Canning Blackberry Jelly (Old-Fashioned Goodness)

As a little girl, I used to visit my grandma and grandpa’s farm on the weekends. The place was very picturesque complete with cows grazing in the pasture and an old tire hanging from a tree limb that served as a joyous swing for my siblings and I.

Grandma was always cooking yummy things up in her kitchen. I distinctly remember her making a variety of foods to place into Mason jars and preserve. These jars would end up in the root cellar to be enjoyed during the harsh months of winter.

One item that grandma made every summer was blackberry jelly. Oh, the yummy memories of grandma’s jelly! My grandma has since passed away, but I was the lucky one to inherit her recipe goodness. Her blackberry jelly recipe is actually the same one the NCHFP recommends as being safe, and I’ll be sharing it with you all, today.

The recipe is super easy to follow and is just 3 ingredients. I would have never guessed that grandma’s recipe contains so few because of how good it is. I’ll also share how to properly can the blackberry jelly, so you and your family can enjoy it for months to come.

Jar Size Matters

As with other jams and jellies, the size of the jar is important for safety reasons: only pint and half-pint jars are typically used, with larger ones such as quarts being too big for the heat to penetrate all the way to their center. You can’t just scale the ingredients to can larger jars. As NCHFP says:

If the largest jar size recommended is a pint jar, then there is not a formula to be able to say how to increase the process time for a larger jar.

Jar Size Choices Have You Frustrated?

So if you want to can more of this delicious jam, stick with more pints and half-pints…

Blackberry Jelly Recipe AND Canning Method

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Ingredients

• 10 cups blackberries
• 1 package of dry pectin (a standard 1.75 oz will do, that’s about 50 grams)
• 4.5 cups sugar

Equipment

• Water bath canning pot
• 8 qt non-reactive pan
• Half pint or pint Mason jars
• Lids/rings
• Jar grabber
• Funnel
• Spoon and ladle
• Cheesecloth-lined strainer or jelly bag

Phase 1: Sanitizing Everything

Before you do anything in terms of jelly making, you need to sanitize and sterilize and your equipment. This won”t take long, I promise!

Sanitization is just running them through a hot dishwater cycle or washing them by hand in hot, soapy water.

Sterilization is boiling them empty for 10+ minutes. You only need to do this for the water bath recipes that call for a processing time of under 10 minutes at sea level – which is our case! How many minutes to boil them? This again depends on your elevation, so use this table to figure out the exact amount of time:

Altitude	Jar Sterilization Boil Time
0 – 1,000 ft	10 minutes
1,001 – 2,000 ft	11 minutes
2,001 – 3,000 ft	12 minutes
3,001 – 4,000 ft	13 minutes
4,001 – 5,000 ft	14 minutes
5,001 – 6,000 ft	15 minutes
6,001 – 7,000 ft	16 minutes
7,001 – 8,000 ft	17 minutes
8,001 – 9,000 ft	18 minutes
9,001 – 10,000 ft	19 minutes

As you are waiting for the jars to boil, you can go ahead and sanitize the rings and the lids on hot, soapy water. DO NOT boil them, bands and lids do NOT need to be sterilized – this type of advice is outdated. Boiling can soften the sealant on the lids, which will cause some jars to fail at some point.

As a side note, you can probably run the rims and lids through the dishwasher cycle along with the jars to save time, but Ball actually recommends you hand wash the two. So to sum up:

1. Run jars through dishwasher, then:
2. Boil jars for 10 minutes (altitude-adjusted), and in the meantime:
3. Wash bands and lids by hand with hot, soapy water

Keep the jars in the dishwasher until they are ready to be used.

Phase 2: Prepping the Berries

Now, it is time to prep your blackberries. I like to place mine in a large colander and run cold water over them. As I do this, I gently remove the stems, leaves, and any debris that may be clinging to them.

Once I’m done cleaning the berries, I place 1 cup at a time into the food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped:

I then pour the berries into a cheesecloth lined strainer or into a jelly bag and let the juice drip into another bowl. Do not squeeze the jelly out because you’ll end up with solids in it. By the end, you should have about 3.5 cups’ worth of juice:

Next, place the juice (not the berries!) into the pan and add the pectin:

Stirring constantly, bring the jelly to a full rolling boil:

Next, after the pectin is dissolved add the sugar. Cook the mixture on a rolling boil for 1 minute while stirring constantly. Then, remove the pan from the heat and skim off any foam or bubbles that have formed.

Note: the order is important: first the pectin, then the sugar. Do not add the sugar and pectin together at the same time because the pectin might clump together with the sugar. Definitely not what you want!

Using the jar grabber, pluck your sanitized jars from the hot water and bring the pot to a boil again. Ladle the hot jelly into the jars and leave exactly 1/4 inch of head space. Wipe the rim of the jar with a clean, slightly damp cloth. Place a hot lid and rim on top of the jar and tightly screw them on.

Phase 3: Canning the Jelly

Place the jars into the hot water bath canner when water is boiling and process for 5 minutes, depending on your elevation. Make sure the jars are covered with 1 or 2 inches of water. Also make sure you make the proper altitude adjusts per your hot water bath canner instruction manual. Use the table below to figure out how long to process the jars:

Altitude	Add to Sea-Level Processing Time
0 – 1,000 ft	No adjustment
1,001 – 3,000 ft	+5 minutes
3,001 – 6,000 ft	+10 minutes
6,001 – 8,000 ft	+15 minutes
8,001 – 10,000 ft	+20 minutes

Once the jars are done, let them sit in the canner for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, it’s safe to remove them with your jar grabber and place them upright onto a towel or cooling rack. You need to let them fully cool before storing them. Plus, you want to be sure that they have fully sealed.

Note: do NOT retighten the bands or lids after you removed the jars from the water bath.

You can tell when you hear the lids begin to “pop”. Another way to tell if the lids have sealed is by pushing down on them with your finger. If the lid doesn’t pop up and down, then the jar has been sealed.

If after 24-hours the lids haven’t sealed, then you can store the jelly in the refrigerator and consume within a few days.

Remove the rims from your successful jars, label them and store them in a cool, dark place for up to one year of shelf life.

Pro Tips

• Do not mix liquid and powdered pectin as these substances are not interchangeable
• NEVER double a jelly recipe. We aren’t sure why but for some odd reason a doubled recipe doesn’t set up as it should
• If you find your jelly to be watery and not setting up properly, chances are you didn’t use enough pectin
• Add a little bit of bottled lemon juice to the jelly before canning if you want it to taste less sweet. This is safe to experiment with! Note that you should never cut the 4.5 cups of sugar in the recipe – it’s mandatory that you use this exact amount.
• If you are experiencing weather that is of high humidity, consider making your jelly on another day
• Do not overcook your jelly or your pectin won’t work

Happy jelly making and canning!