Blueberry Jam Recipes

Bilberry is a Russian berry of amazing healthfulness, which, unlike its sisters, cranberries, lingonberries and cloudberries, grows not only in the north, but also in the south, in the Caucasus mountains. Blueberry jam for the winter can be made in many unique ways: no cooking, no sugar, no water. It goes well with many fruits and other berries. The recipe for thick blueberry jam for the winter is the dream of many housewives, because there is a lot of juice in the berries and a delicacy prepared according to standard recipes is often liquid, almost like compote. Further in the article, we will describe some of the secrets of making such a thick dessert while preserving it for the winter.

Why is blueberry jam useful?

Blueberries are incredibly healthy berries. It contains large quantities of vitamins C, A, E, PP and group B, rather rare minerals such as selenium, manganese, sodium, magnesium, iron, chromium, zinc, sulfur and phosphorus, as well as many organic acids - succinic, cinchona, oxalic, tannins. The presence of melatonin helps fight cancer cells and normalizes sleep.

Its most important healing property is considered to be a positive effect on vision. Regular consumption of blueberries increases visual acuity and the ability to see in the dark. The berry normalizes blood circulation in the eyes and restores retinal cells.

In addition, blueberries are capable of:

• to alleviate the condition with diseases of the upper respiratory tract;
• prevent the formation of blood clots and improve the condition of the cardiovascular system;
• help with both diarrhea and constipation, due to the normalization of digestion processes;
• help with heartburn;
• support the strength of the body with anemia and liver diseases, rheumatism and gout;
• improve concentration and memory.

All these properties of berries are fully transferred to blueberry jam, if you cook it correctly, without subjecting it to too long heat treatment. It should only be remembered that each product, including blueberry jam, can bring not only benefits, but also harm.

Calorie content of blueberry jam per 100 grams

The calorie content of blueberry jam is determined by the amount of sugar used in different recipes. If the calorie content of pure blueberries without added sugar is 44 kcal per 100 g, then for jam made according to the traditional recipe this figure is already 214 kcal per 100 g.

How to make blueberry jam

Blueberry jam, like any similar dessert, can be cooked in a wide variety of ways. You can cover the berries with sugar and leave to form juice. You can make sugar syrup in different concentrations and boil blueberries in it. You can create sugar syrup with water or with blueberry juice.

But keep in mind that the thick blueberry jam according to any of the recipes is difficult to obtain if you use water to make it.

The thickness of the resulting jam is determined, surprisingly, also by the shape of the dishes in which the dessert is prepared. It is best to prepare blueberry jam in a flat and wide bowl or large bowl. In this case, the surface area from which the water will evaporate during the boiling of the jam will be maximized. And with maximum evaporation of the liquid and the jam, there is a better chance of becoming thick.

How to prepare berries

If blueberries are collected on a personal garden plot or in the forest on their own, or donated by acquaintances or friends who collected them on their own, then you should not worry about the purity of the berries once again. And if there is such an opportunity, then it is better not to wash the berry at all, but only to carefully sort it out, removing leaves, twigs and other possible plant debris.

Indeed, after each wash, it is recommended to dry the blueberries thoroughly to avoid excess moisture getting into the jam.

On this, the actual preparation of blueberries for processing can be considered complete.

How much sugar to add blueberry jam

The amount of sugar used plays a decisive role in making the blueberry jam thick. The traditional ratio of blueberries to sugar is 1: 1. But this is not enough for real thick jam. Experienced housewives recommend adding 2 kg of sugar per 1 kg of blueberries. In this case, blueberry jam will easily thicken and will be able to be stored in winter even without spinning in a cold room, but its taste may turn out to be too sweet.

Alternatively, try adding 1.5 kg of sugar to 1 kg of blueberries. The jam will be quite thick and not sugary sweet.

How much to cook blueberry jam by time

Finally, the last factor that directly affects whether blueberry jam is thick is how long it takes to cook. Prolonged cooking for an hour or more can increase the thickness of the finished dish, but sharply reduce its nutritional value. In order to take full advantage of the healing properties of blueberry jam, you should not cook it for more than 5-10 minutes at a time.

Use other methods to create a thick jam.

Blueberry jam recipes for the winter

This article describes in detail only those recipes with which you can easily get a delicious blueberry jam for the winter of a rather thick consistency.

Blueberry jam five minutes

This five-minute blueberry jam recipe for the winter is the most traditional when it comes to healing berries such as blueberries.

You will need:

• 1 kg of blueberries;
• 1.5 kg of granulated sugar.

Manufacturing:

1. Blueberries are covered with 750 g of granulated sugar and left for 10-12 hours (overnight) to soak and extract juice.
   
2. In the morning, the released juice is carefully drained, the rest of the sugar is added to it and they begin to heat using a small fire.
3. After boiling, remove the foam and boil the syrup until the sugar is completely dissolved for at least 10 minutes.
4. Blueberries are carefully placed in boiling syrup and boiled for no more than 5 minutes over moderate heat.
5. In a boiling state, five-minute blueberry jam is laid out in sterile jars and tightened with simple metal lids for the winter.

Thick blueberry jam

There are a few extra tricks for making a particularly thick blueberry jam.

A simple recipe for thick blueberry jam

According to this recipe, thick jam for the winter is obtained by observing some technological tricks.

You will need:

• 1 liter blueberries;
• 3 cups granulated sugar.

Manufacturing will not take much time, but it will require vigilant attention throughout the entire process:

1. Blueberries are sorted out, freed from garbage. If necessary, even rinse, then dry thoroughly, freeing from excess moisture.
2. The berries are poured into a container with a thick bottom. This condition is necessary, especially if large batches of jam are being prepared at once, since no water will be used during the cooking process.
   Attention! For small volumes, it is possible to use an ordinary enamel bowl, provided that it is always present near the stove and stirring continuously.
3. Pour 1 glass of granulated sugar into a bowl, mix well and turn on a very small fire under the container.
4. From this point on, the berry mass must be constantly stirred, preferably with a wooden spatula or spoon, in order to control the dissolution of sugar.
5. At some point, it will become obvious that the berries are juicing. At this point, it is necessary to increase the heat and even more intensely ensure that the sugar does not stick to the walls of the dishes.
6. Soon there will be a lot of juice and the fire can be maximized.
7. After boiling, you should wait exactly five minutes with a rather intense gurgling of the workpiece and again pour the next glass of sugar into the bowl.
   
8. While stirring the jam, do not forget to periodically remove the foam from it.
9. As soon as the jam boils for the second time, it is again marked for exactly 5 minutes, not forgetting to stir the jam systematically.
10. After the allotted time, add the last third glass of sugar, stir it thoroughly and again wait for the next boil to begin.
11. After waiting for it, they finally let the jam boil for the last 5 minutes and turn off the fire.
12. Thus, all excess liquid that appeared on the surface due to the addition of sugar was evaporated by boiling three times.
13. Hot jam is poured into jars and rolled up for the winter. Since in a cooled state, it will already be a very thick mass.

From the number of ingredients in the recipe, you end up with one 750 ml jar of thick blueberry jam and a small food outlet.

Blueberry jam with pectin

For those who cannot afford to use too much sugar in their jam, but want to enjoy a thick blueberry dessert, this winter recipe has been created. The addition of pectin allows you to preserve all the vitamins and even the aroma of fresh blueberries, while the consistency of the jam will be so thick that it will more likely resemble jam.

You will need:

• 1 kg of blueberries;
• 700 g sugar;
• ½ sachet of zhelix (pectin).

Manufacturing:

1. The blueberries are sorted out, rinsed as needed and dried a little.
2. With the help of a pusher, part of the berries is crushed. For the same purposes, you can use an ordinary plug.
3. Sugar is added to the berries, mixed and the container with them is placed on heating.
4. Bring to a boil, add half a bag of gelatin, mix thoroughly again and remove from heat.
5. Delicious blueberry jam is ready.
6. For storage for the winter, it is distributed in sterile jars and hermetically sealed.

Thick blueberry jam with apples

Another way that you can quite easily get a thick blueberry jam for the winter is to use natural pectin, which is found in large quantities in apples.

You will need:

• 1.5 kg of apples;
• 150 ml of water;
• 1.5 kg of blueberries;
• 1.5 kg of granulated sugar.

Manufacturing:

1. The apples are peeled from the core with seeds, cut into small slices.
2. They are poured with water and boiled for 10-15 minutes until soft.
3. Then they cool and rub through a sieve.
4. Knead blueberries with a wooden spoon, mix with apple mass and place on fire.
5. Cook for about 15 minutes after boiling.
6. Add sugar, mix and boil the fruit and berry mass for another 10 minutes.
7. They are laid out in banks while hot.

Liquid blueberry jam

The proposed recipe cannot be unequivocally called a liquid version of blueberry jam.It is very original, first of all, in terms of the composition of the components and the resulting blank after cooling can be classified as thick jam. But the preparation will not take too much time, and no one will doubt the healthfulness of the preparation for the winter.

You will need:

• 1 kg of blueberries;
• 1 glass of natural honey;
• 2 tbsp. l. rum.

Manufacturing:

1. The blueberries are sorted out, washed under running water and dried on a paper towel.
2. Dried berries are kneaded in a bowl until juice appears.
3. The bowl is placed on a small fire and honey is gradually introduced into the berries - one spoon at a time, stirring constantly.
4. After all the honey has dissolved in the berries, the jam is boiled for another quarter of an hour.
5. Then the fire is turned off, rum is poured in and the finished dish is poured into sterile jars.

Blueberry jam with whole berries

There is a special trick to keep the blueberries in the jam intact. Dissolve 1 tsp in a glass of boiled cold water. table salt. Blueberries cleared of debris are immersed in water for 12-15 minutes. After that, the berries are thoroughly washed under running water and dried.

You will need:

• 800 g blueberries;
• 1000 g of sugar.

Manufacturing:

1. In an enamel bowl, mix the pretreated and dried blueberries and half the prescription sugar.
2. Leave the bowl in a cool place for several hours.
3. During this time, the berries will release juice, which must be drained and placed on the fire in a separate container.
4. After boiling, the remaining sugar is added to the juice and, after waiting for it to completely dissolve in the syrup, boil for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Then let the resulting syrup cool to room temperature.
6. Gently add blueberries to the syrup, mix.
7. Put on low heat, heat to a boil and boil for 5 to 10 minutes.

Frozen blueberry jam

Frozen blueberry jam is no worse than fresh jam, especially if you add interesting additional ingredients in the form of blackberries and ginger to it.

You will need:

• 500 g of frozen blueberries and blackberries;
• 1000 g granulated sugar;
• 100 g ginger.

The manufacturing process itself is very simple and takes a minimum amount of time:

1. Defrost, sort out and rinse the blackberries.
2. Defrost and chop blueberries in puree.
3. Ginger rhizome is rubbed on a fine grater.
4. Blackberries, grated ginger and blueberry puree are mixed in one container.
5. Fall asleep with sugar and insist for about an hour, stir.
   
6. Heat the mixture over medium heat and after boiling, cook over low heat for another 5 minutes.
7. They are laid out in sterile jars, hermetically sealed for the winter.

Blueberry jam in a slow cooker

The consistency of blueberry jam cooked in a slow cooker differs from the traditional one in the direction of density. For this reason, it's worth trying this recipe for the winter.

You will need:

• 1 kg of blueberries;
• 1000 g of sugar.

Manufacturing:

1. The berries are sorted out from debris and, if necessary, washed. But in this case, they must be dried on a paper napkin.
2. Prepared blueberries are placed in a multicooker bowl, covered with sugar and mixed.
3. Turn on the "Extinguishing" mode lasting from 1.5 to 2 hours.
4. Transferred to dry and clean jars, hermetically closed for storage for the winter.

Raspberry and blueberry jam

The combination of blueberry jam with many other berries is very successful. The taste and aroma are richer, and the useful properties of the finished product increase. So the recipe for blueberry jam with raspberries turns out to be simple, but very useful.

You will need:

• 500 g blueberries;
• 500 g raspberries;
• 1 kg of sugar.

Manufacturing:

1. Raspberries and blueberries are sorted out, freeing from debris.
2. Combine them in one bowl and grind with a blender, mixer or wooden crush.
3. Pour sugar into the puree of berries, mix and slowly begin to heat.
4. Constantly stirring the blueberry-raspberry jam according to the recipe, bring it to a boil and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until it thickens slightly.

Using a similar recipe, you can easily make blueberry jam with other berries: strawberries, wild strawberries and currants.

Blueberry jam with lemon

Lemon complements the blueberry jam in this recipe with a stunning citrus flavor.

You will need:

• 1 kg of blueberries;
• 1 lemon;
• 1.5 kg of sugar.

Manufacturing:

1. Blueberries are sorted out, cleaned of garbage.
2. The lemon is scalded with boiling water, the zest is cleaned and the juice squeezed out.
3. The blueberries are partially crushed with a wooden crush.
4. Then combine with crushed zest and lemon juice.
5. Fall asleep with sugar, stir and insist for about an hour.
6. Heat over moderate heat until boiling and simmer for 3-4 minutes, skimming off the foam.
7. Set aside until it cools completely.
8. And boil again for about 10 minutes.
9. Hot jam is distributed in sterile jars, sealed for the winter.

Blueberry jam with orange

Exactly the same technology is used to prepare delicious blueberry jam with a set of ingredients from the citrus family.

You will need:

• 1 kg of blueberries;
• 2 oranges;
• 1 lemon;
• 1.5 kg of granulated sugar.

Blueberry Banana Jam

This very unusual recipe allows you to combine seemingly completely incompatible components in one dish - fruits and berries from almost opposite climatic zones. But the result is a very tasty and rather thick jam.

You will need:

• 1 kg peeled bananas;
• 300 g blueberries;
• 3 tbsp. l. lemon juice;
• 300 g of sugar.

From this number of components, 3 cans of 0.4 liters of ready-made jam come out.

Manufacturing:

1. Mash blueberries in mashed potatoes using an electronic (blender) or manual (fork, pusher) tool.
2. Do the same with peeled bananas.
3. Mix banana and blueberries in one bowl, cover with lemon juice, cover with sugar.
4. Heat over medium heat until boiling and remove the foam several times.
5. Boil the jam for a total of up to 15 minutes and immediately place it on the prepared sterile jars.

Terms and conditions of storage

Hermetically sealed jars of blueberry jam can be stored in a cool place without light for two to three years. If there are exceptions to this rule in some recipes, then they are mentioned in the description.

Conclusion

The recipe for thick blueberry jam for the winter is easy to choose from a whole series of suitable options described in the article. Blueberries are a very plastic berry and you can experiment with them endlessly, adding more and more new ingredients. One has only to remember the basic principles and rules for obtaining a thick and healing harvest from this forest berry.

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