Spiced Blueberry Jam

Spiced blueberry jam

This recipe for home-canned blueberry jam adds a few simple spices to bring out the natural hints of spice already present in blueberries.

You can make this with sugar, or honey, or, you can make it sugar-free.

See here for a plain version of this blueberry jam.

The recipe

Jar size choices: Either 125 ml sampler size (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

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Spiced Blueberry Jam

Yield: 4 x quarter-litre jars (½ US pint / 8 oz / 125 ml)

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Blueberries, Jam

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4 quarter-litre jars (½ US pint / 8 oz)

Calories 19kcal

Metric - US Customary

Ingredients

• 1 kg blueberries (2 ½ lbs / 9 cups)
• ¼ tsp allspice (ground)
• ¼ tsp cardamom (ground)
• ¼ tsp cinnamon (ground)
• ¼ tsp cloves (ground)
• 2 teaspoons calcium water (see notes)
• 2 teaspoons Pomona pectin
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice (bottled)
• 200 g sugar (white. 1 cup / 8 oz) OR 125 ml honey (½ cup / 4 oz) OR 1 teaspoon liquid stevia

Metric - US Customary

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, along with the spices.
• Add the calcium water to the pot.
• Put on burner to start coming to a boil.
• Meanwhile in a bowl whisk together the pectin powder and the lemon juice, adding the lemon juice all at once to the powder and stirring it quickly. 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.
• Stir in the stevia. Taste. Add a bit more if desired.
• 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

Serving: 2g | Calories: 19kcal | Carbohydrates: 4.7g | Protein: 0.3g | Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 6mg | Fiber: 0.9g | Sugar: 3.1g

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, 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.
• You can vary how much you use of each spice, even using 1 teaspoon of all just one of the spices, but Pomona advises not to go over 1 teaspoon in total. It would probably be too strong-taste otherwise.
• 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 stevia you need will depend on the tastes of your crowd and how sweet / tart that particular batch of fruit was. Try the indicated amount first, then if you want sweeter add ½ teaspoon at a time.
• To use alternative sweeteners such as honey, Splenda, agave, etc, contact Pomona directly to inquire about amounts they would suggest and how to incorporate. It’s almost certainly possible.

Recipe source

Source: Duffy, Allison Carroll. Preserving with Pomona’s Pectin. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press. 2013. Page 47.

Modifications made:

• None. Slightly redid pectin powder process to accommodate stevia in liquid form.

Nutrition information

Per 2 tablespoons, this is 42 calories when made with sugar, 36 calories with honey and 19 calories when made sugar-free.

With sugar

Per 2 tablespoons:

• 42 calories, 6 mg sodium

With honey

Per 2 tablespoons:

• 36 calories, 6 mg sodium

Sugar-free version with liquid stevia

Per 2 tablespoons:

• 19 calories, 6 mg sodium

* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com

* Better Stevia ® is a registered trademark of the NOW Foods Company.