Kevin's Kuisine: Blackberry Jam

There are a few summertime tastes that I can't seem to get enough of.... we've been down the watermelon route and it's a couple of weeks before good blueberries arrive, but it's time for blackberries! Blackberry pie, blackberry cobbler, plain ol' blackberries with milk & sugar, frozen blackberries for later...... but the greatest part of blackberry season is blackberry jam. Now, I know lots of people like jelly, but when you can get actual chunks of delicious fruit mixed in with the jelly part, why would you want anything else?

I made a double batch of blackberry jam the other night and from the looks of it, it turned out perfect! (Being that I haven' tasted any of it yet except for licking the spoon AFTER all my canning was done, I'll have to wait to open the first jar to report the actual result. But if looks are anything, this one's going to be good......)

First off, my friend Yoshie and I went blackberry picking last week. We literally had about 45 minutes before the fruit farm closed and picked wildly and furiously. My overflowing bucket had 6 pounds of the purple beauties and Yoshie had 5 pounds. We both headed home sated with ideas of what we would do with them.

I have to say, blackberry jam is the easiest.... I prefer to use the liquid pectin pouches as I find it more reliable in jelling. But some prefer the older powder method. Whichever you use, I promise, you will find home canning jam as one of the easiest and most delicious ways to preserve summer fruits.

First off, you will need several ingredients BESIDES the jam makings:

A water bath canner
Pint or half pint jelly jars (sterilized)
Lids and rings
A ladle
A jar lifter
A canning funnel

Before you try to make jam, thoroughly clean and sterilize all of your equipment. That means to put a few drops of Clorox into the water while you're cleaning the canner and make sure to thoroughly rinse. Do the same with the jar lifter and canning funnel. Fill the canner about 2/3 full with fresh warm tap water and bring to a boil. Leave the lid on at all times. In a saucepan, boil additional water.

To the canner, add the jars you will use to be making jelly. One batch made 5 pint jars with about a spoonful left over for tasting. Leave the jars in boiling water for at least 10 minutes to sterilize. Remove the jars, drain the water back into the canner, and place jars on a sterile clean cotton towel on your countertop.

Make sure they are completely submerged and leave them there until you are ready to use them. You can use previously used rings but you MUST use new lids so that the rubber seals correctly adhere to the jar. Remove the additional saucepan of boiling water from the heat and add the rings and lids.In the meantime, you can begin to make the jam.

Blackberry Jam

4 cups crushed blackberries (make sure you have chunks of berry pulp, not a smooth puree)
7 cups of sugar
1 pouch of liquid pectin
Juice of 1/2 a lemon (optional)

With a potato masher, crush the berries one cup at a time. I like lots of chunky fruit so I don't mash them too extensively.

In a non-reactive kettle, mix the crushed berries, sugar and if you like a bit of tartness, the lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a hard boil. (This means that the mixture continues to boil steadily even while you're stirring.) Add the pouch of liquid pectin very quickly and stir through. Bring the jam back to a rolling boil for EXACTLY one minute. Remove from the heat. Stir thoroughly and remove any foam that may have collected on the top.

Place the canning funnel into the first jar and ladle enough jam to fill the jar to a 1/4 inch of the top. You must leave 1/4 inch of airspace to properly seal the jar. Continue this with the remaining jars. When finished, with a clean and sterile damp cloth, wipe the rims of the jars clean to remove anything that may have spilled on them.

Remove each lid from the saucepan of water (I use cooking tongs instead of a fancy magnetic stick ... they work just as easily and you probably already have them!) and place on top of each jar. Remove the rings in the same fashion and tighten them onto the jar. They only need to be finger tightened and not "forced" on to the jar.

Place all of the jars into the water bath canner with the jar lifter. The water should cover the jars by a good 1 - 2" for correct canning procedure. Replace the lid. Peek every 30 seconds or so to find the point when your water returns to a rolling boil. (With all of that hot jam, it shouldn't take long!) Set your timer for 10 minutes and carefully remove the jars from the water bath and place them on the towel on your countertop. Do NOT touch the jars in any way. You will probably hear a few "pings" or "tink" sounds as each jar creates it's own vacuum seal. This is perfectly normal. But again, DON'T touch the jars, especially lids, for 12 hours so they have a good chance to set. (Make sure they're are in a convenient place so they won't need to be moved!)

In 12 hours, check the seal on the lid by gently pressing on it. If there is no "give" and the lid doesn't pop back up at your finger, it is sealed! These will stay on a pantry shelf for a year or more (if they last that long!). If there happens to be a jar that doesn't seal, refrigerate promptly and use in several weeks.

If you purchase packages of pectin, most boxes have plenty of recipes included for making almost every kind of jam and jelly. If you've never canned before, jam is an easy place to start. It is nutritious, delicious, and packed with pure fruit and sugar and no strange preservatives. With any luck, you'll get hooked like I did and start filling your pantry with anything that grows! Fruit, pickles, tomatoes ... you name it! Here's just a sampling of some things that I put up last season.....