Raspberry Jam and Canning 101
Every summer my mother and I take a couple days off of work and can preserves, pickles, and if we are ambitious, tomato sauce. I’m not going to lie: it’s exhausting. It takes a full year before I muster up the energy again and forget how much work it actually is. I’m obviously trying to sell you on canning here.
There are a lot of clear benefits. Canning is a great way of preserving the summer’s produce for dreary winter days. While you can certainly freeze or make small batches of jams and preserves, nothing has a shelf life like canning. And there is a certain level of pride involved in setting out your own jam for company or giving your preserves as a hostess gift. If you opt for only making 1 batch and don’t also try and potty-train your child at the same time- you might also keep your sanity!
For those who have never canned, let me let you in on some canning tips and basics:
Supplies: Most basic canning supplies can be purchased at well-stocked grocery stores and hardware stores during the spring and summer months. You are going to need:
- Canning jars and lids. The snap lids (the metal part that actually covers the jar) can only be used once; the jars themselves and the ringed lids can be cleaned and used again. If you have jars from previous years, you can purchase just the snap lids. Remember the rule for family and friends- return your jar and you will be gifted preserves again.
- Certo- For jams and jellies, purchase certo pectin. There are many websites and cookbooks that claim you can make jam without it, and I’m sure they’re right. But it involves cooking for extremely long periods of time, and is not foolproof. This will just set a novice canner up for failure. Certo is extremely user friendly. It comes in both liquid or powder forms.
- Water bath- Preserves with acid basis, such as pickles, tomato sauce, and barbeque sauce (to name a few) require cooking in a water bath after the jars have been filled and covered. You will need a large canning pot and jar lifter.
- Wide mouthed funnel- This is extremely helpful for filling up jam jars and preventing spills (see photo below).
- Small metal sieve and/or cheese cloth- Raspberry jam, while delicious, has many annoying seeds. I remove half of the seeds with a very fine metal strainer. Cheesecloth can also be used to remove the seeds.
Canning Tips
- Be sure to follow your recipe exactly. For jams and jellies, either powdered or liquid Certo do the trick, but be sure to follow the recipe/instructions in the Certo package to ensure success as they are not all the same.
- You need to serialize your jars and lids. I like to wash them well in soapy water and place them in a 250F oven for 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can boil them in a large water bath on the stove for 10 minutes.
- Make sure to bring the lids to a boil to sterilize and keep warm until you place them on the jars. The glue in the lids need to heat in order to soften.
- If any of your cans do not seal properly- keep it in the fridge and use it up first.
- Properly canned and sealed jars will keep in cellar, or a cold, dark place for at least 1 year.
- You can use frozen berries in place of fresh, but fresh is always better!
A note on removing seeds for raspberry jam. I personally love raspberry jam and it is also useful to have around for baking. However, the amount of seeds annoy a lot of people. You can remove the seeds from up to half of the berries. Any more than that and the consistency is not right. To remove the seeds, place a metal sieve/strainer over a liquid measuring cup. Place some of the berries into the sieve and press with a plastic spatula to squeeze the water out of the pulp until all of the liquid is removed. Repeat with the remaining berries. Or ignore this step entirely and put up with the seeds.
Raspberry Jam
3 3/4 cups crushed raspberries
6 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 pouch Liquid Pectin (I use Certo)
1 Tbsp butter
If you are using frozen berries, thaw them overnight, or in a small-holed colander with cold running water.
Wash and sterilize your jars. Place the lids in a small saucepan filled with water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and keep warm. Meanwhile, crush the raspberries one layer at a time. Sieve half of the pulp to remove the seeds (see note above).
In a large saucepan, cook the crushed raspberries and sieved pulp, sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute on high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in liquid pectin and butter. Stir and skim (if necessary) for 5 minutes.
Using a wide mouthed canning funnel, pour jam into the sterilized jars, leaving a 1/4 inch of space in the top of the jar. Be sure to wipe the rims of the jars if any jam dripped, as this will inhibit sealing. Cover with the lids and tighten.
The jars will seal within 24 hours, and usually within an hour or two. You will know the jam has sealed when you hear a reassuring “pop” and the lid will concave and not spring back when pressed on the top.