On Monday night, I did my final live demo of the year. I talked about fruit pastes, answered questions, and made a batch of cranberry blueberry jam using fresh cranberries and frozen wild blueberries (though regular frozen blueberries would also work).
This recipe uses the same technique as the raspberry version I posted over the weekend. You combine frozen fruit with fresh cranberries to get a preserve that is flavorful, not-too-sweet, and perfectly set (cranberries are magical in the setting ability).
If you want to watch me making this jam, you can see the full video after the jump (or, if you navigated directly to this post, you should see the player below).
Cranberry Blueberry Jam
Servings: 0 makes 7 half pints
Ingredients
- 3 pounds frozen blueberries
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
Instructions
- Prepare a boiling water bath canner and enough jars to hold 7 half pints of product.
- Combine the berries and sugar in a large, non-reactive pot. Stir to combine. Let sit for 30 minutes or so, until the berries are mostly defrosted.
- Place the pot on the stove over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring regularly, until the jam thickens. This should take between 20 and 25 minutes. Because of the presence of the cranberries, this jam will pass the sheet test on a spatula.
- When the jam is finished, remove the pot from the heat.
- Funnel the jam into the prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.
- When the time is up, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars have cooled enough that you can comfortable handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.
Oh, bummer! I haven’t followed you on Facebook, so I’ve been looking for updates on fruit pastes on the website and not seen any. I’m leaving on vacation (in less than an hour, ha, priorities), and I had hoped to be able to do the fruit pastes prior to my through-the-rest-of-the-year vacation. Maybe I can still count as having successfully completed the entire year-long-challenge if I complete it in early January. 🙂
Have a lovely holiday season!
Formerly casulamellita, with revamped site
Early January still counts! So sorry I didn’t manage to get an intro blog post up!
Thank you so much for these video demos. I have enjoyed watching them so much this year and I love the little tips I’ve picked up that have translated into more comfort as I can. I hope once you’re able to get through the big push with your book, you’re able to do the videos again next year. Happy holidays!
Can you use frozen cranberries? Thanks!
Yes.
Tried this today! Wow!! So good!! Set up beautifully, will
Make this again really soon!
I made this and the raspberry/cranberry jam a couple days ago to add to Christmas gifts. So good!! I added some fresh ginger and crystallized ginger (like your fresh blueberry jam from Preserving by the Pint) and boy is it delicious! So glad I gave this a whirl and might just have to make another batch to keep for us to eat.
Hello! Could this recipe be halved fro a micro batch? It looks delicious but I’m the only cranberry lover in this house. Thanks a bunch!
You could certainly halve the recipe. And know that you don’t really taste the cranberries too much!
This was super easy. Made great gifts for the holidays. Thanks for posting Marisa.
So we’re coming up on fresh blueberry season. Could I use fresh blueberries and frozen cranberries to achieve the same results?
Yes! That would work beautifully!
Is there a recipe hack to make this with no or low sugar (using Sure-Jel or something?) Would love to duplicate a jam I have been buying that has no added sugar. Plus I am in need of cutting the sugar out of my diet. Thanks in advance!
I’d suggest you go over to https://pomonapectin.com/ and check out some of their no-sugar recipes. It’s not so easy to just take a sugar sweetened recipe and turn it into a no-sugar one.
Can I use fresh blueberries? Or does one of the fruits have to be frozen?
You can use fresh blueberries if you prefer.
Help!
Can you add toasted pecans to jellys that will be WB processed for 10 minutes? I can’t find a definitive answer anywhere.
Thx,
JC
It’s not typically recommended. Small amounts of nuts can be safe (look for recipes in the conserve category). But it’s not a great idea to add unknown ingredients to established recipes.
do you crush it or puree it?
I leave the fruit chunky, but you could crush or puree. It’s up to you.
Can you use fresh cranberries and blueberries?
I always use fresh cranberries for this jam. I have not tried it with fresh blueberries, but I can’t think of any reason why it would not work.
Would you use the same amount fresh blueberries for this recipe?
Yes. This is a forgiving recipe.
Flavor is good but had to add pectin to get it to set.
That’s surprising. Cranberries typically have enough pectin to set this jam without additional pectin.
My jam set perfectly by following the recipe and the flavor is incredible. Great for holiday gifts!
So glad you like it!
First time with this recipe. My ? is the jam set up way to thick. What did I do wrong?
If it’s too thick, you perhaps cooked it for too long. Your cranberries could have been drier than the ones I used as well. You could warm it with some orange juice to thin it out.
More information about steps would be nice. I used some your information but had to go to other sites to make it work.
Could you give me an idea of what information you needed that you didn’t find in this recipe? Thanks!