Blueberry/Huckleberry Jam - Delicious!

Did you know that you can use Huckleberries in any recipe that calls for Blueberries?  Well, you can.  I have a bunch of both (frozen) so I decided to mix them and make Blueberry/Huckleberry jam.  It turns out delicious.  Take a look at how much smaller the Huckleberries are than the Blueberries. I understand that in other parts of the country Huckleberries are a lot bigger than the ones we get here.

In order to get a good recipe I went to my good old trusty So Easy To Preserve book from the University of Georgia.  The recipe is easy and turns out great.

Since this recipe is only processed for 5 minutes the jars have to be pre-sterilized.  Any recipe that is processed for less than 10 minutes must have the jars pre-sterilized.  If the processing time is over 10 minutes pre-sterilizing isn't necessary because it will take place during the 10+ minutes in processing. However, lots of people feel better if they pre-sterilize jars anytime they can.  It's ok, not a big deal it just takes extra time.  So, to pre-sterilize your jars all you have to do is put them in the canner filled with water and let them boil for  10 minutes.

This recipe calls for 9 cups of crushed berries and 6 cups of sugar.  That's it, nothing else, how easy is that?

I use a potato masher to crush the berries. Then I put them in a pot ready to put on the stove and add the sugar.

                                   

  

Once the sugar is added and you continue to stir it so the sugar dissolves you will notice a lot of liquid develop. That's perfect because you have to bring it to a boil.  Once that happens you will simply continue to cook it down slowly until it becomes thick or to the jellying point.  The thicker it gets the thicker the jam will be.

Once it's thickened up you will pour it into the hot sterilized jar, wipe the rim, put on the lid and the ring and put it in the canner.  Fill all the jars.  Once they are in the canner it must come to a boil to begin the 5 minute timing.

       

After the 5 minutes of processing remove the lid and wait another 5 minutes. That helps keep the jam from siphoning out of the jars. When you remove them from the canner, set them on a rack or towel undisturbed for 12 hours.  Then remove the rings, wash the jars well, label them and smile. You have delicious jam ready whenever you want.  YUM!