Monday, August 08, 2011

Making blueberry jam.

Last year I tried to make blueberry jam without pectin, well actually I mean without added pectin since they already have pectin in them. Anyway, it didn't set and I was disappointed by it. So this year I decided to give it a try with store bought pectin. My downstairs neighbor gave me a nice size bucket of blueberries after I sent down some green beans from our green bean harvest.


First I had to smash or squash or smoosh or crush the berries.





Then I put the jars in the canner to heat up while I cooked the jam.



It took a lot longer to reach the proper temp for the jam to set than I expected. I tried dipping a spoon in and watching the jam drip off to see if it was "sheeting". I don't even know what that really means LOL. And then I tried putting a little on a cold plate to see if it would thicken up enough in a minute or so.


One it finally got there I ladled it into jars and got them ready for the canner.




I put them in the canner for 5 minutes as the directions said. By this time the water in the water bath canner had been boiling for a couple of hours and I discovered that the steam was condensing on the ceiling when a big fat drop landed on my head. EEWW! It was a little gross, because there was a little build up of grease up there. But on the positive side my ceiling is clean now!

I then took the jars of beautiful blueberry jam out of the water bathe canner and set them on the counter to cool. It was so satisfying to hear the ping of the jar lids sealing.

Here are the finished jars all ready to go on the shelf.



It tastes wonderful too!