What’s not to love about making blueberry jam?

Berries, berries, more berries. Mmm! Fresh, local berries are coming soon, and my thoughts are turning to jam making. And Texas is, indeed, a land of berries. There are so many different berries here given the varied climatic and soil conditions of our state. The native and most popular berry in Texas continues to be the blackberry. But recently, the blueberry crop, brought to the state in the ‘60s from other parts of the Gulf south, is a close challenger to the traditional blackberry.

Blueberries are a very popular fruit in the United States because of their unique, fresh flavor and small edible seeds. They are great tasting eaten fresh or used for jam and pastries. Blueberries are also low in calories and sodium, and contain substantial quantities of vitamin C and dietary fiber. Their antioxidant levels help prevent urinary infections and lower cancer risk, in general.

The blueberry most grown in Texas is the “Rabbit Eye.” It is that large, indigo blue fish-eyed variety with a thin wax coating. And almost any year we can count on a bumper crop coming in from early May. There’s even a Texas Blueberry Festival every year in June in Nacogdoches, Texas. These big boy - Texas size - blueberries are not only good on pancakes but also make for a super yogurt or ice cream topping.

And, on a personal note, jam and cobbler making is a tradition in my family. My grandmother, my great aunts- farm born and raised - all made delicious jams. Mom and my aunts, while city dwellers, also made jam and cobblers - cherry, blackberry, plum, strawberry, raspberry.The list of berries is long and so full of memories. I remember the truly blessed feeling of seeing a dozen or more jars of jam on the kitchen table before they were stashed away on pantry shelves.

Love that blueberry jam.


Making jam is satisfying for the soul. The kitchen is filled with fruity smells for hours on end. I like to use high pectin fruits for making jam. High pectin fruits include crabapples, plums, currants, grapes, and blackberries. Lower pectin fruits include strawberries, peaches, blueberries, and raspberries. By mixing high and low pectin fruits, you can skip the need for commercial pectin and also enjoy a mixture of flavors.

Of course, homemade jam is not the firm and uniform stuff that's associated with industrial jellies, but by using fruit at its peak, you’re almost sure to good tasting jam. And it takes only about an hour to make with ingredients and equipment that you most likely already have on hand in the kitchen.

Interested in making some homemade preserves? Blueberry jam is great on toast, biscuits and pancakes. It also makes great smoothies when mixed with cow, soy or almond milk. (Note: As I write this post, I'm planning to make about 8 pint jars - four for home and four for giving away as gifts on my coming trip to see family members up north.)

Here is my recipe for Texas blueberry jam, but it would be mostly the same for any other berry or combination of berries. And, if fresh blueberries are out of season, you can also use frozen mixed berries with good results.

Texas Blueberry Jam (with a spicy edge)

10 cups rinsed, crushed blueberries
8 cups sugar (the regular kind, not the high-fructose variety)
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
One or two fresh mint leaves
Option: 2 cups of seedless grapes - added pectin for firmer jam

Before processing, fresh blueberries need to be refrigerated and kept dry. They shouldn't be washed until they are to be used and stay good for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Sterilize all equipment (pint or half-pint jars, lids, bands, ladle and funnel) by putting them in a large soup pot and covering them with boiling water shortly before you start jam making.

Pick over and rinse berries twice. Drain off any excess water around the berries. Place berries in a large non-reactive pan. Mash them with a potato masher. At that point, you can strain off a part of the berry juice if you want to have a thicker jam. The extra liquid can be combined with lemon juice to make a delicious pitcher of blueberry lemonade.

Let the berries boil hard along with other ingredients for five or more minutes, stirring from time to time. Skim off any foam that develops. To test for the setting point, place a teaspoon of the jam mixture on a chilled saucer and try it after a couple of minutes. It should be somewhat firm – not runny. 

Ladle the hot jam into the clean jars. Let cool and put on the lids. Label and date the jars. Make sure all of the lids are well sealed. If you’re not sure that the lids are correctly sealed, you should refrigerate and eat the jam in the next few weeks. Properly sealed jars will keep in a cool, dry place for several months.

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IT’S JAM-MAKING TIME – GRANDMA’S PRESCRIPTION FOR A HAPPY SWEET-TOOTH ALL WINTER LONG.

It’s the end of September and, if you’re like me, your thoughts are beginning to run to how this winter’s going to be. Some say that the coming months will be among the coldest we’ve seen in many years. So, the next thing that comes to mind is: "How are we going to stay WARM AND HAPPY?" Well, speaking for myself, last year was cold also. Staying warm in my small house was pretty well taken care of what with my propane gas stove, a small electric heater that I carried around with me, and several layers of winter clothing (including thermal underwear). Staying happy through the cold months is a somewhat different matter - it will take some welcome company - human and canine - and a lot of good food. And, part of winter eating happiness, as well as year-round, includes sweets.

And, that’s what this post is about – making sweets, and in this case, preparing homemade jam. Jam-making has been a valued art throughout the centuries, if not millennia. Like a lot of domestic arts, it takes a day or two to prepare and cook, and that means we have to dig into our time schedule. But, like the wise saying goes: “Time is all we have.” As a mostly-retired person, I do have the luxury of some time, and I like to spend a bit of it preparing (and eating, of course) delicious food.

Now, there are a lot of sweet possibilities for jellies, jam, and liquored-up fruit out there. The fall fruit is in season (meaning it's good quality and as cheap as it's going to get). We’ve got a bunch of choices - from our own trees, if we’re so lucky, or at the farmer’s market for the rest of us. We have apples, apricots, peaches, pears, and plums, to name a few. And, as the heaps of fresh fruit appear (and, all too soon dwindle), the urge is strong to eat a lot now and to preserve some more for future pleasure.

So, there’s no problem for fruit selection. Next comes the motivation. If you’re like me, you probably don’t like to do really big cooking deals alone. Large-scale cooking seems to be a lot easier with a family member or friend. This year, I’m lucky to have a good friend and neighbor who likes to cook all kinds of good things and also, - and here’s the great advantage, is an even better cook than I am. So, next Tuesday, we have a pact to overcome our early fall laziness and make plum jam.

Now, we aren’t too ambitious in this undertaking, and neither of us is so inclined or has enough storage space to throw ourselves into heavy-duty canning. So, I suppose, and at least according to our plan, the quantity of jam we’re talking about is about 16 pints – 8 for her and 8 for me. But, even that’s more jam than my husband and I are likely to eat in a few months, so I’ll probably give some jam away as gifts.

Oh, and why plums? Mostly, because they’re as cheap as any fruit right now, and my husband and I absolutely adore plum jam. Also, not all of it has to go on bread or biscuits. I’m thinking now of other delights - and already beginning to taste - vanilla custard with plum jam on top, plum and apple tarts, and plum jam upside-down cake. The possibilities for sweet plum jam combinations are almost endless.
(If my neighbor and I don't wear ourselves out with jam making, which could happen, we're hoping to make plum jam empanadas - individual rich, oven-baked pies - later next week.)

A simple plum jam recipe

Here’s an easy recipe for plum jam that’s made without adding any pectin. All you need are plums, sugar, water, and some lemon juice.

4 lbs. plums
4 lbs. sugar
1 pint of water
2 Tbs. lemon juice

Wash your plums, remove any bits of stalk, and drain them a bit. Put them into a large heavy saucepan along with the water. Heat the water, fruit, sugar, and lemon juice on moderate heat until the sugar dissolves. Be sure to stir constantly so that the mixture doesn’t burn.

Next, take the pan off the heat and remove the stones with a fork or small tongs. Then continue boiling the plums – don’t overcook them. Skim off the scum with a large spoon and check for the right moment for jam setting. Do this by letting a spoon full of boiling jam dribble onto a cold plate. Let it cool down for a couple of minutes, and then, test it. It’s ready when it looks something like thick honey and shows a tiny impression when you push it around with your fingertip.
(This recipe makes about 6 pints of jam.)

Bottling and storing your jam
When the jam is ready, turn off the heat, and let it cool just a bit. Then use a ladle to transfer the hot liquid from the pot to warm, pre-sterilized jars. To avoid jar cracking, place a teaspoon in the jar while you fill it up. Do not fill the jars up to the top – just to about 80% of the capacity. That way, if by some chance the jars freeze, you won’t lose the jam (and jars) due to breakage.

Cover the filled jars with parchment paper rings and screw sterilized jar lids on tightly. Let the jars sit until completely cool, and then place them in a cold place for storage. Sugar acts as a preservative, but it’s not foolproof. So, if you have any doubts about the temperature of your storage shelves, put your jam in the refrigerator where it should last several months.