Fruit ·
Techniques ·
When your grandma has too many blueberries growing in her backyard or you find them for a good price at the markets, it's time to make some jam. Here's my recipe.
Blueberry jam
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Category
Techniques
Servings
40
Prep time
3 hours
Cook time
2 hours
When your grandma has too many blueberries growing in her backyard or you find them for a good price at the markets, it's time to make some jam. I love having a bottle of homemade jam in the fridge because it's so much better than supermarket jam. Use blueberries, strawberries, cherries, whatever berry you would like. I've used fennel to give it a savoury hit but you can use star anise or cinnamon as well.
This is a low-sugar blueberry jam flavoured with fennel pollen and apple cider vinegar. The sugar is around 20 percent of the fruit weight, well below the 70 to 80 percent most jams use, so it won’t set firm like a traditional preserve. It thickens by reducing slowly on the stove rather than relying on a sugar-pectin gel, which means the berries still taste like berries when you spread it. The vinegar adds acidity and helps the fruit hold its colour through the long cook.
Mix the berries with the sugar and leave them out at room temperature for a few hours before you start cooking. The sugar pulls the juice out of the fruit while it sits, so by the time you turn the heat on, there’s already syrup in the bowl. From there it’s a low simmer until it thickens to the consistency you want. I eat it with sharp cheese on a cheeseboard, alongside roast pork or duck, or on toast with butter.
Ingredient Notes
Blueberries: Fresh or frozen both work. If you’re using frozen, don’t thaw them first, just toss them through the sugar straight from the freezer. Wild or smaller berries tend to have more flavour and a touch more natural acidity than the larger cultivated ones, but use whatever you can get.
Sugar: I keep the sugar low because I want the blueberry flavour up front, not a sugar hit. Standard white sugar is fine. The trade-off is that this isn’t a long-life shelf preserve like a high-sugar jam, so it lives in the fridge rather than the pantry.
Fennel pollen: Fennel pollen has a soft aniseed and floral flavour that works really well with blueberries. If you can’t find it, swap in a couple of whole star anise or a cinnamon stick added at the one-hour mark of the cook, then fish them out at the end. A split vanilla bean works too.
Equipment
Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Large mixing bowl
Tea towel
Large heavy-based pot
Wooden spoon
Sterilised jam jars with lids
Tongs
Ingredients
- 1kg (2.2 lbs) blueberries (I used 2kg [4.4 lbs])
- 200g (7 oz) sugar
- 60ml (2 fl oz) apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp fennel pollen (star anise also works great)
Directions
Wash the berries well and then drain. Place the berries into a bowl with the sugar and mix well. Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature for 3-4 hours.
Next, place the berries and any liquid that has come off into a large pot. Over medium-high heat, bring to a simmer and add the vinegar. Then, turn the temperature down to medium-low and cook until it thickens. This will take about 2 hours. Once you’re at this stage, you can add the fennel pollen (if using star anise or cinnamon, place them in at around the one-hour mark).
- Sterilise your jam jars by boiling them in water for 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the hot jam into the jars and place a lid on. Let them cool to room temperature before you place them in the fridge.
- The jam will last in your fridge for up to 6 months unopened and 1 month once opened.
Recipe notes
Chef Tips
Give the berries time with the sugar
Leave the berries with the sugar for the full 3 to 4 hours before you start cooking. In that time the sugar pulls a lot of juice out of the fruit, so you start the cook with a syrup already in the pot. The flavour is more concentrated and you don’t need to add any water.
Keep the heat gentle
Once it comes to a simmer, drop the heat right down. A hard boil will scorch the bottom of the pot, dull the colour and break the berries down to mush. A gentle bubble for the full 2 hours gives you the right thickness and keeps some texture in the fruit.
Storage
Pour the hot jam straight into sterilised jars and seal the lids while everything is still hot, then let them cool to room temperature before the fridge. Sealed jars keep for up to 6 months in the fridge. Once you’ve opened a jar, use it within a month. You can also freeze the jam in clean containers for up to 12 months, just leave a centimetre of headspace for expansion.
FAQs
Can I use frozen blueberries? Yes, and you don’t need to thaw them. Toss them through the sugar straight from the freezer and rest at room temperature as usual. They’ll release plenty of liquid as they thaw and macerate, and the cook works exactly the same way.
Why doesn’t this jam set firm like store-bought? Because the sugar level is much lower than a traditional jam, it relies on cooking down rather than a sugar-pectin gel to thicken. You’ll end up with a softer, looser jam that tastes more of the fruit. If you want a firmer set, you can stir in a teaspoon of pectin in the last 10 minutes of the cook.
Can I use a different spice? Yes. Star anise, a cinnamon stick, a couple of cardamom pods or a split vanilla bean all work well. Drop whole spices in at the one-hour mark and remove them at the end so the flavour doesn’t go bitter.
