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Homemade Christmas Jam

PUBLISHED: October 29, 2019 BY: Danielle McCoy DISCLOSURE: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you make a purchase. You can read our full disclosure here. This blog uses cookies click here for more information.

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!! 

Festive jar of Christmas jam.

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! 

Related: Low-Sugar Strawberry Jam

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

  • Jelly Jars
  • Granite Ware Canner
  • Canning Essentials Set
  • 5 Quart Stainless Pot
Christmas Jam
Yield: 6 1/2 Pint Jars

Christmas Jam

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Stir fruit mixture and water together in a 5 qt stock pot.
  6. Stir in fruit pectin and add your 1/2 teaspoon of butter (this reduces foaming).
  7. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over high heat, stir constantly.
  8. Add sugar to the mixture. Return to full rolling boil. Boil exactly 1 minute.
  9. Remove from heat. Using a metal spoon, skim off any foam.
  10. Immediately ladle hot jam into prepared jars. Leaving 1/4" headspace.
  11. Wipe rims and threads. Center lid. Place ring on just finger tight. Place jars back in canner.
  12. When all the jars are filled, fill canner with water until jars are covered with 2".
  13. Cover canner. Bring to a boil. Process for 10 minutes.
  14. Turn off heat. Uncover canner. Allow jars to sit for 5 minutes.
  15. Remove jars to a towel-lined counter and leave undisturbed for 24 hours before checking seal.
  16. Check for proper seal. If any didn't seal, place in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

96

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 37 Total Fat: 0g Saturated Fat: 0g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 0g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 1mg Carbohydrates: 10g Net Carbohydrates: 0g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 9g Sugar Alcohols: 0g Protein: 0g
© Danielle McCoy

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Other Christmas Recipes You’ll Love:

  • Peanut Butter Buckeyes
  • Homemade Peppermint Bark
  • Cranberry Salad
Previous Post: « 15 Questions to Ask to Improve Next Year’s Garden
Next Post: How to Make Cold Process Soap »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maxine says

    December 05, 2017 at 4:08 pm

    Says stir in fruit mixture and water. How much water?

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      December 05, 2017 at 7:25 pm

      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!

      Reply
      • Maxine says

        December 05, 2017 at 10:03 pm

        Will add the water to the next batch. Worked out ok without it .. Love the taste. Thanks for posting.

        Reply
  2. Neva Elliott says

    October 14, 2018 at 11:48 pm

    Where did you get your jars with the cork top?

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      October 15, 2018 at 9:42 am

      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 :).

      Reply
  3. Heidi says

    December 11, 2018 at 3:55 am

    How many jars will this recipe make

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      December 11, 2018 at 2:23 pm

      This recipe yields 6 half-pint jars.

      Reply
  4. Lucy says

    December 16, 2018 at 8:01 am

    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

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      December 17, 2018 at 8:42 am

      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.

      Reply
      • Brandi says

        December 03, 2019 at 11:55 am

        It would be called caster sugar in the UK. Just granulated sugar.

        Reply
  5. Louise says

    September 14, 2019 at 12:45 am

    Can I use raspberries instead of strawberries?

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      September 18, 2019 at 1:33 pm

      Hi Louise… I don’t see why not.

      Reply
  6. jeanbutler says

    September 21, 2019 at 10:21 pm

    Liquid or powder pectin?

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      September 24, 2019 at 12:13 pm

      Powder. I’ll fix that, thank you!

      Reply
  7. Theresa says

    October 26, 2019 at 12:11 pm

    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?

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      November 01, 2019 at 9:59 am

      You’re welcome to try it, but since it isn’t the same recipe I can’t guarantee it will set.

      Reply
  8. Alicia says

    November 06, 2019 at 10:10 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      November 07, 2019 at 4:39 pm

      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 :(.

      Reply
  9. Lisa Chappell says

    November 07, 2019 at 1:36 pm

    I bought liquid pectin before the recipe was changed to powdered pectin. Can I use it?

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      November 07, 2019 at 4:38 pm

      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.

      Reply
  10. Nicole says

    November 11, 2019 at 8:29 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      November 12, 2019 at 10:53 am

      I’m so glad you liked it! The orange juice is a great idea :).

      Reply
  11. Cathy says

    November 16, 2019 at 3:13 pm

    A lovely jam! And a great giveaway! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      November 18, 2019 at 2:30 pm

      Thanks Cathy! Glad you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  12. Carole says

    November 16, 2019 at 3:56 pm

    When do you add your orange zest?

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      November 18, 2019 at 2:31 pm

      Sorry, fixing now. I add it when I add the strawberries and spices.

      Reply
  13. Vicki says

    November 18, 2019 at 12:26 pm

    @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!

    Reply
  14. Sara says

    November 22, 2019 at 9:48 pm

    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.

    Reply
  15. Sabrina says

    December 05, 2019 at 12:37 am

    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?

    Reply
    • Danielle McCoy says

      December 05, 2019 at 9:32 am

      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.

      Reply

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Hey there! I’m Danielle. Wife, mama to three awesome farm girls, and passionate about helping others ditch the status quo to live more self sufficient lives, no matter where they live. We’re growing our own food, cooking from scratch and taking steps toward self sufficient living on just an acre, and I think you can, too.

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