Easy Blueberry Jam
Author:Simple and delicious Blueberry Jam recipe made with just 4 ingredients: Blueberries (fresh or frozen), sugar, lemon, and vanilla. It's bright, sweet, bursting with blueberry flavour, and perfect for beginners with barely any prep, and no pectin or special equipment necessary.
Ingredients
- 9 cups (3lbs or 1360 grams) blueberries ,(fresh or frozen)
- 2½ cups (500 grams) granulated white or cane sugar
- 1 medium lemon , zest & juice
- 15ml (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put a clean side plate/saucer in the freezer before you begin making the jam.
- Add the blueberries and sugar to a large heavy-bottomed saucepan.
- Zest the lemon. Add it to the pan. You can either use a potato peeler to peel off strips or grate it finely. Strips are a little difficult to spot later if you want to remove them, but they become sweet and delicious, so I tend to leave mine in when I jar the jam.
- Cut the lemon in half and juice it. Add the juice to the pan.
- Put the lid on the pan, turn the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. The lid traps the steam, creating some liquid to get things going. Once it reaches a rolling boil, remove the lid and set a timer for 2 minutes. Keep it boiling very vigorously for those 2 minutes (important), then turn the heat down to a steady, gently bubbling simmer.
- Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes with the lid off, stirring every 10 minutes or so (not with a metal spoon), so it doesn’t catch. It’s important that it keeps simmering so the pectin is released from the blueberries. Boiling sugar is incredibly hot. Use caution when stirring the jam so you don't accidentally splatter it and don't use metal utensils.
- The jam should take approximately 35 minutes, but the cooking time will vary depending on your elevation, the pan used, and the heat applied to it. It's hard to tell if it's done just by looking at it, so I recommend testing the jam for the first time after about 30 minutes of cooking.
- To test it, remove the very cold plate from the freezer and spoon a small amount of hot jam onto it. Leave for a couple of minutes to cool, then swipe your finger through the middle of the jam on the plate. If it's ready, a clean track that does not fill back in will be created (see my picture in the post above). You'll also probably see some wrinkling on the surface of the jam. If it's not quite ready and the track fills in, rinse the plate and put it back in the freezer, then simmer the jam for another five minutes and test again. Repeat until it passes the test.
- Once ready, turn off the heat. If you used strips of lemon and want to remove them, do it now. Some might have dissolved.
- Add the vanilla and stir to combine, then ladle the jam very carefully while very hot into clean jars. Leave some space at the top of each jar (especially important if you are freezing or canning the jam). Allow to cool on the counter, then store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks, or in the freezer for up to a year (be sure to use freezer-safe jars). If you sterilize the jars before adding the hot jam, it will keep for about 3 months in the fridge.
NUTRITION
Serving: 1tablespoon | Calories: 35kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 0.1g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 0.3mg | Potassium: 16mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 10IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 0.1mg
