Every year, when the blueberries arrive, we end up with more and more berries. We’ve discovered we love having blueberries on hand. They store in the freezer with very little trouble- seriously. Have some blueberries? Put them in a freezer bag, zip it shut and label the bag. No washing, no prepping, no freezing laid out on a baking sheet. They freeze individually all by themselves, and then can be pulled out of the freezer whenever you have a hankering for blueberry muffins, blueberry pie or just feel like adding some blueberries to a smoothie.
This year, in addition to freezing copious amounts of berries, I decided I also needed to make some of my favorite blueberry jam. Blueberry Spice Jam is actually one of the first jams I ever made. Oh, it’s so, so good- and incredibly easy as far as jams go. The cinnamon and cloves spice up the sweet blueberry, and when you spread it on toast, bagels, English muffins or use it as a filling for a sandwich cookie, you have the most wonderful blueberry party going on in your mouth. The one thing this jam is not good for is in a plain old PB&J. It just doesn’t work with peanut butter- so use your other jams for the sandwich and use this one for your special occasions. Oh, wow, just thinking about smearing this on a homemade biscuit is making my mouth water. I better get to the recipe before I have to dash off to the kitchen to make something.
Start with some blueberries. About 3 heaping cups of fresh berries will give you what you need to make one batch of jam. The first step is to crush them with a potato masher- just enough so most of the berries have been squashed- crush one cup of berries at a time please. When you have 2 1/2 cups of smashed berries, you have enough.
Next, pour your berries into your jam pot, along with 1 1/2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice. Next we’ll add our spices. First, cinnamon. Use a 1/4 teaspoon measure, but heap that puppy up.
Then we’re going to add cloves. Now, I’m not normally a big clove fan- but here, it’s essential and goes with the blueberries so beautifully. This time I actually freshly ground my cloves- but that’s not necessary. Again, heap your spice up- only this time use the 1/8 teaspoon measure.
Now we’re going to add 3 1/2 cups of white sugar, turn on the heat to medium high, and stir it all together. This is where the magic happens, and your jam starts to turn into jam.
Once all the sugar is dissolved, you can also add an optional 1/2 teaspoon of butter. The butter will drastically reduce the foam in the end product- so I almost always use it. There’s something about the protein in the butter coating the sugar molecules and preventing foam- but just use a tiny 1/2 teaspoon. Any more than that and you’re flirting with danger. But it is worth it to add, as I had nary a drop of foam this time around.
Cook and stir this mixture over medium-high to high. You need it to come to a good strong boil that continues to boil as you stir it- and it needs to be continuous. Once you have that boil, it’s time to add our pectin.
In this case, we’re using one packet of liquid pectin- I use Certo brand, which is what is available in my neck of the woods. Squeeze the whole packet in, stir it up, and you need to bring it back up to that high boil again. Stir constantly at this point, and bring the jam back to a continuous mad boil. Once the boil really gets rolling again, hit your timer and boil it for one full minute.
Once that minute is up, your jam is done. Pour it into your hot-n-ready jars and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. Last year I posted a step-by-step tutorial on how to make jam, go check that out if you have any questions at all. I used strawberry jam there, but the basic process is the same for all my jams. When all is said and done with the blueberry jam, you’ll have between 5 and 6 half-pint jars of jam. All told, I made three batches this weekend, and I’m thinking about one more, as I have one more packet of pectin that I could use. Right now I have 16 little half-pints of jam, just waiting to be tucked into gift bags and packages- this is my favorite jam to gift to people because it is so good, and it’s unique- something special that you can’t just buy in the store. Try it, you’ll be hooked. And if you’ve never made jam before- watch out- it’s a very addictive but fun hobby.
Blueberry Spice Jam
3 heaping cups of fresh blueberries3 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon- heaped 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves- heaped 1 pouch liquid fruit pectin (Certo brand) optional: 1/2 teaspoon butter
Directions:
Wash blueberries and remove any stems. Place about 1 cup of the blueberries at a time into a bowl and mash with a potato masher or a fork. Measure 2 1/2 cups of crushed blueberries.
In a 6 or 8 quart dutch oven or kettle, combine the berries, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and cloves. (Add the butter if using.) Stir together and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring occasionally. When the full rolling boil has been achieved, add the pouch of liquid pectin. Return to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Quickly skim off any scum with a metal spoon. (If you use the butter, there won’t be any scum.)
Immediately ladle the hot jam into hot, sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch head-space. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (start timing when the water returns to a boil). Remove jars from canner and cool on racks. Makes between 5-6 half- pints of jam.