Blackberry Jamin'

August is blackberry month here in Powell River, BC. There's even a week long Blackberry Festival in honour of the sweet, purple fruit that culminates with a street party. I swear the whole town turns out. Of course, Powell River Books had "Mr. Float Cabin" out on the street for the celebration.

This year the berries have been exceptionally big and juicy. Each time we head up the lake, I pick a some from the bushes in the Shinglemill parking lot. They come in waves, so there've been lots for the picking. I had such success with my strawberry jam, I decided to make some blackberry.

Blackberry Jam Recipe

I used two resources to make my jam. The first was a book I found at Kingfisher Used Books here in Powell River, the Farm Journal's Freezing and Canning Cookbook. I got mine for $3.95 but they are much pricier online. I also used the directions from the Certo Pectin Crystals box.

The ingredients are simple.
Yields about 8 cups. Do not double the recipe.

5 cups crushed blackberries
1 box Certo Pectin Crystals
7 cups granulated sugar

Thoroughly crush berries. You can remove some of the seeds if you wish, but I like them included. The Farm Journal cookbook recommended lemon juice, so I added two tablespoons to the berry mixture.


Mix the crushed berries and the Certo Pectin Crystals in a large pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Then add the sugar all at once. Return it to a hard boil and let it boil for one minute. The cookbook says to be very accurate, so I used my timer. Remove from heat and stir and skim for five minutes.

Pour into warm, sterilized jars to 1/4" from the rim. I used 250 ml (8.5 oz) jars. Wipe the tops clean of any spilled jam and place sterilized lids and screw caps on, making them finger tight. Both my friend Marg and the pectin recipe said this was enough to preserve the jam. The Farm Journal book recommend five minutes of processing in a boiling water bath (the lid was off only for the picture), so that is what I did. I guess overdoing it was better than under doing it.

The trick to jam making for the novice is to have things ready to go. I boiled the water to sterilize my jars and lids first. Then it was held at the ready for the boiling water bath at the end. The whole process took me about two hours, but the end result was some really tasty jam that will last us through the winter, reminding us of the warm, sunny days of August. -- Margy