Adventures in Jam Making

By now its no secret that I love baking with blueberries. I have a stockpile of “fresh-frozen” blueberries from last summer and I’ve been trying my best to brighten up this winter by throwing them in anything and everything. I’ve never made jam, jelly, preserves, or canned anything for that matter, so I decided to knock off one of my Food Bucket List items and step out of my comfort zone at the same time!

I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never been so happily surprised. It jelled exactly how I was hoping it would and the blueberries and spices melded together beautifully. And I got to use my super wazoo food processor that I got for Christmas for the first time to mash the berries. I may now be addicted to jam making and using a food processor. Without further a due, ladies and gentlemen, I give you my Spiced Blueberry Jam:

INGREDIENTS:

10 cups of whole blueberries (6 cups smashed)

5 cups of sugar

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 tsp cinnamon

2 packets of liquid pectin (3 oz each)

SUPPLIES:

2 large, wide pots

1 small pot

tongs or “jar grabbers”

10 8-oz jelly jars

DIRECTIONS:

1. Wash your jars and rings in warm soapy water and set aside. Fill one large pot with water and begin to bring it to a low boil. Put your lids in a small pot of water and heat (but do not boil) in order to soften the sealing compound. Add your clean jars to the boiling water

2. Add smashed blueberries and sugar to a large, non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil and add cinnamon, lemon zest and juice and let jam continue to cook for about fifteen minutes. Add pectin and bring to a rolling boil for a full five minutes.

3. Test your jam with the sheet test. Here, you stir a spoon through your jam and then remove it from the pot. Holding it over the cooking jam, watch as the remnants on the spoon drip back down. Do they fall back in runny drips, like rain on a window? If so, it’s not quite done. However, if they seem thick and run together in more of a sheet, your jam is finished.

3. Remove the jars from the hot water and turn off the heat. Place upside down on a clean towel to quickly drain. Then one by one, flip and fill the jars with the jam mixture. Wipe rims clean and apply lids. Screw on the bands and lower the jars into the hot water again. Process in the hot water bath 10 minutes. When time is up, remove from water and cool on the clean towel. When the jars are cooled completely (most likely overnight) check the seal by pressing on the top of the jar. If there’s no movement, the jar has sealed. If not, no worries! Just make sure you eat that jar first and store it in the fridge! Store the sealed jars up to one year in a cool, dark place and enjoy your Blueberry Jam!

[Yields about 10 cups of jam / 10 8-oz jars of jam]

This jam is incredibly good on whole wheat toast, English muffins, crepes, bagels with cream cheese, inside a baked turnover, on a cheese plate with brie, as a middle layer to a cake, sandwiched between two cookies, over vanilla ice cream or yogurt, in the middle of thumbprint cookies, or just on a plain old PB&J sandwich. This jam is delish no matter where you spread it!