Christmas Jam

Here’s a Christmas Jam in luscious sweet-tart blend of cranberries, strawberries, oranges, and a festively-ready-to-be-made spice that hits you right in the spot. The perfect canning recipe and a thoughtful homemade gift to be made this season!

Ingredients

• 12 Oz Cranberries (fresh or frozen, thaw first if frozen)
  

• 1 Orange, peeled and sectioned
  

• 2 tsp Orange Zest, from the peel
  

• 16 Oz Fresh or FrozenStrawberries (thaw if you use frozen)
  

• 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
  

• 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  

• 1/4 tsp Allspice
  

• 4 Cup Sugar, pure cane is best
  

• 1 – 1.75 Oz Package Powder Fruit Pectin
  

• 1/2 Cup Water
  

  Directions

  • Sterilize jars, lids and rings. Fill each jar to about two-thirds of the jar with water and place it in the water-bath canner. Add enough water to the canner, then place it on the stove over medium-high heat to sterilize the jars while preparing the jam.
  • Pour the lids into a small saucepan with some water, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, making the jam at the same time. The rings do not need to be sterilized; just put them aside.
  • Add the cranberries and orange, sectioned, to a blender. You just want to chop it, coarsely-but that’s what my blender has as an option: “food chop”. Then you add the strawberries, orange zest, and spices. Stir it about in the blender another second to combine them before you actually get it fine-pureed.
  • Bring the fruit mixture and water in a 5-quart stockpot to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in fruit pectin and add 1/2 teaspoon butter to reduce foaming. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
  • Bring to a boil, then add sugar, and then bring back to a full rolling boil. Boil for exactly 1 minute. Then remove from heat and pour off any foam on it with a metal spoon.
  • Fill the jam immediately into your prepared jars to within 1/4 inch of the headspace. Wipe the rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth or paper towel. Place the hot lids on top and screw on the rings just until they are finger-tight. Return the jars to the canner
  • Apply the lid and bring the water to a rolling boil. Process the jars for 10 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and uncover the canner. Allow the jars to be left there for 5 minutes.
  • Carefully remove the jars from the counter and set them on a towel-covered counter. Now just leave them alone for 24 hours before inspecting for seals.
  • Make sure that all jars sealed. If any have not sealed, simply put them in the fridge and use within 2 weeks.
    

    Tips for Making The Perfect Christmas Jam

    • You can totally omit the pectin in this recipe. I do use it when making mine, but it’s not at all a requirement. Cranberries and orange peels actually contain quite a lot of natural pectin, so if you omit it, that will just take a little longer to get to gel stage.
    • If you want to replace the sugar with honey-that’s great too! Just don’t use as much honey and omit the pectin or use one of the low-sugar pectin products. It’s going to have a slightly different flavor, but honestly, no one really notices.
    • And if your Christmas jam haven’t gelled yet, so what? That just needs some more cooking time. But to check easily, put a clean, dry spoon in the syrup. If the jam drips off in sheets of two drops, it’s ready to can.
    • The plus side is that if you mistake it and happen to overcook it, it becomes too dense; you can counter that by adding some port or apple juice to a boil and slowly add it to the jam, mix until it reaches your desired consistency.
    • On the other hand, if your jam becomes too runny after opening a jar, you can even fix that! This is done by just mixing 2 teaspoons sugar, 2 teaspoons of juice or port wine, half a tablespoon of lemon juice and one teaspoon powdered pectin into each half pint of the canned jam, then bring that to a hard boil for 1 minute; check on the gel stage before jarring it up to process it like you did before.