I made the annual trip down to the basemen canning shelf yesterday… It is full of empty Ball jars, that are just waiting to be filled with the bounties of this years harvest… and the first canning project of the year was blueberry jam… As I dug out the jelly jars, and rims, and my boxes of pectin I became overwhelmed by the prospect of all the canning fun to be had…
BLUEBERRY JAM
- 4 1/2 cups of crushed blueberries with their juice
- 1 package of pectin, or 1/3 cup of Dutch Gel, if you buy in bulk like I do… check out the Marilla Country Store for a big bag, that will make about 6 or 7 batches..
- 5 cups of sugar
- Prep all of the jars and lids and rims on the stove, which means add them to a sauce pan with an inch or so of water in the bottom so they can boil out all of the germ
- Crush one cup of berries at a time, and then re-measure them into the stock pot, it is about 6 cups of uncrushed berries to make 4 1/2 cups of crushed berries
- Add the pectin to the berries and make sure to stir so that it is all dissolved in the fruit
- Measure of the sugar into a mixing bowl and set right next to the stove
- Put the berries on the stove and heat until they are boiling
- Next add all of the sugar at one time, and mix like crazy
- mix until everything comes to a rolling boil, that when you stir you cannot stir down
- Now watch the clock and stir at a rolling boil for 60 second
- Remove from the heat, and then using a canning funnel add the jam to your jars leaving some heard space, put the rim on and then tighten the lid around it, I always turn my jars upside down and then let sit for about 30 minutes, and when you turn them over all of the lids will pop down and seal
- Hear you come PB and blueberry Jam sandwiches!!!
The finished product… I made 7 eight oz jars… and 2 four oz. and another half full jar for the fridge so we can eat some right away!!!
The First 2 CSA members to leave a comment on this post, will get one of these little jams as a bonus bonus item in their first CSA Bag on Thursday!!!