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Berry jam without added pectin

Berry Jams without Pectin

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A NCHFP berry jam made without added pectin: crushed berries and sugar are cooked to the desired gel point, hot-filled into sterile half-pint or pint jars, and processed in a boiling-water canner.

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Open and sealed jars of deep ruby berry jam, shown with fresh berries and sugar.

What this jam is

Berry jam made without added pectin relies on the fruit itself to set. Berries are cooked with sugar until the mixture reaches the jelly point, the stage where it thickens and holds its shape when cooled. The home-canning guidance that this record follows gives the cook a choice of firmer or softer endpoints rather than a single temperature.

The method is a tested home-canning recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia. It is written for a specific berry batch, nine cups of crushed berries to six cups of sugar, which yields about seven or eight half-pint jars.

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Method and preservation

The berries are optionally pressed through a sieve or food mill after heating until soft, which gives a seedless jam. The sugar is dissolved slowly at a boil, and the mixture is then cooked rapidly to or near the jelly point. The jam is filled hot into hot, sterile half-pint or pint jars with about a quarter inch of headspace and two-piece metal lids.

Processing times depend on altitude: 5 minutes at 0 to 1,000 feet, 10 minutes at 1,001 to 6,000 feet and 15 minutes above 6,000 feet, in a boiling-water canner. The canner guidance requires at least an inch of boiling water over the jar tops and a complete boil throughout, and the full time restarts if the boil stops.

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Formulation difference and limits

The general NCHFP page on jam without added pectin lists four cups of crushed berries to four cups of sugar, a different formulation. This record follows the berry-specific page and does not combine the two batches or treat the general table as validating the nine-to-six batch.

The source does not name the berry species, give a numeric jelly temperature, or offer a scale-up rule. Its method is the tested source batch, and this record does not validate substitutions. Nothing here establishes a historical origin or a wider regional tradition for the preparation.

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History

The recipe page identifies its adaptation as coming from So Easy to Preserve, 6th edition (2014). This supports a date for the documented recipe source, not for the broader food tradition.

Ingredients

Scaling: source batch only

Crushed berriesCrushed
2.13 L9 cup as recorded
For seedless jam, heat until soft and press through a sieve or food mill.
Sugar
1.42 L6 cup as recorded

Method

Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Underprocessed canned jam

This shelf-stable preparation depends on completing the boiling-water process for the correct altitude and jar size.

Hazard source

Keep at least 1 inch of boiling water over the jar tops throughout processing.

Control source

Use the source's hot-pack process in half-pint or pint jars and select the time for the canning location's elevation.

Control source

Keep the water at a complete boil for the full process time; if boiling stops, restore a vigorous boil and restart the full time.

Control source

Use this process with the stated batch and jar sizes; the sources give no canning schedule for substitutions or scaled batches.

  1. Read the linked NCHFP instructions for using a boiling-water canner before beginning. Sterilize canning jars.
  2. Wash the berries before crushing them. For seedless jam, heat the crushed berries until soft and press them through a sieve or food mill.
  3. Combine the crushed berries and sugar. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
  4. Once the sugar has dissolved, cook rapidly to, or almost to, the jellying point. Choose the firmer or softer endpoint according to the jam desired. As the mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
  5. Remove the jam from the heat. Fill it hot into hot, sterile half-pint or pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims with a damp, clean paper towel and adjust two-piece metal canning lids.
  6. Load the hot jars into the canner. Add boiling water so it covers the jar tops by at least 1 inch and cover the canner. Bring the water to a vigorous boil, then process for 5 minutes at 0–1,000 ft (0–305 m), 10 minutes at 1,001–6,000 ft (306–1,829 m), or 15 minutes above 6,000 ft (1,829 m). Maintain a complete boil throughout. If boiling stops, restore it and begin the full process time again.

Places

United States

Documented preparation · Country evidence

Association with a U.S. home-canning preparation published by NCHFP; not a claim about the origin of berry jam.

See United Stateson the mapLocation source 1 →

Related

Made from

  • Sugar

    Sugar is a family of sweeteners with different forms and food roles; refined white sucrose may come from cane or beet, while less refined forms add other flavours and moisture.

Variants

  • Jam

    Jam is fruit cooked with enough sugar and concentration to reduce the water available to microbes. Jelly uses clarified juice and firmer fruit pastes lose still more moisture.

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