An easy, homemade blackberry jam recipe that is perfect for beginners, low in sugar, and does not require any added pectin. Preserve the flavor instead of the sugar with this simple recipe that will come out perfectly every single time.

Blackberries are the ultimate summertime fruit. I love their flavor. It’s a unique, sweet flavor that no other fruit can compare to. While I love eating them fresh, preserving them in jam is my second favorite way to consume them.

What I love about making blackberry jam is the fact that you don’t need anything more than fresh blackberries to make it. Yes, sugar can be added but you don’t need much. If you choose to use sugar, I don’t recommend using much of it since it overpowers the blackberry flavor, defeating the purpose.

Another wonderful thing about blackberries is they have high natural pectin, so you do not need to add any pectin to this jam to get the perfect set.

Since you don’t technically need anything other than perfectly ripe blackberries to make this homemade jam, it makes it a great recipe for beginners. I use three simple ingredients in this easy recipe, though. Fresh berries, a bit of sugar, and some lemon juice.

This jam will take about 20-30 minutes to cook down, the only challenge is that it foams, a lot. You can add a tablespoon of butter to help with the foaming if you like (it’s safe), but it’s unnecessary.

Most jams, especially old-fashioned recipes like my raspberry jam recipe, call for near-equal amounts of fruit and sugar, but I find this really overpowers the fruit in this case and is unnecessary. We want the fruit to be the star of the show. So, I recommend using less sugar, though you can absolutely adjust the amount of sugar to your tastes, even omitting it altogether.

The only caveat to making blackberry jam is that the texture is really off-putting if you do not remove the seeds. So, to make the perfect blackberry jam the seeds need to be removed.

Making Seedless Blackberry Jam

The best way to remove blackberry seeds is to use a food mill. You’ll simply take your fresh blackberries, rinse them off and put them through the mill.

I was hesitant to add this particular tool to our kitchen because we already have so many kitchen tools, to begin with. But, it was fairly inexpensive and I’ve used it more than I originally thought.

You can take the seeds after you’ve run everything through the mill to make a puree and feed them to your chickens, they’ll love you for it.

Another way to remove most of the seeds is to place the berries and three tablespoons of lemon juice into a pan and mash them with a potato masher. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer and allow the fruit to break down a bit. Place the mixture into a fine-mesh sieve or jelly bag and press it into a large bowl. Add a couple of scoops of the puree back to the juice and finish making the jam.

Choosing blackberries for jam making

You will want to use ripe, or slightly underripe berries for this jam. You can use fresh berries from the grocery store or farmer’s market, wild blackberries, or even frozen blackberries (thawed) to make this recipe.

Blackberries purchased in grocery stores are likely to have a little less pectin in them as they’re typically sweeter. Wild blackberries are sourer, which means they’re naturally higher in pectin than their store-bought counterparts. You can use a mixture of any, or all sources for your berries. Just make sure to use ripe berries and not mushy ones.

Tips for Making Blackberry Jam

• The more sugar you use, the less your jam will need to reduce before it gels. This means, you’ll yield more jars the more sugar you use and spend less time cooking it down. 
• Every batch is going to be slightly different, so you’ll need to check for gelling. The simplest way to do this is to place a clean, dry, cool spoon into your syrup. Pull it out and when the jam starts dripping off in sheets (two drops at a time forming a sort of “sheet”) it is gelled and ready for canning.
• You can substitute honey for the sugar in this recipe. I tested it and it cooked down but took a while longer. Others say you need to add another high-pectin fruit (grated apple or a cup of cranberries). The thing with honey is it adds liquid to your recipe. If you use honey, I would use less honey as it is sweeter. It may take slightly longer to cook down. 
• Blackberry jam has a tendency to foam quite a bit while cooking. It’s important that you watch the pot continuously and stir frequently to keep the foam stirred down.
• You can add a 1/2 tablespoon of butter to any jam recipe to reduce foaming, but it creates an off-taste to some people once it’s canned and has sat. 
• If the blackberry jam hasn’t gelled, it needs to cook longer.
• Reduce the heat to low as it gets closer and closer to gelling to avoid scorching it (which is no fun to clean up and doesn’t taste good, ask me how I know….)
• This recipe can be multiplied up to 3 times to yield roughly 12 half-pint jars. Do not increase it beyond that as batches larger than this have trouble reaching the gel stage. 
• You can make this jam seedless by putting the berries through a food mill or fine mesh sieve before adding the berries to the pan. 
• Overcooked jam can be fixed before it is canned (as long as it isn’t scorched) by adding a bit of boiling port (which is delicious) or boiling fruit juice to the jam little bits at a time until it is the right consistency. 
• Undercooked jam can be fixed by combining the canned jam with 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of juice or port wine, 1/2 Tablespoon of lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon of powdered pectin per half-pint of jam and bringing it to a hard boil and allowing it to boil for 1 minute. Then, remove it from the heat, test for the gel stage and jar it up and process it as you did before.

How to Make Blackberry Jam

Begin by washing the berries. For seedless jam, run the blackberries through a food mill to remove the seeds, placing the puree in a shallow pan.

Combine puree (or whole berries), sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan and begin heating over low-medium heat. Mash blackberries with a potato masher if you didn’t make a puree, to begin with.

Bring mixture to a full boil, stirring frequently to reduce foaming. The national center for home preserving suggests adding a tablespoon of butter to the recipe to help reduce foaming further.

Continue boiling mixture at a full rolling boil until it begins to gel… about twenty minutes. The mixture will slide off a spoon in sheets when it’s ready.

Canning Blackberry Jam

This recipe can be canned in half pint jars for long-term shelf-stable storage.

Pour hot jam into prepared hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust for proper headspace if necessary.

Wipe jar rims with a damp cloth dipped in vinegar. Center the jar lids on the canning jars, and tighten the bands until resistance is met. Then continue until they are finger tight.

Place prepared jars in a prepared water bath canner, making sure they are covered by at least an inch of water. Place the lid on the canner and bring it to a boil.

Process jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes 1,000 feet and below. Cool for 12 to 24 hours before checking for good jar seals. Remove rings, and store in a cool, dark place for up to 18 months.

How to store your jam

If you follow the water bath canning process, you can store the jam in a cool, dark cupboard after checking the seals. It will keep for a year. Once opened, the jam should be put in the refrigerator and used within a month or two.

If you choose not to can it, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Other Jam Recipes You’ll Love:

• Christmas Jam
• Old-Fashioned No Pectin Raspberry Jam Recipe
• Low Sugar Strawberry Jam