The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam Recipe

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam Recipe is perfect for you if you’ve ever felt intimidated by the thought of making jam, or you want to capture the luscious fruit of the season in a fast and simple way, or you simply adore raspberries! With a prep time of 10 minutes and only 30 minutes on the stove, you’ll be spreading this incredibly fresh, vibrantly fruity jam on your toast (or serving it on top of pancakes or waffles or swirled in yogurt or ice cream) in no time!

• No pectin needed: In our jam recipe, no special ingredients are necessary! Instead, naturally pectin-rich apple is used to thicken the raspberry jam.
• Skip the canning process! If you’d rather not go through the water bath canning process to make your fruit jam shelf stable, you’ll love our clever cold-storage technique. If you’re not going to enjoy your jam right away, simply freeze it for up to one year!

This is such a bountiful time for all kinds of produce, but but I particularly adore fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries when they’re at their absolute peak. We eat our share right from the fridge, but I also love to use berries in recipes that freeze well. After you make a batch of The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam, try seasonal berries in Strawberry Cornmeal Quick Bread, Gemma’s Best Ever Blueberry Muffins, and Simple Raspberry Scones.

Table of Contents

• What is The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam Recipe?
• Tools You Need
• Key Ingredients and Why
• How to Make The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam Recipe
• Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
• Make Ahead and Storage Instructions
• What is Pectin? 
• FAQs
• More Jam and Curd Recipes

What is The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam Recipe?

• The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam is a quickly-cooked fruit jam that does not require a hot-water canning process. Instead, it’s stored in the freezer. Although hot-water canning is easy to master with a recipe like our Classic Strawberry Jam with Pectin, it does involve more steps. The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam is a quicker, simpler process.
• The berries are mixed with sugar, lemon juice, and grated apple, and are lightly mashed, and cooked for 25 minutes until thickened. The apple is naturally high in pectin, and because it’s grated, it blends well with the berries, and contributes added flavor to the jam.
• Throughout history, people worldwide discovered ways to preserve food to carry them through leaner times. From drying, smoking, or fermenting, pickling, to packing in ice, to using honey, salt, and, finally, sugar, preserving food was a necessity. In the 4th century, Marcus Gavius Apicius wrote a book called De Re Coquinaria (The Art of Cooking), which included a recipe for cooking fruit with honey and then cooling and storing it. Contemporary cooks preserve food not only for necessity, but homemade jams and jellies taste great! The Easiest Raspberry jam is a streamlined way to preserve seasonal fruit, and it has an unbeatable fresh and vibrant flavor.

Tools You Need

• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Large 8-quart saucepan
• Canning lids
• Potato masher
• 8-oz jam jars
• Large box grater
• Metal spoon for cooking

Key Ingredients and Why

Raspberries

• Raspberries give this freezer jam sweet, bright, juicy flavor with a refreshing bit of tartness.
• If you have access to peak-season raspberries, by all means, use these! If not, frozen raspberries are a great alternative. They are picked and frozen at peak ripeness, so their flavor is much better than off-season fresh berries. Frozen raspberries, even organic ones, tend to be cheaper as well.

Granulated sugar

• Sugar is necessary to preserve fruit. It pulls the moisture out of the berries and creates an environment that inhibits bacteria and mold growth.
• Sugar sweetens the jam and evens out the tartness. Even though raspberries are sweet, the sweetness varies from berry to berry. The added sugar is crucial to achieving the perfect jam flavor.
• Additionally, sugar works with the natural pectin in the raspberries and apple to gel the jam and give it a spreadable consistency.

Lemon juice

• Lemon juice balances the sweetness of the necessary sugar in jam.
• Importantly, the lemon juice contains fruit pectin, which helps thicken the jam.
• Additionally, the acid in lemon juice helps preserve jam for a longer shelf life and helps prevent oxidation, keeping the jam’s color bright.
• You can use fresh or bottled lemon juice in this recipe.

Granny smith apple

• The apple provides natural pectin, which thickens the jam.
• An underripe Granny Smith apple is the best choice here because it is particularly high in pectin, so look for a firm apple.
• If you can’t find Granny Smith apples, the next best apples to use are Jonathan, Cortland, and McIntosh.

How to Make The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam Recipe

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips

• Buying jars and lids. Jam jars can be found in some grocery and hardware stores, or you can buy jam jars online. If you only need lids because, for some reason, like socks, they disappear in the wash, then you can buy just the lids.
• Stock up in-season. If you have access to berries or other fresh fruit while it’s at its peak, buy as much ripe fruit as you can. Wash (and remove stems and pits), pack into freezer bags and freeze so that you have a supply for batches of jam all year round! Buying fruit in season is important because it has the best flavor and because in-season fruit is considerably less expensive. So take advantage!
• Use a high-pectin apple. When choosing an apple for this recipe, go with a tart variety (like Granny Smith) that is very firm or under-ripe for the highest levels of pectin.
• How to tell the doneness. You can test the thickness of jam by using a plate test: before cooking the fruit, place a small plate in the refrigerator. Once the jam is done cooking, turn off the heat and place a small spoonful of jam on the cold plate and return to the refrigerator. After 10 minutes, check the jam. If the jam wrinkles when touched, then it is ready. If the jam is loose and has spread, cook the jam a bit longer and repeat the test until done. 

Make Ahead and Storage Instructions

• The Easiest Raspberry Freezer Jam Recipe yields jam that will last four weeks in the fridge or one year in the freezer.
• Frozen jam can be defrosted in the fridge overnight and should be consumed within four weeks.

What is pectin?

• Pectin is a substance found in fruits that helps make jams and jellies firm. It works by forming a gel when mixed with sugar and heat.
• Store-bought pectin is a commercial product made by extracting natural pectin from fruits, and it’s convenient for ensuring your preserves set properly.
• Pectin simplifies the process of making jams and jellies by ensuring a smooth, firm texture, reducing cooking time, and often allowing for less sugar, all while preventing sugar crystallization. 
   
• If you want to make a jam without pectin and your fruit is low in pectin, it can be combined with any high-pectin fruit to help jell the jam.

• What fruits are high in pectin?

  • Tart, under-ripe apples
  • Unripe blackberries
  • Lemons
  • Limes
  • Crab apples
  • Cranberries
  • Currants
  • Gooseberries
  • Plums
  • Grapes
  • Quinces

• What fruits are low in pectin?

  • Apricots
  • Blueberries
  • Cherries
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Raspberries
  • Strawberries

• What is the foam (scum) that appears when making jam?

  • The foam that rises to the top of the jam while it cooks is simply pieces of protein and pectin from the fruit mixed with trapped air bubbles. The foam is not dangerous to consume, but it will have a different texture than the rest of the jam and will streak your clear-set jam with ribbons of cloudiness. Luckily, scum can easily be removed from the surface with a metal spoon. Some people also place a round of wax paper directly on the scum and then carefully lift it off the jam. The scum will stick to the paper and can be discarded.
  • Finally, a touch of butter can break the surface tension of the jam, which keeps the foam from forming. This technique can also shorten the shelf life of jam, but because this jam is stored in the freezer, it’s fine to use here.

• Can I reuse jam jars for canning again?

  • You can reuse the glass jars as often as you like but the metal lids should be replaced every time you can. Used metal lids can, of course, be reused as lids for anything that you aren’t canning, and the lid rings can be reused to line the bottom of your canning stockpot to protect the jars from breaking. What is recommended to use for jam making (especially when canning) is the canning lids that come with a seal and a ring.

• How do I know if my stored jam is safe to eat?

  • If the jam was stored in the freezer, it will be fine as long as you defrost it in the refrigerator and eat it within two to three weeks.

• My jam is too runny/it didn’t set.

  • You may need to cook the jam for longer. You can also add 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice while you continue to cook to help the gelling process.

• My glass jars cracked when I added the jam.

  • If this happens, it is because the jars were too cold when the hot jam was added and the glass didn’t have time to expand. Make sure to wash the jars in very hot water and fill them while the jars are still warm.

More Jam and Curd Recipes

• Sweet and Boozy Peach Whiskey Jam
• Whole Lemon Curd
• 3-Ingredient Microwave Strawberry Jam
• Easy Orange Marmalade
• How to Make Raspberry Curd

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