Pleasantly Tart Raspberry Jam
The Goldilocks of raspberry jam. Not too sweet, not too tart, it’s just right.
Growing up I had fond memories of going to my Grammy’s house and picking wild raspberries along the edges of the family’s wheat fields that had been long forgotten. These berries were small, bright red and some of the sweetest berries that had ever graced your lips.
As an adult I wanted to capture these precious childhood memories. Wild raspberries are very hard to come by these days so I was naturally ecstatic to find a local farm that lets you pick your own. Farm grown raspberries are much different than the wild raspberries of my childhood but they are no less special. These berries were triple the size and were bursting with juice. They tasted as good, if not better, than the berries I would pick growing up. When you have berries this good there is only one thing you must do and that’s make jam!
I pride myself in using all natural ingredients in my jam making. My version of raspberry jam contains all the seeds from the berries as well as natural pectin from fresh lemon juice. I prefer to keep my jams as natural as possible in order to preserve the integrity of the produce and make the flavors shine.
Raspberry Jam
*Makes about 8 half pint jars.
4 quarts or 16 cups of fresh raspberries
½ cup of honey
¾ cups of granulated sugar
¼ cup of light brown sugar
¼ tsp kosher salt
Juice from 1 lemon
Before preparing your berries, you need to sterilize your jars (if you plan on canning). Set your jars and lids into a container or a pot, submerge them completely in boiling water. Leave the jars and lids in the water for a minimum of 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the hot jars and lids with tongs, place them onto a clean kitchen towel.
Sort through your berries, if you picked them yourself, to ensure no under ripe berries or bad berries made it into your stash. Wash the berries in a colander with cool water.
Combine all ingredients together in a large pot (when juicing the lemon be careful not to get any seeds into the jam). Mix until the sugars are fully integrated and the berries begin to give off some of their juices. Gently mash the berries with a potato masher and set your pot on the stove top, turn the stove on to medium high heat. Leave the fruit until the remnants of the berries start to burst and the liquid starts to boil. When it begins to boil, turn the jam down to medium to medium low heat and gently boil. While the jam is boiling place a couple of spoons into the freezer, these will be your tools to check to see when the jam is set.
When boiling your jam, you may notice foam bubbling up to the surface. That is completely normal and I will skim it off the top of the jam. Some people throw out the foam but I like to keep it off to the side and eat it. It sounds gross, I know, but it is a real treat for the jam maker. Don’t knock it until you try it!
As the jam cooks you will notice that it will start to thicken. When the thickening starts, it’s time to start testing it with your frozen spoons. When you are ready to test your delicious jam, take it off the heat and dunk the tip of the spoon into your jam. If the jam is set you will be able to wipe a clean line through the jam. If it’s still too thin, place the pot back on the heat and continue to boil for another 15-20 minutes. After that time, repeat the jam testing until you have reached your desired consistency.
After your beautiful jam is set, it’s time to jar it. Using a ladle, spoon your hot jam directly into your jars. Place your lids on your jars and fasten the lid ring tightly, grip the hot jar with a towel when you’re fastening the ring (trust me it gets really hot). Once your lids are nice and tight, layer two kitchen towels on top of the jar in order to encase the jars in the towels. The towels will insulate the heat until the lid of the jar becomes warm, leave towels on the jars for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the towels and let the jars cool at room temperature. As the jars cool the lids will make a popping sound, this is the sweet sound of the jars sealing. When you are waiting for the jars to cool please resist the urge to touch the lids, if you play with the lid they are more likely to fail and not seal!
After a few hours of letting the jars cool, touch the glass of the jar to see how cool it is and if it’s cool to the touch you can now touch the lid. If the lid makes a popping sound when touched and bounces that means the jar didn’t seal. If the jar is quiet and firm, congratulations you successfully jarred your jam!
Once you have successfully jarred your jam you can store it in your pantry cupboard or if you have a cellar, anywhere that is cool and dark will be acceptable. Now you can just sit back and enjoy your jam!
*Note: You can also choose not to seal the jars of jam. If you want it for just the season you can keep your jam in containers such as Tupperware or glass jars that you would like to reuse. The jam will keep for about three months in the fridge when it’s not processed.*