Beginner's Guide to Making and Canning Blueberry Jam
Preserve and enjoy summer's fresh blueberries with this beginner's guide to making and canning homemade blueberry jam.
Ingredients
- 10 cups fresh blueberries
- 1 1.75 ounce box Sure Jell pectin
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 7 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
Making Blueberry Jam
- Rinse the blueberries and remove stems.
- Over medium heat, in a large pot, add two cups blueberries. Use a potato masher to crush the berries.
- Continue adding blueberries and crushing them until you have added all 10 cups.
- Stir in lemon juice and the box of pectin.
- Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly over high heat.
- Add the sugar, one cup at a time. Use a whisk to stir constantly.
- Bring the blueberry jam to a hard boil for one minute and continue to stir.
Canning Your Blueberry Jam
- Using a funnel, fill each jar, leaving about 1/4 inch at the top.
- Place lids on jars and screw on rings.
- Once the water in your canning stock pot is boiling, use your jar lifter to lower your jars into the rack.
- Let the jars process in the boiling water for about 10 minutes.
- Use the jar lifter to carefully remove the jars from the water. I usually place my jars on a cooling rack, where I allow the jars to cool for 12-24 hours.
- As the jars of jam are cooling, you may hear the lids pop! The lids should concave in the middle. This is how you know that they are successfully preserved.
Notes
In addition to the jam ingredients, you will need a canning set, which includes the stockpot water bath canner, rack, and utensil set.
Lastly, you will need 4-ounce or 8-ounce jars, with lids. Please note that the jars can be reused, but the canning lids cannot. Once the lids are processed, they may not be processed again.