I Made Jam!

This post is sponsored by Ball® Fresh Preserving Products by Newell Brands, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The other day I did something totally new and out of my comfort zone. I made jam! From scratch! Say what? I am officially a domestic goddess now I guess! And want to know the best part? It was easy! And the results were SO good!

I always thought of canning as a time consuming past time…but I was so wrong. Once you get the supplies and figure out what you are doing, it’s really simple. And totally worth the effort because the jam I made turned out so amazing.

We’ve already gone through one jar and packaged two up as gifts….which means it’s time for me to make some more soon!

We always have a lot of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries in our house in the summer because they are our favorite snack! So I decided to make Ball’s special recipe for Mixed Berry Jam!

I love using fresh ingredients to make something yummy for my family.

I recruited Hudson and Sadie to help me make the jam and they were all about it! Well….Sadie was all about eating the berries and Hudson was all about breaking in all of the canning supplies (we used these utensils to make things really easy!)

For my first try at canning, Ball’s recipe for Mixed Berry Jam was perfect. Simple, easy, and fun! This recipe makes about six 8 oz jars of jam.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ball Glass Mason Jars
Water Bath Canner
Utensil Kit
4 cups crushed berries (mix and match your favorites! I used strawberries, blue berries, and raspberries)
4 ½ tbsp. Ball RealFruit Classic Pectin
3 cups sugar

1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready to use.

2. Smash your berries with a potato masher for best results, I didn’t have one handy so I used our blender. This was Hudson’s favorite part! You’ll need 4 cups of crushed berries.

3. Combine crushed berries in an 8-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that can’t be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.

4. Add entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam, if necessary.

5. Ladle hot jam into a hot jar leaving a ¼ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim and center lid on jar and apply band, adjust to fingertip tight. Repeat until all jars are filled.

6. Place jars in boiling water canner. Process jars 10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove lid, let jars stand 5 minutes. Then remove jars and cool 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal, they should not flex when center is pressed.

And that’s it! It sounds a little complicated but it really is simple once you get the hang of it. I was so proud of myself for doing it! And the jam turned out so good….I’ll never buy it from the store again! Small-batch canning can be such a huge time and money saver. I’m already thinking of other things to can….and ways I can make jam to use for gifts! Canning is addictive!

Next on my list of things to can are apple butter and peach jam. And then I want to try my hand at tomato sauce. See that I mean about canning being addicting? You can find Ball’s selection of glass mason jars here and learn all about how you can start canning too, here. Once you get started you’ll discover all types of fun recipes to try! Check out this book of fun recipes here (also found at Walmart, Target, and Amazon).

I love making and preserving our own food using fresh ingredients. It makes me feel like I’m doing something helpful and useful for my family. Have you made jam before? What’s your favorite recipe?