Enjoy the taste of summer berries all year long by making homemade blackberry jam! Instructions included for canning this jam for long term storage.
Do you enjoy fresh blackberries when they are at their peak during the Summer season? We sure do! I LOVE fresh blackberries, and especially homemade blackberry jam!
We are blessed here in our “neck of the woods” in Oregon to have an abundance of fresh blackberries growing wild EVERYWHERE!
You can you pick them at a local U-Pick farms, find them growing along the road, or (in our case), growing wild right along our back fence, or at the local elementary school!
Scroll Down For A Printable Recipe Card At The Bottom Of The Page
What Else Can You Use Fresh Blackberries For?
These delicious berries can be used in a variety of yummy dishes, such as Blackberry Scones, Blackberry Soda, Blackberry Cobbler, or Blackberry Pie Bars!
These delectable berries can also be used to make jars of scrumptious homemade blackberry jam!
What Do I Need To Make Homemade Blackberry Jam?
The process for making blackberry jam is fairly simple, and requires only a few ingredients, the most important ingredient being fresh blackberries!
This recipe requires 5¾ cups of fresh berries, which is is the equivalent of approximately 6 pint-sized baskets you can find at the grocery store. You will also need lemon juice, sugar, pectin. You will also need canning jars, lids, and a water bath canner.
This recipe also uses powdered pectin, which is a substance that is naturally found in some types of fruit. Pectin is sold in powdered or liquid form (usually in the baking section) at most grocery stores. This jam recipe uses powdered fruit pectin.
The recipe as written below yields a quantity of 5 pint jars of jam, or if you want smaller jars, 9-10 half-pints of homemade jam.
Canning Homemade Blackberry Jam
The process is fairly straightforward, and even if you have not canned jam before, I think you will be surprised how simple it actually is!
Blackberries are cooked with sugar, lemon juice and pectin. Warm, sterilized canning jars are then filled with the hot jam.
Air is removed from the jars, the rims are wiped clean, and then flat lids are placed on top and screwed down.
How Long Does It Take To Process The Jars Of Jam?
The canning jars full of jam are then placed on a raised rack, and processed in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Once the jam is finished processing, the hot jars are removed from canner and are transferred to a dish towel on the counter, where they sit and cool down/stabilize for several hours. The jars will make a “pinging” sound as each jar seals securely.
Once you know the jars of jam have sealed properly, the only thing left to do is wipe the jars clean, attach a label to identify the contents, and store jars in the pantry.
Time To Enjoy Some Jam!
Once you’re ready for some delicious, jam, simply open a jar, and spread a bit on toast, biscuits or English muffins. Take a huge bite…and enjoy this “little taste of Summer”!
I am confident you will LOVE this blackberry jam! I’ve made it many times. Once I learned “how” to can jam and jellies, it changed everything for me. I no longer have to buy jam at the grocery store.
It’s also very convenient to have extra jars of homemade jam in my pantry to give a thoughtful, homemade gift to to family and friends (and they love receiving the jam, as well!).
This girl (me, myself and I) sincerely hopes you will consider making your very own homemade jam! It sure is nice to can jars of it to stock up the ol’ family cupboards! YUM!
Looking For More JAM Recipes?
You can find ALL my recipes in the Recipe Index, located at the top of the page. I have quite a few delicious homemade jam recipes, including:
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Recipe Source: Instructions found inside a box of MCP Premium Fruit Pectin
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
- 5¾ cups fresh blackberries (approx. 6 pint-sized baskets)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 ounces powdered Fruit Pectin ( 1 box)
- 8 cups sugar
Before beginning, make sure you have all the ingredients and equipment (canner, jars, lids, utensils, etc.) ready to go. Wash jars and lids in soapy hot water. Fill a water canner half full of water. Bring this to a low simmer. Fill jars with water and put on an elevated rack in canner , while water is simmering, to keep jars warm. (Or you can set jars on dish towel on a cookie sheet and keep in oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes for same effect). At the same time, I start a teapot with water going, (so I will have boiling water for the jar lids later on).
- Put flat jar lids in small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, measure out the exact amount of sugar needed. Set aside.
Crush the berries one cup at a time (it is very easy if you use a potato masher). Put the finely crushed berries (5¾ cups total) into a large stock pot. Add lemon juice. Stir the box of Pectin into the berries. Bring this mixture to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly (a rolling boil is when it is boiling hard, it won't stop bubbling even when stirred). Once berries are at full rolling boil stage, stir in all of the sugar quickly (all at once). Stir well to combine.
At this point, I pour boiling water over the jar lids that are in the small bowl. Let them just sit in the hot water for 5 minutes while you finish the jam.
Bring the jam/juice/pectin/sugar mixture back to a full, rolling boil. Once it is a full rolling boil, boil it for exactly 4 minutes, stirring constantly. When time is up, remove pan from heat, then skim off any accumulated foam (and discard foam). Ladle the hot jam mixture into drained, hot, prepared jars. Fill the jars, but leave 1/8 inch headspace at the top of each jar. Insert a plastic knife into each jar a couple times to help remove air bubbles. Adjust the headspace if necessary. Use a damp cloth or paper towel to wipe down the rim and edges of the jar (you need it free of debris in order to get a good seal on the jar). Cover the jars with the hot, flat jar lid. Screw on the jar rings tightly. Lower each of the jars onto an elevated rack in the canner. The jars must be completely covered with water, and must have at least an inch of water over the top of the jar. Add more boiling water to canner, if necessary, to make sure.
- Cover the canner; bring to a gentle boil. Once the water is boiling, process the jars for 10 minutes. When done, wait for a couple minutes, then carefully remove canner lid (lift lid away from you because of steam); carefully lift each jar out of water (with canning tongs), and place on dish towel on the counter to cool (do not put jars directly on counter cause you don't want temperature differences to possibly crack jars). You should hear "ping" sound as the jars seal properly.
- After the jars cool off, you can check to see they sealed properly by pressing the middle of the lid. The jar should NOT spring back when touched. If it does spring back, then you will need to refrigerate that particular jar. Let the sealed jars stand at room temp for 24 hours, then store unopened in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year. If any jars do NOT seal, store in refrigerator and use immediately.
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!
I just made this recipe of Blackberry Jam for the first time and it is absolutely awesome. I made it years ago trying to remove seeds. Forget that !!!! Thank you for sharing
Can you use Truvia or Stevia instead of sugar?
Can you use a blender to puree up the blackberries before making the jam?
Can frozen blackberries be used?
Hi. I looked through several blackberry jam recipes and yours looks awesome. One question, what is the purpose of processing the jars in the canner for 10 minutes. Some recipes put the jars in the oven, fill it and done.
I have never canned jam in the oven, so I can’t help you with that.I have always used the recommended water bath canning method for hundreds of jars of jam over the years.
The recipe says 6 pints (5 and 3/4 cups) of blackberries, but a pint is two cups. This seems like an error. Am I wrong?
Hi, Brennon. The correct amount is 5 3/4 cups of berries. That is the approximate amount typically found in 6 pint baskets of berries (which is why both amounts are listed). Will update the ingredient list. Thanks.
Do you need the lemon juice?
Hello. If your cans don’t pop… is there a proper way to re process them?
Hi, Krystle. Yes. Sometimes jars don’t seal because there is food “debris” (in this case, sticky jam) still on the rim or a small nick in the jar rim that can cause the flat lid to not create a good seal. Be sure to check the jars that didn’t seal to make sure there are no nicks on the rims. If okay, put a new, prepared flat lid on the jar, and seal the screwband down to fingertip tightness. Re-process the jars of jam, using the exact same processing time, etc. as stated in the recipe. When done processing, carefully remove jars, and let cool. Check them later, after cooling, for a good seal. If they STILL didn’t seal, you can either refrigerate the jar and use soon, OR put it in a freezer-safe container and freeze until you are ready to enjoy it. Hope that helps.
Hi was wondering how to make seedless blackberry jam
Hi, Maggie. Thanks for your note. In all the years I’ve been canning jam, I have NEVER made seedless jam, so I am not gonna be much help. I would suggest a search on the internet or Pinterest to find a seedless blackberry jam recipe to find something that would work for you.
Have you made blackberry butter? Like apple butter? I can’t find a recipe for it, but have one for blueberry. Would it work the same?
Also, would frozen berries work?
Hi, Kristi… thank you for writing. Sorry for the late response, but I had a bazillion comments to respond to the past couple weeks, and am just getting to yours. I have never made any other fruit butter at this point, except for my tried and true apple butter. It seems like it would be more complicated to make blackberry butter, due to all those seeds! Sorry I can’t be of more help, but have no experience with blackberry or blueberry butters. Take care.