Food,  Fruit

Blueberry Preserves

August 8, 2011 /

Hello all! Hope you are all doing fabulous! Just to let you all know who were reading last week, I had a GREAT time in NYC. The post for that will be coming at some point later this week…I have a ton of pictures to show you all. Lots of surprises…so stay tuned for that 😉 (especially you Becci)

I promised you all that I would be posting blueberry recipes because of all the blueberries that are coming off the bushes at my house. Well here is another one! Blueberry preserves…

My mom and I made this while I was on vacation a few weeks back. We thought it would be a good thing to can. We ended up making about 10 jars, which means we will definitely be covered through the winter haha 😉

*Side note: This recipe called for 8 jars but we definitely got 10 out of it.

Ingredients for Blueberry Preserves:

  • 7 cups granulated sugar
  • 6-7 cups fresh blueberries
  • 4 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 package powdered fruit pectin

Place the 8 (8 ounce) jars on a rack in a boiling water canner. Fill the jars and canner with cool water. Maker sure the water covers the top of the jars. Cover and bring water to a simmer (medium heat). Do Not Boil.

Prepare the lids and bands. Place lids in a small sauce pan and cover with water, then heat to a simmer (medium heat). Do Not Boil. Keep the lids ready until ready to use. The bands do not need to be heated.

Measure sugar and add it to a bowl to be set aside for now.

Wash blueberries and remove any remaining stems. Put them into a container and crush them. A potato masher works great for this. It might be best to do it in batches, seems to be the best way to do it. It is a ton of fruit. Add to a deep stainless steel sauce pan.

Add lemon juice to the blueberries in the saucepan. Bring to a full boil (high heat) stirring frequently. Add sugar and return to a full boil, stirring constantly.  You will want to do this until the mixture had thickened and the liquid is clear. You don’t want to see any sugar granules.

Whisk in the pectin until dissolved.  This will take about 3 minutes. If there is a foam skim it off the top OR add butter to the pot. I normally add butter. It makes the flavor better anyways, but feel free to just skim ;- )

Remove one jar from the canner and empty the hot water back into the canner. Place jar on a towel covered counter. (Do not dry jar). Place a canning funnel in it and ladle hot jam into the hot jar. Leave about 1/4 inch headspace.

Wipe the jar rim with a clean damp paper towel or cloth. You want to make sure that you have no food residue on the rim, otherwise it won’t seal properly. Place the lid onto the jar and use a towel to secure the screw band onto the jar only hand tight.

When all jars are filled and place back into the canner, you will want to make sure that the water is at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Cover canner and bring the water to a full boil. You will want to process / boil for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes turn off heat and remove the canner lid. Let set for 5 minutes and remove the jars, placing them on a towel.

Once you place them on the towels you will start to hear the lids pop to let you know they are sealed . Check lids for seal by pressing down on the center of each lid with your finger. If there is no movement, then the jar has sealed properly. If there is movement you may want to reprocess the jar or refrigerate it for immediate use.

This jam was so tasty! I am a big fan of blueberries though. I can’t seem to ever get enough of them. It may seem like a lot of work to can, so if you don’t want to can, you most certainly do not have to. Just make the preserves and then place them in the refrigerator when you are done. It however, may be wise to cut this recipe down a bit if you are going to eat the preserves immediately. You will have a bunch leftover!

Hope you are all having a fabulous Monday!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

You May Also Like

Poppy Seed Roll (Makowiec)

December 20, 2012

Peach Necatrine Butter

September 17, 2014

{{Guest Post}} Lemony Orzo Salad w/ Grilled Summer Squash with Liv Life

May 30, 2014

19 Comments