Berry Berry Jams

I love jams!  I love making jams!  I love picking fresh berries and making jams!

One of my favorite things to do at the start of summer is to pick berries and then make freezer jams.  I make enough jams to last me a whole year, and also give out to my dear friends.


This is what I did today with friends.  We went to the Remlinger Farms in Carnation, WA,  where they have organic strawberries which were already 2 weeks in season, and today was the start of raspberry season.  The fruits weren't as plentiful as in the years past because as you all know in Seattle, we've not had much of a summer.  Still yet, the fruits were good, much better than any you buy at the store.  You can tell by the sweet smell of the berries which are much sweeter than even the organic ones in the store...


Started at 9am in the morning with a trip to the farm....


Here is the gang, except Bia who joined us a little later.

The strawberries at these farms are always much smaller than what you see at the grocery stores.   This is what makes flavorful jams and these are really sweet!

It took a whiles but were able to fill our flat

After the strawberries, we went to pick the raspberries.  Now the strawberries are smaller than the ones you normally buy, but raspberries are much bigger than the raspberries you see in the store.   They are just as sweet and flavorful.

But, there were more green ones than the red ones.

We were able to find a good amount of it though.

At the end of day, were able able to go home with about 1 full flat of raspberries and 2 full flat of strawberries.  $1 per pound for strawberries and $2 per pound for the raspberries.  What a deal!

Now home to make the jam....


I like to make freezer jam because you don't have to cook the berries. Cooking berries kills the  enzymes, the freshness, and the vibrant summer flavors of the berries.   Freezer jams help retain the flavors because you store them in the freezer and they won't spoil. Amazingly they stay very fresh.  You can keep it in the freezer for up to 1 year, I think I've gone even 1 year and half.  Below is the recipe I use from the back of the pectin label.  Below are pictures of how we spent the day making it, and then enjoying with some bread.


8 cups of crushed berries
3 cups of Sugar
2 packages of instant pectin
-Stem and wash the berries well.  Drain all the water.
-Put the berries in a large bowl.  Crush the berries using your hands.  Wear plastic gloves because berries will stain the fingers.
-Mix the sugar and pectin and combine well using a wire wisk.
-Pour the sugar/pectin mixture into the berry mixture and stir well.
-Ladle or pour the berry mixture into the clean mason jars.  Let sit at least 30 minutes and cover with lids.
-Put the finished jams into freezer or refrigerate if you are going to eat right away. 
-When you want more jam, take out of freezer and let sit in refrigerator for a few hours until defrosted.
-Serve them with your favorite bread, ice cream, or any other times you need a sweetness of a fresh fruit jam.


Once we got home, we got started with removing the stems of the strawberries.

Then washed them with water then drained.

After that, it's time to smash the berries with hand. It's okay and good to have some good chunky pieces.

For the raspberries or anytime you make berries with lots of seeds, make sure to strain the berry juice.  Save 1/2 seeds and add them back to the juice mixture.  If you kept all the seeds then it's too much and too distracting, but you need the seeds to give characteristics of the berry, raspberry in this case.

Here is what your final mixture will look like.

Next you prepare your pectic and sugar mixture.  These are considered dry ingredients, so they need to be mixed evenly before adding to the berry mixture.

After the berry an sugar/pectin mixture is well combined, then you ladle them into your jars.

Or your can pour them via funnel.  Whatever is the easiest or the kind of jars you are using.

Here are our final jars...

We enjoyed them with fresh bread and croissants.

We ended up making 63 jars, sizes varied from 1 pint jars to 1/4 pint jars. Phew, another year good of berry jams.  I will try other fruits with the seasons....