Use your choice of ripe raspberries, blackberries, Boysenberries, or ollalieberries for this easy jam.
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups crushed berries (about 1 1/2 quarts of berries)
5 cups sugar
1 package powdered pectin (Sure Jell)
1 cup cold water
METHOD:
Sort and wash fully ripe fruit. Drain. Remove caps and stems from berries and crush. Measure 3 cups of crushed berries into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, mix well, and let stand for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
In a small saucepan, whisk the dry fruit pectin in one cup of cold water and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute. Add the pectin mixture to the fruit and sugar mixture. Stir for three minutes, or until most of the sugar has dissolved.
Pour the jam into clean freezer containers or canning jars, leaving 3/4 inch headspace. Cover or seal the containers and let stand for 24 hours, or until the jam has set and become firm.
Thaw frozen jam overnight in the refrigerator, before using. Store opened jam in the refrigerator.
YIELD: 7-8 half-pint jars or freezer containers
