I have never made blueberry jam before but I’m thrilled to bring you my Simple Blueberry Jam recipe today after a freak bargain find at the weekend! I managed to find 4 trays of blueberries priced up at £3 each for 3p each, there was a whole crate that were on their sell by date. We ate one tray but the rest were destined for jam, although I did have to throw away just over a third of the remainder as they were soft and over ripe which is not good for eating or jam making. However, I’m really not complaining at that price, I’ve never seen blueberries so cheap nor so many of them reduced before!
I can’t remember the last time I had blueberry jam but I have never had home-made and I can’t tell you how amazing this Simple Blueberry Jam is, the depth of flavour is incredible totally delicious. I was reading about the pros and cons of pectin use in jam the other day and the point was made that although by using pectin you achieve a shorter cooking time and a slightly higher yield, you don’t get the intensity of flavour that you get with a longer cooking time where more moisture is evaporated away. I had never really thought about this before as I never use pectin or jam sugar in my recipes (well apart from my first ever jam where I used jam sugar but I didn’t like the stiff texture and looking back the flavour was not a patch on my One Punnet Strawberry Jam which just uses lemon juice to aid the setting.
Blueberries are naturally low in pectin so apart from using only the firmest just ripe or slightly under ripe fruits you need to add pectin or lemon juice which aids the gelling process by interacting with the sugar. If you’ve never made jam before it’s never too late to learn, I only started making jam in the last 4 years and just got hooked. The important things are to sterilise your jars, freeze some saucer for testing and always stir your jam or you will burn it to the bottom or your pan. If you get the set too runny you can always pour back your jam and boil it up again until it reaches setting point (you get better as judging this as time goes on but I’ve only ever got it wrong once as I like a soft set jam but I pushed the boundary a bit far that time).
If you grow your own blueberries or ever see a bargain like mine then I do hope you try my Simple Blueberry Jam which makes one good sized jar but you can always scale the recipe up to make more if you have more!
Simple Blueberry Jam - no pectin, just 3 ingredients!
Ingredients
- 600 g firm blueberries stalks and mushy ones removed
- 400 g granulated sugar
- 1 tblsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash the blueberries in a colander.
- Put the blueberries, sugar and lemon juice into a preserving pan.
- Place the pan over a gentle heat to slowly dissolve the sugar crystals, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time.
- As the sugar starts to melt and the fruit warms up, take a potato masher to mash the blueberries, leaving some whole if desired.
- Once the sugar has completely dissolved turn up the heat and bring the pan to a rolling boil and time for 15 minutes, stirring all the while (to prevent the sugar burning on the base).
- Take the pan off the heat and test a few drops of the jam on a frozen saucer and place in the fridge for a minute. If when you push your finger through it the jam forms a crinkle and is gel like then it’s ready. Otherwise boil for another couple of minutes and repeat process until ready.
- Pot up the jam in a sterilised hot jar using a small ladle or jam funnel.
- Screw on lid.
Recipe Notes
Put 2 saucers in the freezer before you start.
Sterilise 1 x 450 ml jar by washing in hot soapy water or take straight from dishwasher, filling with boiling water, emptying and then placing in oven for 20 minutes at 140°C then leave in oven until jam is ready. Washed lids should be sterilised with boiling water and then left to drain.
For more inspiration with what to do with a glut of blueberries you might like these recipes:
Apple & Blueberry Tarte Tatin – Fab Food 4 All
Blueberry & Banana Pancakes – Fab Food 4 All
Fresh Blueberry Flapjacks – Tinned Tomatoes
Blueberry Banana Buckwheat Layer Cake – Domestic Gothess
Blueberry & Blood Orange Smoothie – Recipes from a Pantry
Blueberry & Rose Almond Bars – Tin & Thyme
Blueberry Custard Ice Cream – Kavey Eats
Blueberry Brioche – Patisserie Makes Perfect
Blueberry Orange Upside Down Cakes – Family Friends Food
Why not pin for later!
I was wondering if you could make this with Splenda instead of sugar since I am diabetic.
Hi Nancy, no the sugar is like a chemical compound which affects the flavour, set and long term keeping qualities. I know diabetic jams exist but I’m afraid I don’t know how to make them and artificial sweeteners are not something I use.
Apologies for doubting and contradicting your info but according to my google research (several sources) and my River cottage preserves book blueberries are medium – high in pectin and same for acidity. It decreases if they are over ripe or have been frozen. Pectin helps a jam to set and lemon juice or other acidic liquid helps release the natural pectin from pips, skin etc. The lemon juice itself does not contain pectin.
Having said this since I have a lot of homegrown blueberries I will be experimenting using your recipe as a starting point and trying different ratios of jam sugar to preserving sugar (rather than granulated as you suggest) to see what works best.
Will try to remember to let you know how I get on!
Hi Lindy, thanks for your heads up about the lemon juice, I’m afraid I got confused as lemons are high in pectin where it’s found mainly in the pith, seeds and skin but the lemon juice on its own isn’t but reacts with the sugar to form a gel. I’ve amended the copy now. With regard to pectin level of blueberries all my research on the internet said they were low in pectin like in the article in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/10/how-to-make-jam so I stick by that. You’re very lucky to have home grown blueberries, I once had a plant I bought by post but it never got established. I wish you well with your jam making even if you don’t want to try my fabulous recipe:-)
Do the jars need to be put in the fridge right away? How long will they store?
No, you only need to put in the fridge once opened. Jam is best eaten within about a year but can actually keep for years in a cool, dark place. I have a cupboard in my garage where I keep mine.
Oh and once open in the fridge, it’s best to eat within about 3 months:-)
I did it!!! I made vegan blueberry jam! My 2 bushes produced so many blueberries that I made a pie, a jar of jam and even ate some!! I used raw cane turbinado sugar for my vegan daughter!
Excellent Maria, so glad you achieved this:-)
Can you use frozen blueberries?
According to this article you can but I’d do it with fruit you picked and frozen yourself, rather than store bought frozen fruit, but it does say it’s best with fresh fruit. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/10/how-to-make-jam
Amazing pictures and totally drool worthy! Never made cherry jam before. Simply followed your cherry jam recipe and I must tell you that it turned out fabulous. What sets it apart is the simple no nonsense three ingredient recipe with nothing artificial in it. Thank you very much!
Hi Shobha, this is my Blueberry Jam post, the styling is similar LOL. Perhaps you’d like to leave this comment there for others to enjoy:-) Glad you liked it, maybe you could make this one next:-)
A few years ago, I made blueberry freezer jam but I’ve not heard of making jam this way! What a neat idea!
Thanks Anyonita:-)
As so many others have commented, your photographs show such amazing depth and richness of color. I too look forward to trying your recipe. Thanks so much. Sharing.
Aaw, thank you so much Kathryn:-)
This looks so delicious! I can just imagine spreading it on my crumpets for breakfast! I planted 2 blueberry trees last year so fingers crossed they provide me with enough fruit to give this a try.
Oh how lovely, I never had any success with a blueberry shrub I had once, well it was root send in the post really!