Super-Simple Freezer Jam

This sweet, juicy freezer jam takes just two ingredients, can be manipulated for any berry and is simple to make.

This freezer jam recipe is so super-easy that it is almost embarrassing to post on the blog. All you need is the berry of your choice, white sugar and a large soup pot to whip out some of the best jam you have ever tasted.

The fact that you source the ingredients makes it as wholesome and organic as you want and with no pectin you can have something completely additive (and preservative since you’ll be freezing it) free.

We are at the tail-end of raspberry season here in SW Ontario, so it’s a great time to stock up and make a batch of freezer jam. I bought a flat of raspberries then half a flat each of strawberries and blueberries from a local nursery.

That photo makes me drool!

Rinse your berries and then mash them up in a large soup pot. The pot will seem oversized now, but once the fruit gets to a rolling boil it will double in volume, so be safe and go too big versus too small.

I made one batch of raspberry jam and then another that I called “bumbleberry” because it was a mixture of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. The strawberries I chopped up into smaller pieces, but the rest of the fruit was just mashed with a potato masher.

Heat the berries until they reach a full rolling boil and then let boil for 2 minutes.

Add in your sugar and stir well.

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and continue to let it boil for another 2 minutes.

Remove the raspberry jam from the heat and mix with a rotary mixer for 4 minutes. Be careful, hot sugar burns and the mixture tends to splatter everywhere.

Pour into clean jars and seal.

Because this is freezer jam, you don’t have to sterilize the jars and lids. Dishwasher clean is fine. The sterilization process is for shelf jam – to ensure that there are no mould spores or bacteria in the jars before canning. Nothing gets moldy in the freezer and bacteria can’t survive a deep freeze, so we’re okay without that extra step.

Isn’t that raspberry jam gorgeous?!

Think PB&J, sweet toast in the morning or as a scrumptious topping on ice cream.

The jar below is a mixture of bumbleberry jam and raspberry freezer jam (I ran out of jars before I ran out of jam) so you can see a slight difference in colour and texture.

I bottled up 20 jars and gave a few away to friends.

This will give you an idea of the cost savings on making your own super-simple freezer jam versus buying jars in the store. (Canadian pricing)

flat of raspberries (10 pints) $45.00
blueberries/strawberries (2 quarts each) $18.00
white sugar 4kg $4.99
Total = $67.99
divided by 20 jars = $3.40 per jar

Store-bought jam = anywhere from $3.69 to $5.99 for the same size jar.

Shoot. I thought it was going to be a bigger savings than that. Can you tell I write as I think and don’t really pre-plan my posts? lol

Regardless, this freezer jam tastes WAAAY better, has better and fewer ingredients and you can use it as a gift (you can’t really give a jar of Kraft without getting a weird look.)