Homemade Blackberry Jam

How to Make Jam without Fruit Pectin

For starters I am no scientist and am sharing this information out of my own logical thinking and experience! If you have a more scientific explanation or information to set my thought process straight, please share ... it will not hurt my feelings, trust me (may I remind you I am a mother of 4 and taught middle school math for over 10 years).

I have been creating my own fruit topping for waffles which started off as a vague memory of what I thought my grandma did. Grandma, now cooking up a storm in heaven, was an amazing woman and cook. Her motto in life was "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach"; or anybody for that matter. So true, if we are hungry ... watch out! Onto the fruit topping, I would throw whatever frozen berries I had on hand in a sauce pan, cover with a thin layer of sugar, and simmer until it thickened. It was just recently my mom told me what grandma really did and I wasn't too far off. She would start the same way but add a little bit of cornstarch and some water (don't submerge the berries) and cut back on the sugar. They both turn out very similar and taste great on our waffles so I will use either one depending on my mood.

When I was researching recipes for making jam without fruit pectin I realized ... it's just a combination of jam and sugar cooked to the right consistency. How simple is that and way better than having to go find fruit pectin at the store. My first thought was I am never buying store bought jam again and instead will be purchasing whatever in-season-good-jam-making-fruit is on sale and making small batches at a time! No need for pectin or canning!

So, this is exactly what I did! When I was at Aldi (yes, if you haven't notice I am an Aldi shopper through and through ... SO glad my sister trained me well here!) last, I notice blackberries were $0.99 and immediately thought, JAM! We never have blackberry jam on hand, raspberry jam is a special treat for us, only because I don't like spending the extra money for something other than strawberry or grape (I know I can be extremely frugal is some areas and not in others ... it's called selective spending. I compare it to selective memory and all those other selective choices! hehehe!)

My recipe - 

Homemade Blackberry Jam 

6 ounces of. blackberries

1/2 cup of sugar

Crush blackberries using a pastry cutter (a fork or potato masher would work just fine). Combine crushed blackberries and sugar in a sauce pan and stir until combine and sugar is mostly dissolved (about 1 minute). Pour out of sauce pan into a wire mesh colander (small enough to catch the seeds) and use a spoon to mash through the colander until no more juice is coming through. Return to pan at high heat and boil for about 2 minutes. Watch carefully, it will go from perfect to too thick very fast. Good thing is, if your consistency is too thick after it starts to cool, add a little bit of boiling water while it is still warm and stir well.

I am sure there will be some tweaking here as I experiment with different fruits and I will be sure to update you when this happens!

Today's Question: What is your favorite meal you use cream of something soup in? 

Updated 4/25/15 - Used some of our homemade blackberry jam in plain yogurt, LOVED IT! This just gave a whole new meaning to jam and flavored yogurt!  

Updated 4/27/15 - I tweeked the above recipe, shortened the time and sugar amount. See my homemade raspberry jam for additional tips.