A homemade jam with a mix of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries, no pectin added. This jam is easy to prepare and makes great gifts!
Making your own jam is so fun and so simple to do! It also makes super cute gifts to give alongside some homemade bread or with cookies. Decorate the jar with some twine and ribbon and you are all set!
I love making homemade gifts, first they are great when you are on a budget because they end up being pretty cheap, and second, they are more thoughtful than say just a gift card!
Also once you make it and put it in the jars, it is ready to eat right away! So you can make these for a last minute gift idea.
You don’t always have to buy expensive jars either. You can find them at thrift stores, dollar stores, or even garage sales! Do however, look over all the jars carefully before buying to make sure they do not have any cracks or chips on them, which would prevent them from having an airtight seal. I do recommend buying new lids and bands, just because it’s important that they seal correctly.
This comes together pretty fast, it only takes about 25 minutes of boiling the berries before you ladle it into the jars! I boiled my jars and lids at the same time so those were done when the berries were done.
I even made these with frozen berries! Whenever I have fresh fruit in my house and it doesn’t get eaten right away, before it goes bad, I freeze it so that it doesn’t go to waste! I had a stockpile of berries in my freezer that I wanted to use up, so this jam was a great way to use those.
I do prefer my jam with no chunks of fruit, very smooth, so after I thawed the berries for a bit I threw them in the blender for a few seconds.
This recipe has no pectin added, which was great because I didn’t have any in my pantry when I wanted to make these, but it doesn’t need it! It thickened up great on its own.
This recipe makes 5 half pint jars, so double the recipe if you want to make more jars!
You can also mix it up with your berries! However you choose, just make sure it has 8 cups of berries total.
If you like to can and make homemade gifts like this, check out my homemade Romanian Garlic Dill Pickles!
Ingredients for Mixed Berry Jam
3 cups strawberries
3 cups blueberries
2 cups raspberries
4 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
5 half pint canning jars
5 band and lids for canning
How to make Mixed Berry Jam
Wash all the jars in hot soapy water and rinse off.
Place all the jars in a large stock pot and fill with water, then bring to a boil and let it boil for 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat, cover and let the jars sit in the hot water while you cook the jam. ( I started boiling the jars and while they were boiling I started making the jam.)
In a large dutch oven pot, place all the berries, sugar and lemon juice. I used frozen berries, so I warmed them up a bit in the dutch oven before blending them.
If you use fresh berries, you can skip this step and blend them first.
After they have warmed up a little that they are soft, transfer them to a blender and blend them so that everything is smooth. No big chunks of fruit.
Transfer the berry blend back to the dutch oven and cook on high until it starts boiling, stirring every so often.
Once it starts boiling, set a timer for 25 minutes.
Keep the heat on high or medium high and continue to let it boil, stirring it often.
It will start to reduce down and get thicker.
Start to skim off the foam quickly.
Skim off the rest of the foam and then after the 25 minutes, turn off the heat. It should be very thick and jam like.
5 minutes before the jam is done, remove the jars from the hot water and turn upside down on towels to drain off the water.
About 10 minutes before jam is done boil some water in a shallow pan.
Add the lids 3 minutes before the jam is done and boil the lids for 3 minutes.
Ladle the jam into the jars, wipe the rims clean and then add the hot lids and bands and screw on lids tightly with your hands. Just a snug fit will do, not too tight.
Let the jars cool for at least an hour or two before moving them. You will hear them make a “pop” sound which means that the lids have sealed themselves.
After the lids have sealed, you may move them to a different spot.
Once these have cooled they are ready to eat or be given as gifts!
Mixed Berry Jam
Description
A homemade jam with a mix of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries, no pectin added. This jam is easy to prepare and makes great gifts!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Wash all the jars in hot soapy water and rinse off.
- Place all the jars in a large stock pot and fill with water, then bring to a boil and let it boil for 15 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, cover and let the jars sit in the hot water while you cook the jam.
- In a large dutch oven pot, place all the berries, sugar and lemon juice, to defrost them before blending. If you are using fresh berries, you can skip this step.
- Add the berry mixture to the blender and blend everything together until smooth.
- Transfer the berry blend back to the dutch oven and cook on high until it starts boiling, stirring every so often.
- Once it starts boiling, set a timer for 25 minutes.
- Keep the heat on high or medium high and continue to let it boil, stirring it often.
- About 10 minutes before jam is done boil some water in a separate shallow pan for the lids.
- The jam will start to reduce down, skim off foam as it appears.
- 5 minutes before the jam is done, remove the jars from the hot water and turn upside down on towels to drain off the water.
- Add the lids to the boiling water 3 minutes before the jam is done, and boil for 3 minutes.
- Skim off the rest of the foam and then after the 25 minutes, turn off the heat. It should be very thick and jam like.
- Ladle the jam into the jars, wipe the rims clean and then add the hot lids and bands and screw on lids tightly with your hands. Just a snug fit will do, not too tight.
- Let the jars cool for at least an hour or two before moving them. You will hear them make a “pop” sound which means that the lids have sealed themselves.
- After the lids have sealed, you may move them to a different spot.
Notes
- Once the jam has cooled and sealed it is ready to eat or be given as gifts!
- You can use either fresh or frozen fruit
