My Yummy Home-Canned Blueberry Jam, In Pictures

I know...I should be doing more vacation photos, but it's my blog and I'll do what I want, darn it! I wanted to share another one of my newest canning projects that I'm pretty darn happy about--blueberry jam! A couple of weeks ago, blueberries went on a big sale down here in Sahuarita--just $1 per dry pint! I couldn't say no to that; of course, I bought some to eat fresh (they're so delicious fresh), and froze quite a lot of them too (great to thaw out later & use in muffins, pancakes, smoothies, etc). But this time, my ol' canning sense started tingling, and I thought, "What if...?"

Before I proceed, a disclaimer...I am in no way a canning "expert." The recipe you're seeing here is literally the recipe that came with the pectin--I don't have any "special formulas" in canning, I just tend to go by what the experts say! However, I do love canning, and I do think it's a great skill to learn that will benefit you & your loved ones, plus it results in some tasty product. So I'm just sharing the fruits of my labors with y'all...virtually.

Anyway, first you've got to gather your raw ingredients--the box of pectin, as shown above (1 package will result in one batch of jam);

your blueberries, of course (you'll need a little more than 3 pints to get started);

and your sugar. ALERT: the recipe calls for 4 cups of sugar. I used 3 cups of regular sugar, then 1 cup of Splenda (sugar substitute). I know the package says you shouldn't use sugar substitutes, but I've found that your jam will still work as long as the sugar substitute only makes up one-quarter to one-third of your total sugar measurement. Sure enough, with 1/4 of my sugar replaced with Splenda, the jam still set up perfectly!

 And, as always, be sure to have your pots cleaned & ready, your lids sterilized, and your jars washed with hot soapy water. Here are all my tools, ready to go!


Let's get started...first, wash the blueberries (make sure their stems are removed), then drain them well...

Then get out your masher and mash away!

Blueberries are easier to mash if you do it in small batches (say, a pint or so at a time). You'll ultimately need to measure out 4 cups of mashed blueberries...

...as shown here. Frankly, the color of the mashed blueberries scared me a bit; I wasn't sure I'd want to be eating jam that was the color of fresh bruises (brownish-bluish-green). As it turned out, though, I needn't have worried.

Add your mashed blueberries to the pot, stir in the pectin, and bring the whole mixture to a rolling boil (that's when the mixture remains at a full boil even when you're stirring vigorously). The above picture is just after I turned on the heat...

...and this is the full rolling boil, complete with lots o' steam! It's important to keep stirring this mixture as thoroughly as you can. Let it boil like this for about 2 minutes, then...

Dump in your sugar all at once! Keep stirring, and it will soon dissolve into the mixture from the heat. However, it will get more difficult to stir. This is when endurance comes in handy; you have to stir for a few minutes, until the whole mixture comes to a rolling boil again. Then, keep stirring the boiling mixture for about 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.

At this point, it's time to ladle the jam into your jars--using a funnel like this is very helpful! Once the jar's been filled to within 1/2 inch of the top, make sure the rim of the jar is clean, then screw on the lid:

The recipe will tell you to put your jam jars in a hot-water canner at this point, but here's where I diverge from the recipe yet again. I've never had to use my canner to seal my jam jars. All I do, after screwing the lids on tightly, is invert the jars, and let them cool completely (this can take several hours; I usually leave them alone overnight).

The heat of the jam will cause the lids to seal themselves--at least that's been true with my jams in every case (and I've been canning jams for years).

Voila!! This recipe yielded about 3 pint-jars full of blueberry jam (with a little left over). Luckily, the bruise color faded quickly during cooking, and the final product was a lovely deep purplish-blue. The texture was perfect, too---once cooled, the jam hardened nicely, with virtually no runniness. If you like blueberries, then this jam did not disappoint--we tried it on toast with a little butter that night. Dee-licious.

So...keep an eye on your grocery store. Maybe you'll be getting a sale on blueberries soon! If so, I highly recommend making some jam. It was easy and very tasty!