{simple} Raspberry and Blueberry Jam....

I successfully canned raspberry and blueberry jam!

And I am here to tell you, it was easy peasy.....a messy and sticky 

process, but fun and so satisfying as you hear your jars

"pop" and knowing you successfully sealed your jam!

I got my berries at the Portland Farmer's Market - yea for

supporting local farms!  I got a flat of raspberries and a 

flat of blueberries.

I had researched the internet for recipes and 'how-to' tips,

visited Williams-Sonoma for the specific tools I felt I needed -

I invested in a jar lifter, magnetic lid lifter and a jar funnel -

{all purchased at fancy-shmancy WS for about $20}.

Now as for the recipe - I wanted it to be as SIMPLE as possible,

low sugar and no pectin.  My "recipe" is mine - based on what I

learned from a variety of websites and books I checked out

at my local library.  And while I know that 4 cups of sugar sounds

like alot - it turns out to be a lot less than many recipes call for!

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{Simple} Raspberry Jam

8 cups raspberries

4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mash raspberries and combine with sugar and lemon juice.  Bring 

mixture to a low boil and let reduce and thicken.  Fill sterilized jars and

proceed with canning process {water bath}.

***********

*I also did the very same with blueberries - although it did not

thicken as much as the raspberries, we have been enjoying the 

blueberry jam on pancakes and waffles.

I was really intimidated to do the actual canning process, as opposed

to making freezer jam.  However, I seemed to get the hang

of it relatively quickly and found it to be rather simple.  And

like I said above - so satisfying when my jars started to 'pop', 

signaling that they were properly sealed.

It takes ALOT of berries to make jam, and while I was tempted

to double the recipe, many sites I went to for help really 

discouraged that.  I guess it is better to work in small 

batches which is time consuming!  I found that with my

flats of berries I got about 5 jars of jam from each.  I am

definitely tempted to get more berries and make more!

Please email me with any questions - if I can do it, anyone can!

{I am excited to be going to the Barn House Flea Market

again this Saturday......who else is going????}