Easy Blackberry Freezer Jam (no canning skills needed!)

An easy, no-fail, super-delicious recipe for Blackberry Freezer Jam. Make it when sweet, ripe blackberries are in season and you’ll be thanking yourself all year long!

Hesitant to make your own jam? This blackberry freezer jam is a perfect place to start! It’s an easy, straightforward recipe that will bring lots of rave reviews. It’s fabulous on toast, biscuits, scones, ice cream… you name it! And there’s no canning knowledge needed!

So much to love

I love freezer jam for several reasons. First of all, there’s no cooking involved so the flavor stays nice and fresh. Second, there’s no canning knowledge needed… no sterilizing jars, hot water baths and worries about proper sealing. Once the jam has set for 24 hours, just pop it in the freezer and you’re good to go! It will keep that fabulous fresh flavor for up to a year!

In addition to serving it on toast, biscuits, scones, etc., we love to enjoy it with fresh fruit and Greek yogurt. Oh my, it takes breakfast from ordinary to quite extraordinary in seconds!

A few problems…

Freezer jam can have a few “issues” and this Blackberry Freezer Jam is no exception. If you’ve ever made freezer jam you might have run into one of these two problems:

1. Because the jam is not cooked, it can be difficult to dissolve the sugar, resulting in a “grainy” consistency.
2. Unlike traditional jam, which is cooked until it reaches the proper thickness, freezer jam is dependent on pectin as a thickening agent, which sometimes doesn’t seem to work resulting in a thin, runny jam.

But no worries, we’ve got the solution to both of these issues. After making freezer jam for over 40 years, I’ve learned a few little tricks to ensure success and one of them will take care of both of the above problems.

Although the directions on the box of pectin say to, “wait 10 minutes after combining the fruit and sugar” then to add the pectin and lemon juice and stir for 3 minutes. I find that a 10-minute wait does not dissolve the sugar and the jam comes out grainy. After lots of trial and error, I’ve discovered that a short stint in the microwave helps the sugar to dissolve, yielding perfect un-grainy jam.

The other benefit of the microwave treatment is that when the sugar is well dissolved, the pectin is able to do its job better. So it’s a win-win. No grainy texture and a good set!

You can check out the Café Tips section below for a few more tips and tricks to ensure success with this Blackberry Freezer Jam.

Can I reduce the sugar in this jam?

I get this question frequently since we have a lot of jam and jelly recipes, here at The Café. In this particular recipe, there are 4 cups of sugar and 2 cups of crushed berries. That may sound like a lot of sugar but, you have to remember, that you only eat a teaspoon or two of jam at a time. The sugar acts as a sweetener and a preservative as well as helping with the set of the sam.

So, the answer to the above question is no, if you want to ensure success. That being said, there are low sugar and no sugar pectins available however you would need to use the a recipe that’s created for this type of pectin, not this Blackberry Freezer Jam recipe.

Do I have to use the seeds?

You can strain the crushed blackberries in this recipe for a seedless version but you will need to start with a lot more blackberries to yield the two cups of prepared fruit. But, we’ve got another recipe for Blackberry Jelly (pictured below) that’s actually a much easier way to make seedless blackberry jam. Check it out here!

Who doesn’t love a gift from the kitchen?

This Blackberry Freezer Jam also makes a wonderful gift from the kitchen. Who wouldn’t love to receive a jar of delicious homemade jam? Pair it with a loaf of our No-Knead Pull-Apart Brioche (pictured in this post) or this super-easy, crazy-delicious Brioche Bread, a plate of biscuits or a carton of gourmet ice cream and you’ll be labeled a rock star!

And to make your gifts look really pretty and professional, we’re offering a free printable PDF of the labels pictured in this post. If you’d like to receive them, just let us know in the comment section below and we’ll email you the PDF with instructions on how to use it.

Don’t wait! Pick up some blackberries and take the time (less than 30 minutes) to make a batch of this DELICIOUS Blackberry Freezer Jam. You’ll be thanking yourself for months to come… Well, if it lasts that long!

Cafe Tips for making this Blackberry Freezer Jam

• If you’re purchasing blackberries from the supermarket in the little plastic cartons, you’ll need 5-6 small ½-pint cartons, depending on how many of the seeds you want to discard.
• Use a dry measuring cup to measure the crushed blackberries and level it off with a flat-edge knife, just like you would when measuring flour. If you’ve prepared too much of the crushed fruit, don’t be tempted to add it to the pot. Use any extra on your yogurt or ice cream or oatmeal. It’s important to stick with the measurements given to ensure success. (This goes for the sugar too. To read more about that, check the post up above.) Changing proportions of fruit and/or sugar can interfere with the setting of the jam and be the cause for too runny or too thick consistencies.
• Blackberry jam can be very “seedy”. You can adjust the level of seeds by straining some of the crushed blackberries through a fine-mesh strainer. I like to strain out about half of the seeds. You will need extra berries if you do discard some of the seeds as you want the prepared fruit to equal 2 cups.
• To strain out some of the seeds, you’ll need a fine-mesh strainer. These strainers are reasonably priced and are great for anything you would use a regular strainer for. They’re really handy when you want to make a really smooth, lump-free sauce or juice, too.
• Although I prefer to make this Blackberry Freezer Jam with seasonal fruit, it can also be made with grocery store blackberries or frozen fruit during the off-season.
• This recipe calls for liquid pectin. I use Certo. Certo is available at most larger grocery stores in the same area as the canning jars. If you can’t find it, check at the front desk. Different stores carry it in different areas. You can also find it online.
• Liquid and powdered pectin are NOT interchangeable. If you can’t find the liquid pectin, you’ll need to follow the directions and proportions on the powdered pectin box, not this recipe.
• Be sure to stir the jam for 3 full minutes after adding the lemon juice and pectin. Making sure the pectin is well incorporated helps the jam to set well.
• After this blackberry freezer jam has been sitting in the jars for an hour or two, you may notice that the fruit has risen to the top. No problem! Just give each jar a stir and the fruit will redistribute and stay in place.
• Don’t worry if you check your jam in the freezer and it has a whitish cast. That’s just because it’s frozen. Once thawed, the deep, beautiful color will return.
• I love the hexagonal jars pictured above for this Blackberry Freezer Jam. The labels fit so nicely on these jars, although you can also use regular smooth-glass jelly jars with good results too. The labels won’t adhere well to jelly jars with imprinted glass sides, but there is also a round label that we will include that will fit on the top of a regular glass jelly jar.

Thought for the day:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory,
the glory of the one and only Son,
who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John 1:14

What we’re listening to for inspiration:

Amazing Grace