Suburban Homesteading – Frugal Living

The end of berry season is fast approaching. This will probably be the last pick I get. Our weather lately has been a roller coaster of hot and cool; fog and howling hot, dry east winds. What hasn’t blown off may not even be enough for one small batch of jam, but we’ll see.

The pick was in deed small, barely two pounds. But, I can augment it with a few small containers of frozen berries to make a version of the jam below. I don’t want to use too many frozen berries or there won’t be any berry cobblers this winter. The end result may lean a bit towards blackberry, but this is a very forgiving recipe and turns out great no matter what the quantities are.

This recipe was given to me by a local cooking store and it has been our “go to” recipe for small bits of fruit that we don’t want to eat fresh. Try it with a combination of soft fruits as well.

Mixed Berry Jam

1 pound Blackberries

1 pound Raspberries

1 pound Blueberries

1-1/2 pound sugar

6 ounces fresh lemon juice (use Eureka, Meyer lemons don’t have enough acid)

Cook as you would a single berry jam. Leave ½-inch of head space; water bath for 10 minutes.

Ended up with four 1/2-pint jars, there will be jam on toast and biscuits this winter!