How to Make Blackberry or Raspberry Jam
Author: Savory Sweet Life
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1.5 cups
Homemade blackberry jam or raspberry jam without pectin.
Ingredients
- 2 cups crushed blackberries or raspberries (I crush mine by putting all the berries inside a cup/bowl and smooshing them with a spoon)
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- In a small pan cook blackberries, sugar, and lemon juice on high heat for 5 minutes and reduce to medium heat and cook an additional 10-12 minutes. Skim the foam off and store in a heat-proof container. The jam will thicken as it cools.
I have a love-hate relationship with wild Himalayan blackberries. I love their luscious dark tender berries, but I hate their thorny invasive brambles taking over my yard. This morning my kids and their best friend made it their mission to pick as many plump juicy blackberries they could in our back yard. After eating handful after handful, they brought in just over two cups of berries.
When I asked what they wanted to make with them, they both said blackberry jam. So blackberry jam it is. This recipe uses no pectin and unless properly preserved, should be eaten within a week. Raspberries can easily be substituted for blackberries and the recipe itself is very easy. Just remember the number 2. I hope you enjoy the harvest of this late summer season.
*To make seedless jam, strain the berries in a medium mesh sieve before cooking.
Cindy says
To get rid of the foam on your jams, simply add a piece of butter (not margarine) about the size of a walnut to your boiling jam mixture about 10 minutes before it’s fi nished cooking.
Lisa Thomas says
We recently moved to the Pacific Northwest, and have tons of Himalayan Blackberries by out house. I picked two pounds in about 15 mins! I followed your recipe exactly, and oh my…. Best jam ever. Thank you!!!! Now you make some fresh 😁bread to go with it
Eric says
Loved it! I also reduced the sugar, but ended a teaspoon of vanilla…smelled and tasted like heaven! Thank you for sharing this great recipe.
Eric says
Loved it! I also reduced the sugar, but ended a teaspoon of vanilla…smelled and tasted like heaven! Thank you for sharing this great recipe.
Alice Currah says
Thanks for sharing Daver!
Daver says
A follow-up to my post. I also got creative with the foam i scooped off. I add it to a partial pitcher of lemonade. So don’t just discard all that flavor.
Daver says
I have never made jam before and this one was so easy. I too like others cut back on the sugar. I mixed my logan berries and raspberry together and added like and lemon juice. It turned out so yummy 😋
Gena says
Perfect just like it is, i never go into a recipe that someone has taken the time and heart to post, then criticize it saying it has “too much sugar” this is actually a very old recipe used for generations….if you cant appreciate it like it is move along to another page…i for one appreciate it being here!
Jeanne Monroe says
I thought it sounded way too sweet! The berries are sweet on their own, so I chose to only add just over 1/2 the amount of sugar, and used 1 whole lemon, I was worried that it wasn’t going to thicken up, but it did!! I also had a lot of berries, my husband had picked 12 cups this morning so I had to quadruple? 5X’s the amounts of sugar and then adjust that to lessen the sweetness, I ended up adding 7 cups of sugar, 4 were white refined and 3 were raw sugar, bc that is what I had… and the whole lemon just seemed right, anyway, cooked for an hour, simmering gently, scimmed off most of the foam, what is that anyway? Would it be bad?
All in all it all turned out great! Those 12 cups of berries turned into 8 cups of liquid, and we ended up with 5- 6 oz. jars and 2-12 oz. jars. Thanks for your help!!
Jessica Haywood says
I made this and added some of my homemade lavender extract,lime juice instead of lemon, and it’s beyond delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Marilynn says
I made it with just 3/4 of a cup of sugar and it was amazing! Oh and I put a little more lemon juice, oops! But it was fine! My husband loved it because it wasn’t too sweet, and it’s not runny at all. Oh and I cooked it at medium heat not at high heat, and then 5 minute later downed the heat at medium low, with the same time and it turned out very well. I’m enjoying it on my pancakes! Yumm!!!
Judy osborne says
Hi from Judy, tried this and it was great. Removed the seeds and was worried but followed the cooking directions. Was Wonderful!
Erin says
Thanks for the recipe! Made this raspberry and blackberry jam last night. With raspberries, perfect flavor. With blackberries, it was a little too sweet, so I cut a third of the sugar for the second batch and it turned out perfectly. Thanks again!
Shamim says
I was afraid of the jam getting too thick too. I simply reduced the cooking on medium heat time to 11 minutes. And the jam turned out great. I also reduced the sugar to just a little more tha half (and used more fruit and again it tasted perfect for how sweet we like our jams. Great recipe. Thank you, Alice.
r says
never made jam before. easy recipe and it’s dandy! thx!
Gloria says
It’s runny … I followed the recipe exactly as written. I thought that having it sit in the fridge over night would help, it didn’t.
Also it’s very sweet, even for a jam :/.
Maree. Toyne says
I’m a cook and I’ve made lots if BlackBerry jam over the years and this is the best one I have ever made PERFECT
Alice Currah says
Hi Megan,
You will need to reduce the cooking time by 5-8 minutes. As the jam cools, it will get thicker. If the jam is cooked for too long, the sugar in the jam will turn it into candy.
Megan says
I loved making this & even tried a little before I put it in the jar…my question is – is it to be refrigerated when done?? I did it to mine & it is as solid as a rock 🙁 I had no trouble when cooking and I thought everything was right…can you advise/help – I would like to make again. Thank you
Brenda says
Thank you so much for this recipe 🙂 My Daughter age 7 and I are spending a girls day. We picked a bunch of blackberries and set out to make some goodies. We decided jam was on our to-do list. My daughter had no trouble reading and following the directions and both batches she prepared turned out really good.
Amy says
Keith, be kind. Those are completely unnecessary comments. Jam is about experimentation. Sometimes we get it right and other times not so much, don’t give up!
Julie says
Kimberly,
I’m going to try this jam. And freeze it. I freeze all my jams (one day I may learn to can). I can’t see any reason you couldn’t freeze any jam recipe (just be sure to leave enough head space so you don’t crack your jar!).
Kimberly says
Alice, can you freeze this jam? Or do you need a different recipe for freezer jam? Will have berries coming out my ears in 2 weeks here. Thanks! It looks amazing!!
Candice says
I must’ve done something wrong. I followed the directions and when I was on the last fifteen minutes I noticed it was getting very sick and then I smelled what smelled like burning. I stopped cooking it five minutes early and tried some on a piece of bread and it was like glue. I couldn’t chew it up and had a hard time getting it off of my teeth.
keith says
The sugar is theonly way to make it thick go ahead alter the recipe when u got runny jam that makes a mess don’t say the recipe was bad when its the cook who can’t follow directions a 6 Yr old can