I’m a huge fan of freezer jam. It’s quick and easy to make (no boiling of jars!), and the taste beats the pants off any jam on the grocery store shelf. Because the fruit is not cooked, the jam has a much fresher flavor. It’s also a very fun way to preserve a little of summer’s yumminess. What a treat it is to spread last summer’s jeweled jam onto a toasted English muffin or warm waffle on a cold January morning.
This was the first time I’ve made Raspberry Blackberry Freezer Jam. I have been alternating batches of raspberry jam and strawberry jam for a number of years, but wanted to try a combo of fruit this time around. I just use the recipes provided inside the box of Sure-Jell pectin, and of course, I couldn’t choose only one. I decided to try raspberry blackberry jam and strawberry blueberry jam.
We have a pretty good sized raspberry patch in our garden, producing 3 to 4 quarts of berries daily during peak picking. It takes a bit of creativity to use up that many raspberries every day! We eat plenty of berries straight-up, include them in desserts, and give them away to friends and neighbors. And making jam is a great way to not let a single raspberry go to waste.
This really is so easy. Preparing a batch of freezer jam takes less than an hour. My 8-year-old daughter was in the kitchen with me during these batches, and she did most of the measuring, stirring, and final filling of jars.
We were jammin’. 
Anywhooooo…
The strawberry blueberry jam turned out tasting very good, with plenty of fresh fruit flavor. But the blueberries produce a jam that is not quite as pretty to look at. The crushing of blueberries gives the jam a somewhat muddled appearance, not the bright jeweled effect that strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries give. It surely didn’t bother my husband, though. It tasted good, and that’s all he cared about.
The raspberry blackberry jam, however, was extraordinary. It was not only spectacularly beautiful, it was scrumptious. We’ve already consumed a good amount of our supply, spreading it on waffles over the weekend. It was good fuel for walking through our town’s 4th of July parade! And we also picked up more Sure-Jell. With all the berries waiting to be picked, a couple more batches of raspberry blackberry jam are definitely on this week’s agenda.
I highly recommend grabbing your favorite summer fruits and a bag of sugar. Don’t let summer slip away without putting a little bit of it in your freezer. You’ll thank me come January.
If you like to share your jam, like I do, here’s a link to some very fun (and very free!) jam labels from Andrea at Simple Organized Living. Andrea’s post links to Kristen at Domestifluff, where you can download the printables.
Raspberry Blackberry Freezer Jam
(print recipe)
2 c. crushed raspberries
1 c. crushed blackberries
5-1/4 c. sugar
1 box Sure-Jell pectin
3/4 c. water
Special equipment: plastic containers (1 to 2 cup size) with tight fitting lids for freezing, or glass jars for any jam you want to refrigerate and consume within a month
Before you start – important things to know:
* Use firm perfectly ripe fruit for best flavor and set. Inferior fruit will produce inferior jam.
* Measure ingredients exactly. Altering recipes or ingredients could cause a set failure.
* Yes, these recipes do call for alot of sugar, but don’t alter the amount. If you want to use less sugar, look for Sure-Jell for Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes in the pink box.
* The finished product will not be as firm as a processed jam. It will be more loose, with a very spreadable consistency.
* Because this jam is not cooked, it must be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. It will be good for about a month in the refrigerator, so store your jam in smaller containers that will be used up faster. Keep one jar in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer for later.
Prepare berries by crushing with a potato masher or rigid pastry blender. If using a food processor, pulse to very finely chop. Do NOT puree! The jam should have little bits of fruit. Measure exact amount of prepared berries into a large bowl.
Measure the exact amount of sugar and stir into berries. Mix well. Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir 1 box pectin and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Pectin may start out lumpy. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
Stir pectin mixture into berries. Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy, about 3 minutes.
Pour into prepared containers, leaving 1/2″ space at top for expansion during freezing; cover.
Let stand at room temperature 24 hours until set. Refrigerate up to 1 month. Otherwise, store in freezer for up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator.
Yield: 7 cups
Source: adapted from Sure-Jell pectin package instructions
Your pictures are so amazing! And I am sure the jam is too. Good to see Hatti being a helper.
Mom & Angela – thank you! (And you’ll be getting some, I promise!)
Cheryl – I’m looking forward to HAVING YOU at my breakfast table – SOON!!!
Ditto on the AMAZING photos! Impressed with the book recommendation links too. Good stuff. So much good stuff!
I am looking forward to breakfast at your table!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m so happy that you posted this. I’ve never made home-made jam and now I think I’m going to try. Great photos and I love your daughter’s *funky* polished finger nails
Paula – thanks! If you’ve never made jam, this is definitely where to start. It’s quick gratification.
Wanted you to know I made this jam and it was delicious, so pretty. Thank you. I too go to Afton to get some of our fruit.
Hi Diane! Thanks so much for letting me know! We made a couple more batches last night. I’ve fallen for this jam, and don’t want to live without it!
That sounds easy enough for even me to do.
Brenda, is the strawberry blueberry jam the same proportions? I know it’s not as pretty, but I’ve got the ingredients!
Hi Stephanie! Not as sparkly pretty, but still very, very yummy, and worth your time. The Sure-Jell recipe calls for 1-1/2 c. crushed strawberries and 1 c. chopped blueberries, with 4-1/2 c. sugar. The prep is the same. Enjoy!!
Hi! I just made this tonite & the flavor was fabulous! I can’t wait to spread it on a bagel with schmear in the morning. The only problem I had with the recipe, was getting the sugar to dissolve fully. I ended up taking a bit of the pectin/berry mixture out of the bowl that I was using & microwaving it into a hot lava consistency & dumping it back into the main bowl to get all the sugar to dissolve. Good recipe, though other sites that I’ve checked use the same amount of berries & pectin, but use 3c of sugar.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for your comment. I’ve read different info on getting the sugar to fully dissolve, as I had that happen with a strawberry/blueberry batch. From what I found, as long as the majority of the sugar is dissolved, you will be fine. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your bagel in the morning!
Just made a batch of raspberry jam myself this weekend…after I got a flat from the St. Paul farmer’s market on Saturday morn. I have bookmarked your site and visit you regularly…Angela does a pretty good job of highlighting new entries on her fb page! You have a gift for creating beautiful pics of delish food! And I love the personal connections that you include in your descriptions. Though I only met you once, I feel as though I know you through your blog! Keep on cooking Girl!
Hi Sara – so very nice to hear from you! We really should get on Angela to get us together again! Our raspberries are winding down now, otherwise I’d tell you to come pick some for more jam. Thanks for letting me know you’re enjoying my dabbles!
thanks for the great pics and instructions!!
Just made some blackberry jam… love the idea of mixing berries. Next time I can get some assorted berries…
Gláucia recently posted..gigantic proportions
I have made your yeast waffles and raspberry-blackberry jam. They were wonderful.
I noticed the jam in glass jars. What about glass and the freezer? Any problems with the glass breaking?
Hi Debbie – you definitely should use plastic for freezing. If you look in the recipe, you’ll see, “Special equipment: plastic containers (1 to 2 cup size) with tight fitting lids for freezing, or glass jars for any jam you want to refrigerate and consume within a month”.
I made a year’s worth of strawberry freezer jam yesterday, but now I want to make this one! It sounds delish. I have been using 250ml size glass canning jars for my freezer jam for years. They work fine and won’t crack in the freezer. I defrost them in the fridge overnight before using the jam.
This year I switched back to using larger plastic containers because we go through the jam so quickly and the containers were 20 cents each from the bulk food section of the grocery store. Can’t beat the price!
Hi Helen! I just made a couple batches of strawberry freezer jam with my daughter today, but we were both talking about last year’s raspberry blackberry jam. We will definitely be making some more of that when our raspberries ripen – it’s extra special and we don’t have any of last year’s batch left!! Nice to hear from you – thanks!
Hello! Thank you so much for putting this recipe on your blog. I made this jam with my 9 year old son last week and it turned out perfectly. It is so pretty and delicious too! Thanks again!
That’s wonderful – thanks for letting me know, Brandy. Our raspberries are just getting going here, so I know we’ll be making another batch soon. The last batch went fast!
I have been wanting to try this combo in a freezer jam. My friend & I made Strawberry last year but i ♥ blackberries & raspberries! Do you know if you can freeze the fruit & make the jam at a later time. Where i get my berries the blackberries come in before the raspberries. Thank you for posting the recipe!
Hello Darla – I have read that you can use frozen fruit, but I have not actually done that myself. If you give it a try, I would love to know how it goes for you!
Hi…..was wondering if u have a recipe using apricots??? Thinking of making apricot ..pineapple….:) and maybe peach….would the measurements be the same as the straeberry and or the raspberry blackberry?:)
Hi Cindi! I’m sorry to say I don’t have an apricot jam recipe, but my friend Wenderly just posted one and it looks delicious! Here’s the link: http://wenderly.com/2011/07/28/the-joy-of-apricot-jam/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Wenderly+%28Wenderly%29