Triple Berry Jam

My mother in law generously gifted me with tons of frozen berries over Thanksgiving weekend. And what's a girl to do with tons of berries? Why, make jam of course! I've only made jam one other time. (You can read about it here.) And let me just say it was the best Strawberry jam in the whole entire world! (In my humble opinion.) 

Anyway, I was scared to attempt jam again since our first batch turned out so wonderfully, but in the spirit of adventure I decided to give it a go. 

I became so absorbed in the jam making process that I forgot to take step by step pictures. I apologize, but for anyone who's ever canned before (during nap time for that matter!!) you can understand how demanding it can be! That's my excuse anyway.

I used the Berry Jam recipe in the Ball Blue Book which called for berries and sugar only. I was a bit skeptical about using a pectin free recipe, but my jam seemed to set fine. I ended up cooking it for a good 30 minutes and decided it was done using the plate test. (Place a blob of jam on a plate and place it in the freezer until it comes to room temp. Swipe your finger through the jam and it should separate completely and come back together slowly.)

I doubled the recipe, which your not supposed to do because it can mess with the chemistry of the gelling process. Oops. Anyway, it turned out fine and the jam is delicious if I do say so myself!  Here's the recipe in case any of you wanna try it out.

Berry Jam

(blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, dewberry, gooseberry, loganberry, raspberry, youngberry)

Yield: about 3 pints

9 cups crushed berries

6 cups sugar

Combine berries and sugar in a large sauce pot. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly to gelling point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4" head space. Adjust two piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner. Note: If seedless jam is preferred, crushed berries may be heated until soft and pressed through a sieve or food mill; measure pulp and proceed as above. 

*I doubled the recipe which is not recommend and used 2 cups blueberries, 11 cups strawberries and 5 cups blackberries. 

*I processed the half pints for 10 minutes.

*I may or may not be giving these as gifts this year, so those of you who are family members forget you ever read this post. 

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