Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Mulberry Jam!

A dear friend, who lives close by, invited me to come and pick mulberries.  Her tree is enormous and it is loaded with sweet berries this year!  I came home with about a gallon of berries.  I decided to make jam, and looked in my cookbooks, but couldn't find a recipe.  I looked online and the information I found was all so contradictory that I decided to make up my own recipe from what I had read.  So, here goes...



Mulberry Jam

 Before you begin, gather your jars, lids, rings, cloth for wiping jar rims.  Wash the jars and have them sitting on a cookie sheet in a 225 F oven.  Pour boiling water over your lids and let them sit until you are ready to use them.  Then...

1. Pour berries into a colander and rinse well and let drain.
2. Spread the berries out on some sort of tray and check for stowaways (i.e. bugs)
3. Quickly crush the berries in a food processor.  You can use a potato masher, but the processor works much better.
4. Measure the crushed berries.  In my batch, I used 8 cups.


 5. For each cup of crushed mulberries, add 1 cup of sugar.  It took 4 pounds of sugar for my batch.



6. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg (for this amount of berries.)
7. Stir and bring to a boil and simmer until the mixture reaches 220 degrees F on a candy thermometer.



8. Skim off the "foam" that rises to the surface as best you can before it is fully cooked.



9. Ladle into sterilized jars leaving 1/8 to 1/4 inch head space.  Carefully wipe the jar rims. Put on the lids and rings and tighten finger tight.
10. Turn the filled jars upside-down and leave them like that for 2 minutes.



11.  Turn them right side up and allow to cool.  That's it!



I know this is not the approved method... that is, I didn't process in a water bath canner.  My experience has been that if I work quickly, and have everything sterile, my jam does not get moldy. It really is delicious, and mulberries are incredibly nutritious, being rich in vitamins, minerals and the important phyto-nutrients. 


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7 comments:

  1. AprilJune 10, 2015 at 1:20 PM

    Yum! I remember picking mulberries down the road from our farm.

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  2. PattiJune 12, 2015 at 12:46 AM

    Thanks for sharing your version of the "old way". It gives me the confidence to try it! Now I just need some berries or maybe cherries. Lol
    Hope you are loving your new home.

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    Replies
    1. loves2spinJune 12, 2015 at 10:48 AM

      Patti, I do love our new home. Good luck with your jam. I'd surely appreciate it if you would share your results!

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  3. AthanasiaJune 13, 2015 at 12:52 AM

    I remember sealing jars with paraffin. I still have an unused block of it in the canning cupboard...I think it was only 49¢ or so.

    I can't think of anyone with a mulberry bush around here.

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    Replies
    1. loves2spinJune 13, 2015 at 8:26 AM

      Athanasia, you might ask around... on Facebook, at your local County Extension office, etc. Yes, when I was growing up we used the paraffin wax. We melted it in a double boiler arrangement (so it won't explode!) and then put on a thin layer over the jam/jelly, let it harden, then added another thin layer. It worked just fine. And when we took off the paraffin, I remember the joy of licking off the messy side of it. :)

      Delete
  4. momsavJune 13, 2015 at 11:34 PM

    I used to can jams and jellies the same way. It's only been recently that i've been using the water bath. Our house is just about always moist, so i've been afraid of mold here. If we ever move to a dryer home i'll go back to it. I never had a problem!

    ReplyDelete