Making Wine Raspberry Jam

Making jams and jellies is a summertime activity for us here in Pennsylvania. Actually, we’ll start in spring with our canning activities by making strawberry freezer jam or blueberry jam. By the time summer rolls around the raspberries ripen up for their turn under the potato masher. This year we made a new jam for the first time, Wine Raspberry Jam.

Wineberries are a delicious and slightly sour kind of red raspberry. They originated from Asia, but are now established in the eastern United States. They are also known as wine raspberries.

Since we ate berries all day and still came home with almost four quarts on the day we picked them in early July, we decided to make some jam. Like most berries these are probably the best when eaten fresh, but their fruiting season doesn’t last too long. Making jam is the best way to enjoy them all year long.

Wine Raspberry Jam Recipe

To make homemade jam, it’s pretty easy. This recipe should work for any berry. Consult the information sheet that comes with a box of pectin for ratios of fruit to sugar for the different fruits. Some are more watery than others, so adjustments to a generic recipe might be warranted. What follows worked great for our wine raspberries.

Washed wineberries ready to be smashed for jam. Photo taken 11 July 2011.

• Wash a dozen jelly jars. We used the dishwasher on a light cycle just before making the jam. That way, the jars were hot just prior to filling with the cooked jam. Take out one jar at a time and let the others remain hot in the washer. Heated jars will seal better than cold ones.
• Put lids and bands together and place in bottom of large pot. Cover with boiling water to sterilize the lids.
• Measure out 7 cups of sugar into a large bowl.
• Wash and pick through berries to remove any foreign material
• Use a potato masher to smash about a cup of berries at one time.
• Measure out five cups of crushed wineberries into a large (6 qt.) saucepan.

Five cups of crushed wineberries for making jam. The berries seemed very watery and quite seedy. Photo taken 11 July 2011.

• Gradually stir in one box of fruit pectin, any brand.
• Heat over high heat – stirring constantly – to a full, rolling boil.
• Add the sugar all at once. That’s why you measure it out in advance.
• Heat the fruit and sugar mixture, while stirring, to a full boil. Boil for one minute.
• Remove from heat. Use a ladle and funnel to fill one jar at a time. Leave a quarter-inch of headspace.
• Wipe any drips from the rim or threads of the jar with a damp paper towel. This step might not be necessary when you can use a funnel to fill the jars. Rest the funnel in a glass in between filling jars.
• Use tongs to remove a lid and band from the large pot and shake off excess water.
• Screw top firmly on jar and invert jar onto its lid.
• Ladle jam into the remaining jars and add lids. Fill one jar at a time. Makes eight or nine 8 oz. jars.
• Turn all jars upright and leave undisturbed for 24 hours.
• For quality assurance purposes eat some toast with jam from the cooking pot.
• Listen for the ‘pop’ of the lids as the jam cools and the jars seal. Test the seal by pressing down on the lid with a finger. If the lid moves, it didn’t seal. Refrigerate any jars that did not seal.
• Label the jars with “Wineberry Jam”.
• Smile. It’s all good!

Wineberry jam looks rather seedy, but the seeds are not tough ones for the most part. Photo taken 11 July 2011.

Eleven wineberry jam jars labeled for the pantry. Photo taken 11 July 2011.

Wine raspberry jam is a new addition to our pantry. These jars will sit next to the blueberry jam, blackberry jelly and elderberry jelly until handed out as gifts or enjoyed on bread or toast.