 287 push_pin Save

As seen on Episode 287

The pantry

kitchen

Essentials · serves 6

4 cups crushed mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, any mix; measured AFTER crushing) 4½ tbsp Ball RealFruit Classic Pectin 3 cups granulated sugar ½ tsp unsalted butter (optional, keeps the foam down)

·

smart_display Watch the episode

The preparation

9 steps, about 50 minutes start to finish.

01
1. SET UP THE CANNER FIRST. Rack in the bottom of the canner or deep stockpot, 6 clean half-pint jars on the rack, water to cover the jars by an inch. Bring to a simmer (about 180°F) and hold; do not boil. Wash the lids in warm soapy water and set them and the bands aside. Ladle, funnel, jar lifter, bubble tool and a damp paper towel on a towel next to the stove.
02
2. CRUSH THE BERRIES. Hull the strawberries. Crush the berries one layer at a time with a potato masher in a wide bowl, not a blender. Chunky is right. Measure the crushed fruit: 4 cups.
03
3. PECTIN IN, COLD. Berries into a wide 8-quart pot. Sprinkle the pectin in gradually while stirring so it disappears into the juice with no clumps.
04
4. FIRST BOIL. High heat, stirring constantly, to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
05
5. SUGAR IN. Add all the sugar at once and stir until it dissolves. Butter in now if you want less foam.
06
6. ONE MINUTE. Return to a full rolling boil and boil hard for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Off the heat. Skim the foam into a bowl and keep it; that bowl is the cocktail. It will look loose. It is supposed to.
07
7. FILL. One hot jar out of the canner at a time, water tipped back in, onto the towel. Funnel in, ladle the jam to a ¼ inch below the rim. Bubble tool down the inside once. Wipe the rim. Lid centered, band on fingertip tight. Back into the canner with the lifter. Repeat.
08
8. PROCESS 20 MINUTES. Jars covered by at least an inch of water. Lid on the canner, bring to a full rolling boil, and start the timer THEN: 10 minutes from the recipe plus 10 minutes for 3,001 to 6,000 feet. Off the heat, lid off away from your face, wait 5 minutes, then lift the jars straight up onto a towel. Do not touch the bands.
09
9. LISTEN. The lids ping as they seal, anywhere from a minute to an hour. Leave them alone 12 to 24 hours, then press each lid: no give, sealed, band off, label it and shelve it. Give, into the fridge, eat it first.

lightbulb The chef's notes

“Measure the berries after crushing, not before; a pound of strawberries is about 2 cups crushed and a pint of blueberries about 1½. If the bowl holds more than 4 cups, make the recipe twice rather than scaling it up: pectin jams are sized to the pot and a double batch does not gel reliably. The one-minute boil is the whole difference from old-fashioned jam. Without added pectin you boil for twenty-five minutes to concentrate the fruit's own pectin and sugar until it sets; with it, you cook the fruit barely at all and the pectin, sugar and the berries' own acid do the setting in the jar as it cools. Sealed jars keep a year in a dark cupboard, and it is at its best inside six months.”

Cooked the same night, Episode 287

Watch the episode east

Cocktails

Jam Jar Whiskey Sour

schedule3 m · Easy

More from Butters & Spreads

See all Butters & Spreads east

Compound Butter for Turkey (1½ Cups Butter Version)

Butters & Spreads

Made this one?

Show the Side Dish crew how it turned out, or ask a question, over in our Discord.

forum Join us on Discord

Mixed Berry Jam

The preparation

Cooked the same night, Episode 287

Jam Jar Whiskey Sour

More from Butters & Spreads

Compound Butter for Turkey (1½ Cups Butter Version)

Homemade Farmer's Cheese

Garlic Herb Bread Topper

Fresh Herb Compound Butter

Compound Herb Butter (for Turkey)

Cheesy Garlic Bread Spread

Made this one?