Small Batch Mixed Berry Jam

I've pared down this homemade jam recipe to produce a small batch mixed berry jam using three different types of seasonal berries - strawberries, blueberries and raspberries - and far less sugar than is traditionally called for, but still with loads of fresh, delicious fruit flavor.

Spread this sweet and tart jam on my ready-in-30-minutes Flaky 2-ingredient Self Rising Flour Biscuits!

Use Seasonal Fruit to Make Homemade Jam

I love summertime and its bounty of fresh fruit. When the local farmers markets open their gates and seasonal fruit is available aplenty and relatively inexpensive, I am in heaven!

I started making my own jam a few years ago using seasonal fruit and am continually surprised at how easy it is to do this at home.

It's been fun to experiment with flavors and add-ins for my jams and, of course, sharing them with family and friends!

Homemade Jam = less sugar!

My favorite part of making homemade jam is the ability to control the amount of sugar that goes into it. Have you ever read the nutrition label on the back of store-bought jams or jellies? If you haven't, don't! There's loads of sugar in there.

And, if you've browsed homemade jam recipes previously, you've probably noticed how much sugar those recipes call for, too. It's kinda crazy!

I remember clearly when my middle sis, Stephanie, and I went to make our first batch of jam together at my house a couple of years ago. W

e both almost passed out reading the recipe that called for nine cups of sugar. Nine! We were making a large batch that we were going to can (aka, preserve), but still!

Nine cups was a ton of sugar for the number of jars we were aiming to yield. We pared the sugar down by more than half and the amount of sweetness that resulted was perfect.

So, I've been doing the same ever since!

How to Make Homemade Jam

Making jam at home is not difficult at all. And since this recipe produces about one eight-ounce jar of mixed berry jam, there's no canning or preserving required to store excess jars.

To start, wash your berries thoroughly with cold water - see tips below for best time to do this.

Pick out any stems from the blueberries. Hull the strawberries (aka, remove the stem and the tough part just below it - I love this little tool for hulling strawberries) then quarter them.

Put all the berries in a large heavy-bottomed pot and stir in the sugar. Allow this to sit for at least 15 minutes. This is sometimes called macerating. It's sort of like marinating and it helps to draw moisture out of the fruit.

Once the berries have been macerated, start cooking them, stirring continuously, following the directions in the recipe below. After you add in the citrus juice and the jam starts to resemble jam-like consistency,

there's a neat little trick for checking its doneness. Stick a small plate in the fridge while the jam is cooking. Once it reaches a point where it seems jam-like, spoon a small amount onto the chilled plate and stick it back in the fridge for a couple of minutes.

If you can drag your finger through the jam and it retains it's shape without being too watery or runny, it's done!

Tips for Making This Recipe

• Store your berries in the fridge in their original containers until ready to make this recipe. Do not wash the berries until you are ready to use them. Leaving the berries in their containers unwashed will prolong the life and freshness of the berries. Here's a great article on storing and rinsing different types of berries
• Be sure to keep close by the stove while the jam is cooking. When the berries begin to break down and the water naturally in them evaporates, the sugars that are left behind tend to burn very easily. So, continue stirring the berries, especially as the liquid thickens, to avoid burning
• Experiment with the types of berries in this recipe! Try anything that's seasonal and inexpensive, just retain the quantities listed or adjust the scale as necessary (click the 2x, 3x buttons in the recipe card below if you increase the amount of berries). Try adding in different types of citrus zest, sprinkling in some vanilla seeds from fresh vanilla beans, or adding in some freshly grated ginger to spice it up a bit

This Small Batch Mixed Berry Jam goes perfectly with these recipes:

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