1 bunch fresh mint
8-10 cups whole, picked over blueberries*
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 box liquid pectin (6 oz., 2 little packets)
juice and zest of 2 limes
Directions:
Lightly bruise the mint and stuff as much as you can into a tea ball. Set aside. Pour the berries into a bowl. Mash with a potato masher. Measure it out. It should yield about 6 cups of mashed berries. Add the sugar and blueberries to a large pot. Prep jars/lids for canning. Bring the sugar and blueberries to a boil. Add the lime juice, zest and the tea ball. Clip the tea ball to the side of the pot if possible. Boil for about 10-15 minutes, it should start to look a little thick. Add the pectin (both packets!). Continue cooking at a low (rolling) boil for 5 minutes. Remove the tea ball. Fill the jars. Process in the hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Yield: about 6 8-oz jars (I ended up with six and a teeny tiny bit left over but the other batch of jam I made using the same amount of berries yielded 7 8-oz jars)
*I made two batches of jam and one batch only needed 8 cups of fresh berries and the second batch needed about 10. I think it depends on the size of the berries.
Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here is a bunch of other canning books and equipment I find useful.
My thoughts:
Jam! This was my first attempt at canning jam. I’ve made freezer jam in the past but never the fully cooked and jarred variety. I am happy to say it came out very well! I read up on the ratios needed for proper jam making and then just sort of winged it. Honestly, the hardest part was tracking down the liquid pectin. The jars all sealed and the jam set up into the perfect consistency. I think technically, you only need to boil it after the pectin is added for one minute but I did it for longer to try and get the most flavor out of the mint.
I love blueberry and lime together and the mint adds a herbal flavor that doesn’t scream “MINT” but which adds savoriness and depth to the jam. Matt had some on a biscuit and nearly swooned. It is just that good. Not too sweet and the lime and mint keep it from being your typical blueberry jam.
Quick tip:
I put the mint in a tea ball because I didn’t want bits of leaves in my jam. When it comes out of the pot the tea ball will be covered in jam. I just plopped the whole thing (closed, mint still inside) in a bowl of water and let it sit overnight. The next day, most of the jam had dissolved and it was easy to open and clean it.
I'm pretty sure this sounds like heaven in a jar! P.S. great tip on the mint!!!
Rachel, I'm totally with you on this jam. I love mixing blueberry or blackberry with lime so much that I almost never do it any other way. And I must have caught your vibe today, because just this morning I made blueberry-kiwi-lime.
Shae
I just made kiwi-mango-lime jam today! Blueberry-kiwi sounds great.
…beautiful
kary
Sorry, maybe this is obvious. How much mint is a bunch? The amount you could get into a tea ball would be, what, 1 or 2 T?
LeAnn
I didn't measure it out. As I said, I stuffed as much mint as would fit. It really depends on the size of your mint leaves and size of the tea ball. A bunch of mint is a generous handful.
As I read the title of the post, each flavour made me happier.. mint(yum!) blueberry (double yum) lime (yum)! I think this would be great with strawberries too.
This sounds delicious. I just started making/canning jams this summer too. I am definitely trying this one this weekend since blueberries have been on sale.