Delicious blueberry syrup made with Pomona pectin.
You can make this with sugar, or honey, or, you can make it sugar-free.
You can also make this with frozen blueberries.
The recipe
Jar size choices: 125 ml (½ cup / 4 oz) OR quarter-litre (½ US pint / 250 ml / 8 oz)
Processing method: Water bath or steam canning
Yield: 4 x quarter-litre (½ US pint) jars
Headspace: 1 cm (¼ inch)
Processing time: 10 minutes. Adjust time for altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet.
Blueberry Syrup (Pomona)
Ingredients
- 1 kg blueberries (2 ½ lbs / 9 cups)
- 2 teaspoons calcium water
- 1 teaspoon Pomona pectin powder
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 200 g sugar (white. 1 cup / 8 oz OR 125 ml (½ cup / 4 oz) honey OR 1 teaspoon liquid stevia)
Instructions
- Wash and stem blueberries.
- Mash the blueberries a layer at a time in something like a pie plate using something like a potato masher.
- Add to a large pot.
- Add the calcium water to the pot.
- Put on burner to start coming to a boil.
- Meanwhile, put the pectin powder in a bowl. Mix in the sugar, if using sugar. Then whisk in the lemon juice all at once (along with the liquid stevia, if using instead of sugar. If using honey, mix the lemon juice and honey first, then whisk into pectin powder.) Set aside.
- When blueberries have come to a full boil, stir in the lemon juice mixture a dollop at a time.
- Bring back to a boil, if necessary, and then let boil for another minute.
- Remove from heat.
- Ladle into 125 ml (4 oz) or quarter-litre (½ US pint / 8 oz) jars.
- Leave 1 cm (¼ inch) headspace.
- Debubble, adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Process in a water bath or steam canner.
- Process either size jars for 10 minutes; increase time as needed for your altitude.
Nutrition
Reference information
How to water bath process.
How to steam can.
When water-bath canning or steam canning, you must adjust the processing time for your altitude.
For stevia, Better Stevia liquid stevia was the stevia used.
Information about Pomona pectin.
More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.
What is the shelf life of home canned goods?
Recipe notes
- If using frozen blueberries, measuring before thawing. Then thaw them either on the counter or in the microwave (zap from frozen for 4 to 5 minutes.) Don’t drain any juice off; mash that back into the berries.
- Mash the fruit by hand for best results. Using a machine will damage the natural pectin in the fruit.
- If you want a smoother syrup, press mashed fruit through a sieve and use just the juice.
- Pomona pectin comes with a small pouch of powdered calcium for you to mix with water to make calcium water.
- The pectin powder will clump if you just mix it straight into the fruit; that’s why you mix it with something first.
- If you are using liquid stevia, how much you will need will depend on the tastes of your crowd and how sweet / tart that particular batch of blueberries was.
- To use alternative sweeteners such as Splenda, agave, etc, contact Pomona directly to inquire about amounts they would suggest and how to incorporate. It’s almost certainly possible.
Usage suggestions
Drizzle this over anything you would normally put a syrup on.
Or, put some into a measuring cup, and mix in some vinegar (of your choice) to make a fruit vinaigrette for a salad.
Recipe Source
Source: Duffy, Allison Carroll. Preserving with Pomona’s Pectin. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press. 2013. Page 47.
Sumberg, Mary Lou. Fruit Syrup. Blog post 2 April 2014. Accessed October 2016.
Developed following Pomona Fruit Syrup guidelines with the direct kind assistance of Connie Sumberg.
Modifications made:
- None. Slightly redid pectin powder process to accommodate stevia in liquid form.
Nutrition information
With sugar
Per 2 tablespoons:
- 42 calories, 6 mg sodium
With honey
Per 2 tablespoons:
- 36 calories, 6 mg sodium
Sugar-free version
Per 2 tablespoons:
- 19 calories, 6 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 2 tablespoons: 0 points, 3 to 6 tablespoons: 1 point; 7 to 10 tablespoons: 2 points.
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.
Shirley Monroe
Will using frozen blueberries in place of fresh affect the PH of my final product and make the sauce more thinner? I’m making a blueberry sauce and blueberries are out of season? Thank You
Healthy Canning
You are fine. It won’t affect the pH of your final product. Measure the blueberries from frozen, and use from frozen.