What time is it? It is BLACKBERRY HARVEST TIME. If I had to pick a favorite fruit it would be blackberries. Wild or Tame they are delicious.

Here at the Farmhouse, we are thick in the middle of blackberry season. We have a patch along our tree line in the back yard that is young and is producing but not enough for canning and eating as many as we like. Plus I have to get the berries before the birds and wild turkeys beat me to them. Not kidding!

So until they are mature enough to produce more, I buy blackberries from our local farmers to make our blackberry jam, syrup, and pies for the season.

Click here for the Simple Blackberry Syrup recipe and you might also like my Blackberry Cobbler Recipe.

Now on to the blackberry jam recipe and canning process:

If you want to skip to the recipe and directions scroll down to the bottom for a printable recipe or enjoy the photos and steps continue on.

Rinse Blackberries

Gently rinse a quart of berries at a time. It will take 3 quarts or 11 cups of berries to make this recipe of 6 pints of jam. I do not recommend doing more than 6 pints at a time. The smaller batch works well because anything larger and your jam will start setting up before you can get all the jam in the jars.

Sterilizing the jars

Prep your jars and rings by adding to your large canner pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. You can let these heat up and boil while you are working on the berries.

Cooking the berries

Add 3 quarts of berries to a large cooking pot. Turn on heat to high. Smash with a potato masher until berries are mashed. Berries will break up even more while cooking.

Add butter (optional this helps with foaming), sugar and pectin. Bring to a boil. Stirring frequently.

Once your mixture reaches a boil, boil for an additional 15 minutes or until the plate test shows that your jam is setting up.

This is the plate test. See how the jam is firming up. Here is how you do the plate test. Take a 1/2 teaspoon of the boiling jam and put in a small bowl or plate. Put in freezer. After 2 minutes or so the jam should be firm. If not continue to boil and re-test in a few minutes.

Filling the jam jars

Fill your pint jars or 1/2 pint with your jam. Using a funnel makes the process a lot smoother.

After the jars are filled with the blackberry jam, wipe the jar opening with a wet paper towel to remove any jam so that you will get a good seal.

Put your lid seal that has been soaking in hot water on the jar, put on the ring and tighten.

Canning Process

Add all the 6 pints to your large cooking pot. Add water to the canner, enough that the water is 1″ above the top of the jars. Bring to a boil. Once the jars start boiling, start your timer and boil for 5 minutes.

After boiling for 5 minutes. Turn off canner and let cool for 5 – 10 minutes. Jars will be very hot so take precautions. I have a canning jar lifter that works very well. Remove jars from canner to cloth-covered counter.

After jars have cooled check that all jars have sealed. To do this push down on the middle of the lids and if it does not give it is sealed and ready to be stored away. If one doesn’t seal you can refrigerate and use as you normally would.

There you have it. Now you have jam to enjoy all year long or you could give away as gifts.

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