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Full of delicious, red and flavorful fruits this tart Christmas Jam is the perfect blend of seasonal flavor and great on top of homemade biscuits. Easy to can up and a great, practical gift idea you’ll want to make a few batches to share.
This Christmas jam is probably one of my favorite jam recipes. It is the absolute perfect blend of Christmas flavor. It’s sweet–tart, simple, tastes delicious, and makes the house smell amazing. Just like Christmas. But, I also can it up during the year freezing cranberries in the hidden corners of the deep freeze until I’m ready for some goods to top my homemade biscuits.
This is also a fantastic homemade Christmas gift idea. I’ve yet to meet a person that doesn’t enjoy it, and homemade gifts just hold that special “I was really thinking of you” touch. Plus, they’re practical. No useless “I didn’t know what to get you so I bought you a t-shirt” gifts. Something practical that they can use and enjoy that won’t clutter up their lives with useless junk. That’s my kinda Christmas.
This stuff is really good on top of biscuits, and a great thumbprint cookie filling for the festive times of the year. But, don’t let it’s name fool you. You can certainly make it and enjoy it any time you want to. No one is going to judge you for making and enjoying Christmas jam in July or August, I promise.
The longer this recipe sits in jars, the better it is. It just seems to allow the flavors to really meld together the longer it’s allowed to sit. But, like all home canned goodies, you should enjoy it within the year. This stuff never lasts longer than a couple of months on our shelves, but the last jar we open is always, and I mean always, the best.
Related: Low-Sugar Strawberry Jam
How to Make Christmas Jam
Tools I Used for This Recipe
Christmas Jam
This delicious, festive Christmas jam is the perfect blend of holiday goodies and perfect for gift giving.
Ingredients
- 12 Oz Cranberries
- 1 Orange, peeled and sectioned
- 2 t Orange Zest, from the peel
- 16 Oz Frozen Strawberries, thawed, or you can use fresh
- 1/4 t Ground Cloves
- 1/4 t Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 t Allspice
- 4 C Sugar, pure cane is best
- 1 Package Fruit Pectin
- 1/2 C Water
Instructions
- Wash jars, lids, and rings. Fill jars 2/3rds full of water and place in water-bath canner. Fill with water. Put canner on stove over medium-high heat to sterilize jars while you make the jam.
- Place lids in a small saucepan covered with water. Boil over medium-high heat while you make the jam. Set rings to the side, they don't need sterilized.
- Place cranberries and sectioned orange into a blender. You just want them coarsely chopped. My blender has a food chop option, and I use that.
- Add in the strawberries and spices. Stir a bit in the blender to make sure they get mixed a little. Blend until everything is chopped fine. You don't want it pureed.
- Stir fruit mixture and water together in a 5 qt stock pot.
- Stir in fruit pectin and add your 1/2 teaspoon of butter (this reduces foaming).
- Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over high heat, stir constantly.
- Add sugar to the mixture. Return to full rolling boil. Boil exactly 1 minute.
- Remove from heat. Using a metal spoon, skim off any foam.
- Immediately laden hot jam into prepared jars. Leaving 1/4" headspace.
- Wipe rims and threads. Center lid. Place ring on just finger tight. Place jars back in canner.
- When all the jars are filled, fill canner with water until jars are covered with 2".
- Cover canner. Bring to a boil. Process for 10 minutes.
- Turn off heat. Uncover canner. Allow jars to sit for 5 minutes.
- Remove jars to a towel-lined counter and leave undisturbed for 24 hours before checking seal.
- Check for proper seal. If any didn't seal, place in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks.
Do you enjoy cranberries or do you think they’re too tart?
Other Christmas Recipes You’ll Love:
Maxine
Says stir in fruit mixture and water. How much water?
Danielle McCoy
Oh my goodness, thanks for catching that. I completely omitted it in the recipe! Haha. It’s 1/2 cup of water and I’m changing the recipe to reflect that now!
Maxine
Will add the water to the next batch. Worked out ok without it .. Love the taste. Thanks for posting.
Neva Elliott
Where did you get your jars with the cork top?
Danielle McCoy
You can find cork lid jars at hobby lobby and you can find just cork lids (and a handful of jars with cork lids) on amazon :).
Heidi
How many jars will this recipe make
Danielle McCoy
This recipe yields 6 half-pint jars.
Lucy
I’m making this in the Uk, and I’m not sure what 4c sugar is? I’ve got ham sugar, but I’m not sure how much to use.
Thanks
Danielle McCoy
Hi, Lucy. 1 Cup is 8 ounces, so you’d need 32 ounces. I looked it up and it says it’s also 250 mL so that would be 1,000 mL. I’m not entirely sure how sugar is measured, there :), but I hope this helps. To use jam sugar, you’ll use it ounce for ounce in place of the sugar called for in the recipe but you will omit the pectin.