July 22, 2010

Raspberry Jam



The raspberries began ripening last week, about a week or two early, and on Monday the yields were large enough to make a batch of jam. When I pick raspberries, and see them dangling in their ruby masses, I feel as though they are a marvelous gift. Even though there's a certain amount of work involved in growing them, when they are ripe they seem to be a wild food, prolific and free. When I moved here, there was a large circular mass of berry canes and weeds which I fought into shape over a couple of years; with rototiller and hand weeding, I created two large rows––2 1/2 by 25 feet each––of raspberries. They provide lots of fresh eating, gallons of frozen fruit, and delicious jam.




Use 4 cups crushed berries, about 2 quarts, using 1/4 underripe and 3/4 ripe so as to have enough pectin to jell. I use my potato masher to crush the berries. The proportion of sugar is 3/4 cup to one cup crushed berries; with 4 cups berries, use 3 cups of sugar.


Self portrait in raspberry jam

  1. Put the berries in a large pot, bring to a boil slowly, then add the sugar. Cook at a rapid boil (it's good to have a deep pot so the jam doesn't splash around the kitchen), stirring very frequently, until the mixture is thick and sheets from a spoon. I use a heavy bottomed stainless pot, which works really well for jam making because it spreads the heat and doesn't stick. Skim off the foam that forms. I find that raspberries take about 1/2 hour to thicken.
  2. You can use the refrigerator test to see if the jam is done: put a some jam on a plate and put it in the freezer for 5 minutes. If it is set by then, it is done.
  3. When the jam is ready, ladle into clean hot jars and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. The recipe makes 3 or 4 half pint jars. For my batch on Monday, I used 5 cups of crushed berries with 3 3/4 cups of sugar, which yielded 5 half pint jars.
I hope there will be a good crop of wild blackberries this year; they too make a wonderful jam. Part of my breakfast each morning is a slice of home made sourdough bread with home made jam; I cycle through the various jams I make each summer––rhubarb, raspberry, blueberry (some years), blackberry (sometimes), green tomato, and apple butter (every other year)––and never tire of them.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for this recipe, Altoon. I remember my grandmother, who had a well-tended two rows of raspberries in her suburban DC garden, making this jam. I have a not-so-well tended five rows of raspberries, and more fruit this year than ever, so I hope to make jam this year. If not, many bags of berries in the freezer...

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  2. Susan, I hope you give the jam a try; it's very delicious and it's nice to know you're eating something homemade. Let me know how it goes if you decide to try cooking up some.

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  3. Oh, your raspberries are gorgeous. I've been picking blueberries, black raspberries, and red. The last jam was rhuberry as I used rhubarb with the 3 berries and just a bit of sugar. Not enough to seal as I only made a small batch...but so very good on toast! Love those berries.

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  4. Maggie, your mixed jam sounds yummy. I don't have lots of blueberries this year, but it looks like there will be lots of blackberries. If they start ripening when I still have raspberries, it might be fun to try a combo of blackberry/raspberry jam.

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