This Christmas Jam is a delicious, sweet-tart blend of cranberries, strawberries, oranges and seasonal spices that are sure to please your palate. Perfect for canning up and giving away as a thoughtful, homemade gift this season!
I love the flavors associated with the Christmas season. From sweet, delicious homemade candies and chocolates to the sweet-tart flavor of cranberries and spices. There’s nothing quite like it.
A few years ago, we purchased some Christmas Jam from a local farmer’s market. We brought it home not quite knowing what to expect and were blown away with how delicious it was. I was never able to locate the merchant again to buy more, but I did start to experiment and perfect my own recipe.
And, after several trials and errors, I think I’ve finally found the one. The best, most simple blend of Christmas flavors anyone could ask for.
This jam is super easy. And that’s saying a lot coming from someone who isn’t all that great at making jam (I just haven’t had enough practice, yet). It’s also incredibly delicious and even better than that jam I purchased from the farmer’s market years ago.
Since this jam cans up so well, it will keep for a long while and is a fantastic homemade Christmas gift idea. The longer it sits, the better it tastes, so there’s no harm in making it up in October and giving it away in December.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a fan of practical, thoughtful gifts for Christmas. Sure, you can buy anyone something, but nothing quite says “I was really thinking of you and I love you” like a homemade gift.
Especially when that gift is a jar of this delicious Christmas jam.
But, be forewarned. It’s so good, you’re going to want to keep it all to yourself!!
You can use fresh or frozen fruit in this recipe, so don’t feel like you’ve got to buy strawberries out of season to eat this stuff. You don’t. If you do choose to use frozen fruit, you’ll need to make sure you let it thaw completely before you start making it. The added water content may make it take just a tad longer to cook down, even after you’ve thawed the fruit, but it will taste essentially the same.
I know I’ve been known to forget and leave cranberries sitting in the freezer for longer than I intended. This recipe is the perfect use for those!
Tips for Making The Perfect Christmas Jam
- You can omit the pectin in this recipe. I use the pectin when I make mine, but it isn’t completely necessary. Cranberries and orange peels are naturally high in pectin. If you omit it, it will simply take a tad longer to reach gel stage.
- You can substitute honey for the sugar in this recipe. If you do, you’ll want to use a little less and either omit the pectin or use low sugar pectin in its place. It will change the flavor slightly, but it’s not super noticeable, in my opinion.
- If your Christmas Jam hasn’t gelled, it simply needs to cook longer.
- A simple way to check for gelling 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.
- If you overcook it (i.e. it’s too thick), you can bring some port or apple juice to a boil and slowly add it to the jam until it’s the consistency you want.
- If you undercook the jam (it’s runny after you open up a jar), you can fix it! Simply combine the canned jam (a jar or two at a time) 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 hard boil for 1 minute. Then, remove it from the heat, test for the gel stage and jar it up and process it like you did before.
- You can safely store it for up to 1 year on the shelf as long as it is properly sealed.
Tools I Used to Make Christmas Jam
Christmas Jam
This delicious, festive Christmas jam is the perfect blend of holiday goodies and perfect for gift giving.
Ingredients
- 12 Oz Cranberries (fresh or frozen, thaw first if frozen)
- 1 Orange, peeled and sectioned
- 2 t Orange Zest, from the peel
- 16 Oz Fresh or FrozenStrawberries (thaw if you use frozen)
- 1/4 t Ground Cloves
- 1/4 t Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 t Allspice
- 4 C Sugar, pure cane is best
- 1 Package Powder 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, orange zest 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 ladle 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.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
96Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 37Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 0gSugar: 9gProtein: 0g
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Maxine says
Says stir in fruit mixture and water. How much water?
Danielle McCoy says
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 says
Will add the water to the next batch. Worked out ok without it .. Love the taste. Thanks for posting.
Neva Elliott says
Where did you get your jars with the cork top?
Danielle McCoy says
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 says
How many jars will this recipe make
Danielle McCoy says
This recipe yields 6 half-pint jars.
Lucy says
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 says
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.
Brandi says
It would be called caster sugar in the UK. Just granulated sugar.
Louise says
Can I use raspberries instead of strawberries?
Danielle McCoy says
Hi Louise… I don’t see why not.
jeanbutler says
Liquid or powder pectin?
Danielle McCoy says
Powder. I’ll fix that, thank you!
Theresa says
Will this recipe work with less sugar using the less sugar pectin? I prefer the fruit to shine and not as much sweetness as “full sugar” jam (pectin). I also think I would leave out the berries and just use the cranberries and orange, would I use cup for cup replacing cranberry for strawberries?
Danielle McCoy says
You’re welcome to try it, but since it isn’t the same recipe I can’t guarantee it will set.
Alicia says
New to canning. Like this cranberry/strawberry recipe. Love the presentation of the corked jar,however, can you process this jam with a corked lid? Confused on this issue. Thank you
Danielle McCoy says
Hi Alicia,
No, you cannot process it with a corked lid. It’s just for presentations sake. You must use a canning jar, canning lid, and a canning ring 🙂 and it has to be stored with just the sealed canning lid on it. Sorry for the confusion :(.
Lisa Chappell says
I bought liquid pectin before the recipe was changed to powdered pectin. Can I use it?
Danielle McCoy says
Hi Lisa,
Absolutely. I can’t guarantee the ratio will be the same, but you can use it. You can also entirely omit it and it will still gel, it will just take a little longer.
Nicole says
Thank you for coming up with a recipe that isn’t a disguising amount of sugar. I still only did 3.5 cups and I substituted orange juice for water and didn’t do the orange and it was amazing!
Danielle McCoy says
I’m so glad you liked it! The orange juice is a great idea :).
Cathy says
A lovely jam! And a great giveaway! Thanks!
Danielle McCoy says
Thanks Cathy! Glad you enjoyed it.
Carole says
When do you add your orange zest?
Danielle McCoy says
Sorry, fixing now. I add it when I add the strawberries and spices.
Vicki says
@Nicole, thank you for the idea to use orange juice instead of water. I’m going to try this with honey (reduce the amount from 4c of sugar) and no pectin. I’ll post my results!
Sara says
I made this this evening and it’s amazing! I can’t wait to gift these! I think next time, though, I’m going to use my food processor. Part of my mixture was still whole and part was nearly pureed. I used frozen strawberries that I had to thaw briefly. I poured the liquid from them into my measuring cup in place of some of the water.
Jennifer says
My first ever jam making experiment, and I couldn’t ask for better. Our new holiday tradition!
Sabrina says
I want to make jam for Christmas morning breakfast, but I’ve never canned before. Do I have to “can” it? Can I just make it a couple of days before and store in any glass container?
Danielle McCoy says
Hi Sabrina, you can absolutely make it a day or two in advance. Store it in the refrigerator and I’d use it up within a week or so. Canning simply makes the jam shelf stable and isn’t required. But, it does have to be refrigerated if it isn’t canned. Hope that helps.
Victoria says
I tried this recipe and it was amazing! I used a blood orange and it came out great(: it was my first time jamming and I felt the recipe was very easy to follow! Thank you!
Diane Kruger says
This jam is so unique. The taste combines sweet and tart sends my taste buds wanting more.
This is my second batch I made and I bought a small piece of Christmas print to add charm to my gift giving with my jars. Very big hit!
I put some orange juice in mine which heightened the taste.
Very easy, fun and enjoyable to make!
Lisa says
Can you substitute raspberries for strawberries? I have a lot of raspberries and wold love to use them in this recipe.
Danielle McCoy says
Absolutely :).
Lisa Hill says
I am new to canning, and I’m a little confused about the butter. It is not listed in the ingredient list. Do I use salted or unsalted butter? I’m looking forward to trying this recipe!
Danielle McCoy says
The butter simply cuts down on the foam when you’re cooking down the jam. It isn’t necessary, it can just help so it doesn’t foam as much. You can use salted or unsalted or omit it altogether :).
Debbie says
I’ve started making jam for Christmas gifts for friends and family. Can’t start to early. When I found yours, I just had to make. Since I made one jam already with cranberries and strawberries; I decided to replace the cranberries with raspberries and replace water with orange juice. It tastes great, but I think next batch I’ll up the spices. Thanks for sharing.