Blueberry Jam
As blueberry season comes to an end, you realize you can only squeeze in some many blueberry-centric recipes before you need a long-term plan. How will you cope without them in the coming months? 
The answer is simple: get out a clean jar or few and preserve some blueberry jam.
I’ve come to appreciate how easy it is to make preserves and that you can make some pretty neat things that you might not find in the grocery store, so why not make home canning and preserving a regular occurrence? If you haven’t tried it yet, go out, buy yourself some mason jars and give this one a try–it is so easy and so enjoyable to have jars of your own home-made jam to dip into throughout the year. Plus, if you ever use jelly or jam at all (usually goes on a bagel on a Saturday morning for me), home-made just tastes so much better, especially using sweet, fresh blueberries.
- 3 pints blueberries
- 4 cups sugar
- 1 box pectin
yields 5-6 cups jam
The first thing you should do is to sterilize your jars and be familiar with all of the good practices involved in canning. Its pretty simple, but if you’ve never done it before, take some time to read up on it. After all, you’re about to take fresh fruit and put it on your pantry shelf potentially for several months. You want to do it right so that you don’t have any extra surprises growing in there for you later.
Begin by cleaning your blueberries, discarding any mediocre berries, stems, etc, and giving them all a good rinse. Get a saucepan going on medium heat and then add in the blueberries in batches (three or four), crushing each batch just a little bit with a potato masher. This way, some berries are really mushed up and others are only lightly crushed (it is jam, after all).
Let this simmer for a bit so that the berries soften and juice up a bit. Figure this could take around 5-10 minutes.
At this point, add in the pectin and raise the heat to get this mixture to a rolling boil. Once it boils, add in all of the sugar quickly and stir it in well. Keep at it until the mixture reaches a full rolling boil again, at which point, you should watch the clock and wait for 1 minute.
Now, get the jam off of the heat, skim off any foam that’s on the surface (it does no harm, it just doesn’t look great in the jar) and carefully transfer this to your sterilized jars right away, leaving about 1/4 inch of head room between the jam and the lid. Seal the jars up tightly and process in boiling water for 10 minutes before you let them cool back down to room temperature.
Enjoy!
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August 17th, 2008 at 5:16 am
I just made some last week, well not really jam because I used less sugar, didn’t add pectin but added lemon juice to work on the pectin in the blueberries. I let it cook for some time to get the right consistency, Lovely combined with cream cheese
August 17th, 2008 at 7:18 am
I fully agree with you Mike. It’s so easy to make and much better than the ready made ones.
August 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am
So you boil the jam-packed jars again after the jam is already in them? What’s the reason for that?
I’m sad that blueberry season is coming to a close. I’m going to be picking up fruit at Costco this week and will start to pack it into my freezer using my nifty foodsaver!
August 17th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
YUUUUUMMMMMMIE!
Looks great, Mike. Unfortunately, the prices of blueberries never get affordable enough for me to make jams. So, I’ll be enjoying this homemade jam vicariously through your blog
August 17th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
There is nothing better than homemade jam! I’ve never made blueberry though, I bet it’s amazing!
August 17th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
May I have that jar please Mike? It must be amazing!! The question here of course is…will we ever get blueberries in our part of the globe! Not a chance…so I’ll just hand around & drool here! Really really nice preserves!
August 17th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I love the colour of your blueberry jam. Yum!
August 17th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I love picking blueberries at the farms nearby, and making jam — we don’t eat it, really, but it’s wonderful to give to friends and to have on hand for winter guests. Your jar of jam looks beautiful!
August 17th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I love blueberries but never thought to make my own jam. Thanks for the slap upside the head. I’ll get right on that.
August 17th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I can just imagine the smell in the house. During the winter you’ll appreciate your blueberry jam on fresh toast. I’ll have to go pick some soon.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:30 am
Yum - blueberry jam! Don’t think I’ve ever had this -blueberries are pretty expensive in the UK so tend to be used less extravagantly!
August 18th, 2008 at 3:59 am
how about tossing a pinch of cinnamon in there?
making jam is a brilliant way to preserve that blueberry deliciousness. i like it on toast, on pancakes, on pb&js, between layers of cake, and straight from the jar.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Oh Mike, I just made some yesterday, Its my hubby’s fave jam. So all the berries we picked in the forest ended up in the bottle!
August 18th, 2008 at 8:23 am
I absolutely adore blueberry jam, and hopefully I still have time to pick them in Charleston and put some up before it’s too late. Great post!
August 18th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Blueberry season ending?? It can’t be true!
I best get some jars looked out then…
August 18th, 2008 at 9:59 am
They are also wonderful preserved with some simple syrup and Cointreau for pancakes:D
August 18th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Mike, although I know that you don’t write about your awards, nevertheless I am awarding you with one, as you still deserve it. Thanks.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I have never made jam - with your easy to follow instructions I want to give it a go. Thanks Mike - looks delish.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Mike, you’ve captured summer in a jar. Just beautiful! It will be hard not to indulge in that!
August 19th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Thank you Mike! I’m actually planning on making some homemade jam for some upcoming birthdays, and I’ve been starting to think about some recipes. This helps!
August 19th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I better learn how to start doing this soon… Blueberries are on their way out. Or are they already?
August 21st, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Beautiful shot Mike! A gorgeous reminder of summers bounty!
August 21st, 2008 at 10:31 pm
hey, this jam would be great w/salmon- instead of blackberry, use blueberries!
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 am
Hi Mike
After sterilising bottle in hot water and cap in warm water, do we need to dry them first before using them?
Tks
August 29th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Thanks, Mike!
We have been blueberry picking fools this summer and I have been thinking I really need to make some jam since the freezer is getting too full of berries. The endless days of rain have drowned the tomatoes but produced an incredible bounty of fat, yummy berries on all of our favorite mountain top picking sites. You should see all the ones that “got away”!
August 29th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
[...] Start canning. Pickles, salsa, lemons, and blueberries, oh [...]
September 1st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
We’ve only recently started getting some really tasty blueberries here, and I hadn’t even thought of making jam. Oh, I can just imagine how delicious it would be swirled into my morning oatmeal or yogurt.