How to make mixed berry jam

- Lisa Fulk is a certified Master Food Preserver and owner of Sunshine Canning. She teaches canning classes in the local area at various venues and is available for private canning lessons. She can be found at sunshinecanning.com or facebook.com/sunshinecanning.

All photos by Emily Eppinger.

A couple of weeks ago, I taught a private canning class for a lovely group of women in Sarasota. Between the mimosas, the yummy snacks and the chitchat, we managed to cover the ins and outs of boiling water bath canning, making both a jam and dilly beans.

Now the easiest jam to teach at this time of year is obviously strawberry, but this group wanted something a little different, so I headed to the market to see what looked good. Wow---have you seen all of the beautiful fresh berries at the farm stands lately? I found gorgeous organic blueberries at a decent price and then came across some fresh blackberries as well. After a little experimenting in the kitchen, I had an easy mixed berry jam ready for the class.

While it’s a little more work than making jam from a single fruit, the results were well worth it. And really, homemade jam is just about the most lovely thing you can put in a jar! Whether you spread it on toast, give it as gifts or just admire a shelf of it in your kitchen (I know I can’t be the only one who does this!), knowing how to transform fruit into bright little jars of happiness is a great skill to have. If you’d like to learn more about hosting a private class, get in touch and we’ll see what we can set up. It’s truly a delightful way to spend a Saturday morning!

Mixed Berry Jam

• 6 cups prepared, crushed fruit (about 3 pints strawberries, 1 ½ pints blueberries, 1 pint blackberries)
• 4 ½ cups sugar
• 1 box of low or no-sugar pectin

1.    Sterilize canning jars and prepare two-piece canning lids according to manufacturer's directions.

2.    To prepare fruit: Sort and wash fully ripe berries; remove stems and caps. Crush strawberries until you have exactly 3 cups. Crush blueberries and blackberries until you have 1 ½ cups EACH.

3.    To make jam: Put fruit into a large pot. In a separate bowl, mix ¼ cup of the sugar with the pectin and add to fruit on stovetop. Place on high heat and, stirring constantly, bring quickly to a full boil with bubbles over the entire surface. Add remaining sugar, return to full boil, and boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim foam.

4.    Pour hot jam immediately into hot, sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids. Process in a Boiling Water Canner for 5 minutes.

Yield: About 8 half-pint jars

Helpful Tips:

*Always try to use the freshest fruit you can find. Canning does not improve decaying produce!

*Crush berries one layer at a time. I use a potato masher for this and it works great.

*Like most jams, this foams quite a bit during the cooking, so be sure to use a pot that is tall enough to accommodate the additional volume.