Raspberry Jam

We had an abundance of raspberries in the front yard this year and so it seemed only appropriate to try and “preserve” them in some form. A quick search of Epicurious turned up this deliciously simple recipe for jam from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving. We’ve augmented it slightly, based on others comments, but it’s simplistic amazingness.

For this you’ll need 5 cups fresh raspberries (washed), 4 cups cane sugar, just less than 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice and several mason jars (sterilized by boiling in water, we used x3 of various sizes we had in the cupboard).

Preheat the oven to 250. Pour all of the sugar into a low sided baking pan and place it into the warm oven for 15 mins – sugar dissolves faster when it is warm.

In a large Dutch oven, or similar sized steel or enamel pot (just make sure it is large enough to hold about 2 quarts as the boiling process quickly expands the liquids) pour in all of the raspberries over high heat. Mash them well with a potato masher and let the resulting liquid boil vigorously for about 1-3 mins. Add sugar and lemon juice and stir well. Continue to boil for another 12-20 mins, stirring occasionally, until the bubbles begin to darken and the liquid begins to thicken. You can tell the right thickness by using a cold spoon – dip it in the liquid and if the liquid clings to the spoon and forms one large drip before dropping off the spoon, it is thick enough. If you have a thermometer handy, it should be 215-220 degrees.

Turn off the heat and ladle the mixture into the sterilized jars. Place the caps on loosely until the jam comes to room temperature. Then seal and store in the fridge. But eat some first, on warm toast with butter before you do anything else.

Yum.