This homemade Mixed Berry Jam recipe is simple to make with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Homemade jam is easy to make with pectin.
If you are looking for a great recipe to try, you’ll love my Triple Berry Jam. It’s a combination of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. A very tasty combination.
I love to stock up on berries when they are in season and plop them in the freezer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with freezing berries. If you freeze them at the peak of perfection, they maintain impeccable taste when you need them later. Try my Raspberry Rhubarb Jam recipe.
How do you make homemade jam?
My mom and dad taught us so much. I remember asking my mom one day, how hard is it to make your own jam?? She said simple. You start with fresh ingredients, a little sugar, citrus pectin and cook it on the stove top. Then can it up. Simple. I will say that homemade jam takes patience and time. You need to focus completely on the pot of jam or you will burn it. Do it on a day you can completely focus on a great pot of homemade jam.
Order a Ball Enamel Water Canner. This will be your favorite tool for making homemade jams, pickles, and more. The kit comes with everything you’ll need to get going!
What is the difference between jam, preserves, and jelly?
I’ve been asked many times, what is the difference between jam, preserves, and jelly! Jam is made up of slightly more sugar than fruit, preserves are more fruit than sugar and jelly is made out of fruit juice. All of these will typically have some sort of citrus pectin to make them gel.
How do you make Mixed Berry Jam with Pectin?
Cook the strawberries, blueberries and blackberries over low to medium heat until soft. Lightly mash the fruit with a potato masher. Meanwhile, prepare a boiling water canner. Heat the jars and lids in simmering water until ready to use. (note: I use a commercial pectin, called Pomona’s Pectin in all of my jams- you can buy it on Amazon.)
In a large measuring cup, combine 2 cups sugar with the pectin. Add the lemon juice and sugar-pectin mixture to the berries. Over high heat, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Boil for 1 minute. Add the remaining 5 cups of sugar immediately, and bring back to a hard boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Turn the heat on low to medium. Skim foam if necessary.
How do I eliminate the foam on top of the jam?
I also use a vegetable defoamer to eliminate foam. This is something used in the production of maple syrup and is also available online. After the jam comes to a rolling boil, sprinkle in the defoamer and stir. It will knock down the foam.
How do you can homemade jam?
Ladle hot jam into the hot jars, leaving ½ inch head-space. Wipe the rim of the jar with a damp paper towel. Center the lid on the jar. Apply the band until the fit is fingertip tight. Process jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove the jars and allow to cool completely. I use a pair of rubber-tipped tongs to easily handle hot jars. Check the lids for seal after 24 hours. The lid should not flex up and down when the center is pressed. Store jars in a cool, dry place.
More Jam Recipes
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Mixed Berry Jam
Ingredients
Mixed Berry Jam
- 3 cups strawberries
- 2 ½ cups blueberries
- 2 ½ cups blackberries
- 7 cups granulated sugar divided
- 1 (1.75-ounce) package fruit pectin
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
Mixed Berry Jam
- In a 8-quart saucepan, cook the strawberries, blueberries and blackberries over low to medium heat until soft. Lightly mash the fruit with a potato masher. Meanwhile, prepare a boiling water canner. Heat the jars and lids in simmering water until ready to use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
- In a large measuring cup, combine 2 cups sugar with the pectin. Add the lemon juice and sugar-pectin mixture to the berries. Over high heat, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Boil for 1 minute. Add the remaining 5 cups of sugar immediately, and bring back to a hard boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Turn the heat on low to medium. Skim foam if necessary.
- Ladle hot jam into the hot jars, leaving ½ inch head-space. Wipe the rim of the jar with a damp paper towel. Center the lid on the jar. Apply the band until the fit is fingertip tight. Process jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove the jars and allow to cool completely. Check the lids for seal after 24 hours. The lid should not flex up and down when the center is pressed. Store jars in a cool, dry place.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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DANIELLE Allen says
Hi, this sounds amazing. I was wondering if you could use liquid pectin instead of the powder. Thank you.
Jessica Robinson says
I’ve never tried liquid pectin, but I don’t see why not. We highly recommend using Pomona’s pectin if you make jams. But if you have liquid, I’m sure that would work as well.
Susan says
Have been canning jams and preserves for over 40 years and have never, not once, had an issue with the inversion method. It is safe and saves loads of time, besides being a safer method than dealing with gallons of boiling water.
I have used this recipe from Ball forever and it makes beautiful jam.
Jessica Robinson says
Thanks so much. This is OUR mixed berry jam recipe, NOT Ball Canning!!
We highly recommend water bath canning, as inversion can cause many issues. I’ve gone through USDA acidified foods course and these methods are not tested and recommended. With inversion method, there is simply not enough heat to seal the jars and properly heat canned goods to safe canning temperatures. In addition, you have a good chance of getting jam under the seals and they will not seal properly.
Kristina M. says
Hi,
I was wondering if I have to use all the sugar called for in this recipe.
Cassidy says
This was my very 1st foray into canning, only had 1 jar not seal. I used the plethora of fresh fruit I had leftover from a party, included some raspberries and just a few black grapes to fill void of the blackberries I lacked, it turned out fantastic. My only issue was my potato masher was too big to hit the blueberries and the quartered strawberries, so I ended up throwing the mix, minus the last 5 cups of sugar, into my blender to get the consistency I was seeking. I ended up with 20 half pints filled. All in all, great recipe and very well written instructions.
Jessica Robinson says
Oh thank you so much Cassidy!! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the recipe and made it work for you! I use a potato masher that has smaller holes in it and will mash better.
MommaLala says
I make dandelion jelly every year and wanted to dabble in something else. This jam recipe was super easy to make and smelled heavenly. It was a little sweet for me at 8am on toast but on a biscuit or warmed up on pancakes would be phenomenal! I was wondering if I wanted to change the berries if the 8 cup total would stay the same? For instance, I only had a mixture of strawberries, tart cherries, sweet cherries, and blueberries so I used 8 cups of that mixture and it was perfect. If I only wanted to use strawberries or only blueberries would it still just be 8 cups no matter what fruit? Thank you for this yummy easy recipe! I got 10 and 3/4 of half pint jars out of it
Jessica Robinson says
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! You can certainly mix up the berries if you wanted and keep the measurements about the same.
Cassie says
How would I adjust this recipe if I wanted to use a food mill to make a (mostly) seedless jam? Made the recipe a few days ago and put it through my food mill, which meant I ended up with only 8 half-pint jars of jam. It was also quite a bit sweeter than I was expecting.
Jessica Robinson says
Cassie,
Yes, this is a jam recipe, not a recipe for jelly. You could certainly use berries that have smaller seeds. Blackberries have huge seeds, blueberries have hardly any seeds and strawberries have very small seeds, raspberries have some seeds. You would likely need more fruit juice to make it work properly if you are running it through a food mill and removing all of the skins and pulp from the fruit.
Momma's Girl says
Jelly, as I understand it, can be made by clarifying the fruit pulp by putting it through cheesecloth -or other very fine strainer – so that just the clear juice comes through. Putting the fruit through a food mill to remove seeds and skins (but not the pulp) would yield seedless jam, which is how I prefer it as well.
Here’s what worked for me: I cooked the fruit until it was soft enough to be mashed with a potato masher, then I put it through the food mill (I used a medium sized grinding disc), then measured how much juice/pulp I had remaining, and adjusted the sugar so it was closer to a 1:1 ratio (though I used slightly less sugar).
Came out fine, and I was happy to use the leftover berries in the freezer as well!
Jessica Robinson says
Hello,
Thanks for stopping by. Did you make this jam recipe? Or did you make jelly with another recipe?! Thanks for visiting. Hope you will TRY one of our recipes soon.
Mary Dill says
I have been canning for over 50 years but never made jam with mulberries before until today. I followed the recipe but added only half the sugar and it was sweet enough. I also added .5 tsp. of vanilla extract. I should have added more pectin because it set a little soft. All in all, it was one of the easiest recipes to follow. Nicely done!
Jessica Robinson says
So glad to hear you loved this jam recipe! I put a bunch of metal spoons into the freezer while I’m making jam. Then when I think I’m close to the desired thickness use them to test. It cools off the jam enough to have a better idea of if it’s gonna jell correctly. You can always boil it a little longer to make it thicker too.
Susan says
I didn’t use the blackberries, just the blueberries and strawberries and double the recipe and it turned out wonderful.
Jessica Robinson says
So happy to hear you loved it!! I use whatever types of berries we have in the freezer.
Jenny says
Hi! This looks delicious! Could you use any amount of the berries as long as the total amount is the same? Just wondering as I have a variety of the berries in the freezer just not sure if amounts are the same.
Jessica Robinson says
Of course Jenny!! Use whatever you have for berries in the freezer. If you are using Pomona’s Pectin you can use her little guide to estimate how much pectin to add if you make a larger batch! Let me know if you need my calculation for a larger batch of this jam!
Molly says
I was wondering if the measurements for the berries are chopped or crushed? So 3 c strawberries chopped? Thanks! Can’t wait to try
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Molly,
It’s very hard to measure strawberries. I would just do your best to estimate 3 cups chopped/sliced strawberries. Let me know if I can help you in any way!
Lorin Buchhorn says
I’m not sure when all these comments came in but I made your recipe for the second time today. I have always used fresh berries and this time I cut my strawberries in half and instead of all blackberries , I did half blackberries and half raspberries along with the blueberries. It tasted fabulous! I have given many jars from the first batch to my kitchen help at church and they were blown away by the flavor!
This will be a forever recipe for me!
Jessica Robinson says
So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe!!
Pamela Graham says
This sounds wonderful. But I’m confused on the Pectin. 11.75 seems like a LOT. My boxes are only 1.75. I’m wondering if it’s a typo?
Jessica Robinson says
Hi Pamela,
It’s 1 (1.75-ounce) package of pectin. It’s just the way the recipe card makes it read. I fixed it to have parentheses so you can read it easier.
Aleah says
What is the shelf life??
Jessica Robinson says
Aleah,
Once you properly can the jam, it should be shelf stable for about 1 year.
Jake says
Wow! This mixed berry jam is looks really yummy. Strawberry is one of my favorite fruit so i would to try this out.
Jessica Robinson says
Jake,
It’s easy to make and so good! Thanks for visiting!
Agnes Dela Cruz says
I love jams! If only berries here in Asia is cheaper I can create tons of it and have it as a gift to fam and friends.
Anosa says
I do love homemade jams, thanks for this recipe, I am gonna give this recipe a try.