Making Jam from frozen mixed berries

I used to pick all the fruit that I use in my strawberry and mixed berry jams, but I have gotten wiser through the years and have learned a great trick.

Buy bags of frozen mixed berries (I used about 7 lbs of sugar with this much fruit):

And sort them into strawberry and mixed berry batches:

I am not going to give you all the directions because you can find the recipe on the pectin powder (I love this format of pectin because you can make a tiny batch of jam–really just about a pint’s worth):

And you can find the canning and general instructions in this book (a must have in my opinion):

Here are the basic steps:

Crush your fruit (this is one of the primary reasons that I like to use frozen fruit–it is much easier to crush than fresh fruit):

Cook the fruit with the pectin and lemon juice:

Once it comes to a rolling boil, add sugar and continue to cook:

Ladle into to sterilized jars and put the dome lid and ring on and tighten, but not too tight. Place the prepared jars into a hot water bath with 1″ of water covering the tops of the jars. Process as indicated for the size jar you are using.

When the processing time is complete, remove the jar from the water bath and allow to cool completely before storing the jars. (You will need a jar lifter for this.) Make sure that the lid is taut and can’t be pressed down. If you can press the lid down, the jar is not sealed and should be stored in the refrigerator.

Jam is really easy to make and we bring it as hostess gifts and it is always well received. If you haven’t tried to make it yet, give it a whirl.