Black and Blue Jam

Hi Ya’ll

This weekend has been nothing short of busy! Cupcakes, Amish wedding noodles, jams, canning and even a chocolate chip cookie cheesecake. I think my mom oven is going to go on strike soon after I used it so much! Let’s hope not though! 

II have only recently gotten into canning and I am by no means an expert on this, but I do enjoy doing it especially since at my husband’s work there is a few hundred wild blackberry bushes so they are free! I try to do so that I can keep up with the seasons. I only recently started growing my own tomatoes and they just seem to taste so much better that way! This time though I canned blackberries and blueberries. I bought some blueberries at the produce stand here in town and I was going to use them to make smoothies and things with but when I got a hold of those blackberries I knew exactly what I needed to do!

I didn’t have enough of either to make black or blue berry jam so I decided to put them together! So I followed a recipe (loosely) on how to make a mixed berry jam. It turned out marvelous!!! I can’t explain to you how yummy it has tasted. Between me and my other half we have eaten probably 6 PB and Jam sandwiches and that probably won’t be the end of that! 

Black and Blue Jam

4 Cups Blueberries 

4 Cups Blackberries 

6 Cups Demerara Sugar (Unrefined) 

1 packet of Pectin (or 5 Tbsp) 

Take a small plate and put it in freezer. 

Wash your berries and put them into a large bowl. Use a potato masher and them up so that the juice comes out of the berries. (it took probably about 5 minutes). 

Add berries to a heavy bottom pot or stock pot. Let the berries come to a boil. A rolling boil where even if you stir you still get some bubbles. Add your sugar and pectin to the berries and let that come to a boil. Take your plate out of the freezer and put a tiny bit of jam on to the plate. Push jam with your finger and if it wrinkles at the touch and stays together then it is done!  Skim off any foam off the top. 

Have jars sterilized and ready and pour hot jam into jars. Process for 10 minutes in a water bath. let cool for 12 to 24 hours. 

I am letting the jam speak for itself here because it is absolutely amazing! I have made and canned applesauce, apple butter and strawberry but I have never before made a jam and I was personally pretty impressed with this one! I like my jam to be spreadable not like the jellies you get at the store which act like jello. So, I made my a tiny bit runnier than most just so it was easy to spread.

In these pictures I didn’t make any special biscuits because that wasn’t how I first tried it. Honestly I took a spoon to the leftovers and did so without shame. So I thought hmmmm… I should probably make biscuits but how are people really going to try it. If they were me they would take a spoon and dig in but some would eat it on their toast in the morning so I did just that! I can tell you that the bread just made the jam stand out even more! Biscuits, spoons or toast this jam is out of this world amazing! 

If you have any questions you can email me at not2shabbygabby@gmail.com or comment at the bottom. You can also follow me on Instagram- @notshabbygabby, Twitter or Pinterest- @not2shabbygabby and Like me on Facebook Not Too Shabby Gabby. 

Have a blessed Day! 

-Gabby 

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