Canning blueberries

Home canned blueberries, many people feel, taste better than frozen. They taste as if they were just picked.

They are great over yoghurt or ice cream; you can also use in pie fillings, cobbles, crumbles, or in other baking.

These directions walk you through the tested procedure for blueberries from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning for the highest quality and safety.

See also: Drying blueberries

Quantities of blueberries needed

Numbers are approximate guidelines.

On average, as a very rough guideline, expect to need per jar:

• about 175 g (½ lb) of blueberries per ¼ litre (½ US pint) jar of canned blueberries;
• about 375 g ( ¾ lb) of blueberries per ½ litre (US pint) jar of canned blueberries;
• about 750 g (1 ¾ lbs) of blueberries per 1 litre (US quart) jar of canned blueberries.

On a larger scale:

• 5 ½ kg kg (12 lb) of blueberries = 7 litres (US quarts) canned blueberries
• 3 ½ kg (8 lbs ) of blueberries = 9 x ½ litres (US pints) canned blueberries
• 1 x 24 quart crate blueberries = 16 kg (36 lbs) = 18 to 24 litres (US quarts) canned blueberries

1 litre (US quart) whole, fresh blueberries = 750 g (1 ½ lbs), whole fresh

4 litres (US quarts) fresh blueberries = 3 litres (US quarts), blanched for 30 seconds

1 litre (US quart) blanched blueberries = 1 kg (2 ¼ lbs) of blanched berries

The recipe

Jar size choices: Quarter-litre (½ US pint) OR half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart)

Processing method: Water bath or steam canning

Yield: varies

Headspace: 2 cm (½ inch)

Processing time: 15 minutes (all jar sizes)

Print

Canning blueberries

A walk-through of the USDA directions for home-canning blueberries. You may can them with or without sugar.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Blueberries

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 1 varies

Calories 143kcal

Author Randal Oulton

Ingredients

• blueberries
• water

Instructions

• Wash berries in batches of 1 or 2 litres (quarts) at a time.
• Drain, and get any stems off.
• Have a pan of water boiling.
• Add the berries in small batches at a time so that the water will come back to the boil quickly.
• Let the berries boil for 30 seconds, then fish out of pot immediately with slotted spoon or sieve.
• Repeat until all berries are blanched.
• Divvy berries out amongst jars, leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
• Divvy blanching juice out amongst jars, leaving 2 cm (½ inch) headspace.
• If short of canning liquid, top jars up with boiling water from a kettle.
• Debubble, top up with more liquid as required to retain headspace.
• Wipe jar rims.
• Put lids on.
• Process jars in a water bath or steam canner for 15 minutes (all jar sizes); increase time as needed for your altitude.

Notes

[Optional] Per ¼ litre (½ US pint) jar, ⅛th teaspoon liquid stevia. Per ½ litre (US pint), ¼ teaspoon liquid stevia. Per 1 litre (US quart) jar, ½ teaspoon liquid stevia.

Start out with only a small amount of blanching water, just enough to cover the berries, because as you blanch the berries they will release juice and the amount of liquid will increase. That way, you end up with purer and less watered-down juice to use for packing the berries in.

The small ¼ litre (1 cup / ½ US pint / 8 oz) jars are handy for baking; you may wish to can some of those at least unsweetened for maximum flexibility when you go to use them.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 143kcal | Carbohydrates: 36.2g | Protein: 1.9g | Fat: 0.9g | Sodium: 2mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 24.8g

The USDA also gives pressure-canning and raw-pack alternatives for canning blueberries.

By the time, though, that you heat and vent a pressure canner, run it and then cool it down, it would take longer than simple steam canning.

Also note that for sugar-free canning of fruit, raw packs are not generally advised.

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.

More information about Sugar and Salt-Free Canning in general.

What is the shelf life of home canned goods?

Recipe source

Berries – Whole. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture information bulletin No. 539. 2015. Page 2-10.

Modifications: none.

Notes

After canning and cooling, small white rings may sometimes be visible on the berries. This is natural! It’s natural wax on the skin of the blueberries — it melted during the heat of canning, and reformed as small rings or dots. ^[1]Blakeslee, Karen. White Spots on Home Canned Blueberries. Kansas State Extension Service. December 2020 Newsletter. Accessed May 2021 at https://enewsletters.k-state.edu/youaskedit/2020/11/13/white-spots-on-home-canned-blueberries

Nutrition information

Serving size: ¼ litre (1 cup / 8 oz / 250 ml)

Per ¼ litre (1 cup / 8 oz / 250 ml): 143 calories, 2 mg sodium

Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: Per ¼ litre (1 cup / 8 oz / 250 ml): 4 points (while fresh blueberries are 0 on Weight Watchers, processed ones may not be.)

* 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.

Cooking with canning

Add a jar of canned blueberries to a jar of your home canned blueberry pie filling at time of usage, for a fruitier pie.