Mixed Berry Jam - Guest Post The Three Little Piglets

I have been out of the blog loop for a little while now.

With Christmas and then a post-Christmas vacation I am having a little trouble getting back on the blogging horse.

Luckily I have a fantastic guest post from Jen over at The Three Little Piglets.

Jen is a proud Navy wife, mother of Three Little Piglets, and culinary student.  She offers EASY, healthy, and budget friendly recipes, with step by step instructions, and Money Saving Tips to help you save on your grocery bill.

I always find her posts interesting and full of beautiful pictures, so it is my pleasure to hand this over to Jen:

Christmas has come and gone, and I don’t know about you, but I find myself needing to thank an awful lot of people!

I always prefer to gift something homemade as a simple way to say a heartfelt thank you.  This jam is the perfect way to do that, and its super simple too, even if you’ve never made jam before.  Especially if you’ve never made jam before.

You can use either fresh berries, which this time of year are not usually very fresh or affordable, or you can use frozen.  Any mixed frozen berry assortment will work, just thaw them completely first and use about 5 cups total. 

Once it’s finished cooking, you can either mash it with a potato masher or you can puree it in a blender, depending on how smooth you like your jam.

I’m gifting mine with a batch of Petite Vanilla Bean Scones without the glaze on them.  If you warm it back up, it also makes the perfect sauce to drizzle over your ice cream sundae as well.  Just saying…

Mixed Berry Jam

Yields: 4 - 8 oz. jars

2 cups strawberries

1 c. red raspberries

1 c. black raspberries

1 c. blueberries

1 tbs. lemon juice

1 c. sugar

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. pectin

Combine all the ingredients in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently until fruit is tender, 12-15 minutes.  Mash or puree to desired consistency.

Spoon jam into hot (definitely hot or they might crack) sterilized*, 8-oz. jam jars; screw lids on firmly. Like this the jam can be stored in the fridge up to 3 weeks or in the freezer up to 3 months.

If you want to store them longer you’ll need to vacuum seal them.  To seal them, don’t tighten the lids quite all the way. Almost, but not quite – you want that little bit of air to escape but no water to get in. Place hot jars into boiling water and heat for 6-7 minutes. You should hear them pop, but if not, they will pop as you remove them from the water and start to cool off. The lids should have a little indent in them. At this point, label them with the date, and they will last on the shelf up to 6 months.

*To sterilize your jars you can simply run them through a dishwasher or you can boil them in the water you plan to seal the jars in. Just be sure that once they are sterile, you don’t touch the inside of the jar or lid with your hand. This will add small amounts of bacteria which will grow inside the jar and ruin your jam.

Thanks for having me Rachel; it was such a pleasure to be asked.  Happy New Year and best wishes to you all!

Thank you Jen for proving this to us with all of the holiday rush!!  I hope you and all of my readers have had a wonderful New Year!

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