Blueberry Jam

This no-pectin Blueberry Jam recipe uses only four ingredients and features a hint of balsamic vinegar and lemon juice to enhance the blueberry flavor. It’s so easy to make and great for beginners new to jam making!

In early summer, my blueberry bushes at home ripen and are full of juicy blueberries (if the birds don’t eat them all first). It’s a short-lived harvest, but with a few pounds of blueberries, you can preserve them by making blueberry jam and canning it so you can enjoy the summer flavor all year!

This velvety blueberry jam recipe does not contain added pectin because the natural pectin in blueberries helps it set properly. If you prefer larger bursts and pops of blueberries in your mouth, you can use the same recipe to make blueberry preserves.

The easy homemade blueberry jam is a great spread with the perfect balance of sweet and tangy, pairing well with many sourdough bread recipes.

Read through my detailed guide below for lots of photos on how to cook the stovetop jam and can it in a water bath.

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🫐 Why You’ll Love This Blueberry Jam Recipe

• No pectin recipe using only four simple ingredients.
• Easy for beginners who may be making jam for the first time with no prep, chopping, or removing the seeds.
• Sweet and tart, making it a perfect spread on Flaky Sourdough Biscuits, Sourdough English Muffins, or a filling for these Sourdough Pop Tarts.
• Blueberries have higher natural pectin, so it gels and sets well.
• Can use fresh or frozen blueberries.
• Lots of flavoring additions and variations like blueberry preserves so it’s very customizable.

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👨‍🍳 Stovetop Jam & Canning Tips

This recipe calls for three pounds of blueberries, which will make about five or six half-pint jars of jam for canning.

• Sterilize your jars
  • Before canning, you should always sanitize and sterilize your canning jars, even if they’re brand new. This prevents bacteria and mold growth so your jams will properly preserve.
  • Some people use the sanitization setting in a dishwasher, but I personally boil the empty jars on a rack in my boiling water canner for 10 minutes.
  • Please read sterilization recommendations for safety and other canning tips.
• Use the freezer plate test to make sure the jam sets
  • There are many ways to test if your jam is set. While temperature can be helpful, it’s not always the best indicator of when your jam is set, due to the ripeness of your fruit and the amount of pectin it contains.
  • After making numerous jams and conducting various tests, I believe the best way to determine if your jam is set is the freezer plate test. Place a small plate in the freezer when you begin cooking your jam and spoon a small amount onto the plate when it’s close to being done. After a minute rest, run a finger through the jam. If it’s done, it will wrinkle and leave a clean trail line.
• Wear heat-proof and water-proof gloves
  • Wear heat-proof and water-proof gloves if you can so you don’t burn yourself. They’re really helpful for boiling water baths, hot steam, and for scorching, bubbly fruit juices.
• Adjust for altitude
  • Like making sourdough bread or homemade maple syrup, altitude can affect the cooking process for jams. At higher altitudes, the boiling point of water is lower, so cooking times and exact temperatures can vary from person-to-person.
  • At sea-level, jam sets at 220ºF (104ºC) and decreases by 1ºF for every 500 feet. I’m at 1,000 ft, so my jam sets at 218ºF.
• Let jars cool completely
  • Once the jars are out of the water bath, they need to rest and cool completely to vacuum seal. Moving or shaking the jars before they have cooled can result in them losing their seal. Let them cool for 12-24 hours undisturbed.

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🛠 Tools Needed

See below for my tool recommendations for making stovetop jam and canning in a hot water bath and substitutions.

Once you have the materials for making jam, you can reuse them over and over, so it’s only an initial investment!

Blueberry Jam Tools

• Dutch oven or large pot, for cooking the jam
• Heat-proof spatula or wooden spoon, for stirring and breaking down the blueberries.

Water Bath Canning Tools

• Water Bath Canning Pot (or large pot)
  • A large canning pot, made of stainless steel or graniteware, is most common for water bath canning. They’re wide and tall so they can fit a variety of canning jar sizes.
  • Use a stockpot, deep Dutch oven, or the biggest pot you have if you don’t have a specific canning pot.
• Canning Rack
  • A canning rack is important so your glass jars don’t sit on the bottom of your pot and possibly break. It also helps circulate the temperature better.
  • Make a makeshift canning rack using metal canning jar rings on the bottom of your pot.
• Jar Lifter
  • Helps handle hot, sterilized jars and dropping/removing the jars from the water bath.
  • Regular tongs can easily slip and break the jars, so having canning jar lifters with grips is essential.
• Funnel
  • A canning funnel will help direct the jam inside of the canning jars without spilling and ending up all over your jar rims.
• Ladle
  • For transferring the jam to the glass jars. I prefer metal ladles with a small spout.
• Heat-proof and Water-Proof Gloves
  • It’s easy to burn yourself with hot jams and high cooking temperatures of the canning jars, so I like to use these Lanon liquid and heat proof gloves for canning.
• Canning Jars, Lids, and Rings
  • I like 8oz or half-pint Ball Mason Jars for canning jams. However, you can make your jam in any size canning jar you’d prefer. While glass jars and rings are reusable, lids should only be used once to ensure they properly seal.
  • You can find jelly jars or canning jars at most grocery stores, online, a kitchen or canning aisle at home supply stores, or at large big-box retailers.
• Thermometer
  • An instant-read thermometer or a candy thermometer is really helpful for gauging how close your jam is to the gelling point. I use my Thermapen for everything from making jam, checking meat and candy temperature, to measuring dough temperature in Sourdough Bulk Fermentation.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

See below for more information, jam variations, and inclusions.

• Blueberries
  • Purchase or pick the best fresh blueberries in early summer when they’re on sale and abundant.
  • You can use frozen blueberries or wild blueberries to make this jam.
  • Other favorite blueberry recipes are Sourdough Blueberry Yogurt Muffins and Sourdough Discard Blueberry Scones.
• Granulated Sugar
  • No-pectin jams require a high ratio of sugar to fruit to help preserve them and create an inhospitable environment for bacterial and mold growth.
  • Finally, the sugar helps the jam gel, making it spreadable and preventing it from being too runny.
• Lemon Juice
  • Acid is important for fruit jam to balance out the sweetness of the fruit and sugar. Additionally, the acid helps set the pectin for many jams and jellies, and lowers the pH to prevent bacterial growth.
  • I usually use fresh lemon juice for jam, but bottled lemon juice has a consistent acidity so it’s often recommended for canning.
  • Blueberries and lemon always complement each other, like in this Lemon Blueberry Sourdough Pound Cake.
• Balsamic Vinegar (optional)
  • While optional, balsamic vinegar is my “secret” ingredient to blueberry jam that adds so much depth and enhances the earthiness of the blueberries. It cuts through some of the sweetness, adds a hint of umami savoriness, and elevates blueberry jam to the next level.
  • However, you can leave it out if you want or substitute with another flavoring below.

Blueberry Jam Variations and Additions

• Wild Blueberry Jam: Maine wild blueberries are intense, tangy, sweet, with high antioxidants, and make the best blueberry jam! But they’re smaller and more difficult to find. However, Wyman’s conveniently sells frozen wild blueberries in the freezer section of most grocery stores, which you can use as a substitute.
• Lime: Substitute the lemon juice with lime juice and add lime zest for blueberry lime jam.
• Cinnamon: Add a cinnamon stick to your jam at the start of cooking and remove before canning.
• Ginger: Grate 1 TBS of fresh ginger or add a teaspoon or two of dried ginger for a spicy kick to make blueberry ginger jam.
• Jalapeño: Add a chopped jalapeño or other hot pepper for a nice sweet heat.
• Vanilla: Use the seeds from a vanilla bean, 1 TBS of vanilla paste, or 1 TBS of vanilla extract.
• Thyme: The earthy herb is a sophisticated addition to blueerry jam that pairs really well with cheeses.
• Alcohol: Grand Marnier, Brandy, Bourbon, and Port are all great luxurious pairings with blueberry jam.

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🫐 How to Make Blueberry Jam with No Pectin

Follow this visual step-by-step guide to help make and can the best no-pectin Blueberry Jam. Blueberries don’t require any prep, so it’s fast and super easy to make!

1. Cook the Blueberry Jam

Place a small plate in the freezer to test when the jam is done for later.

Wash the blueberries to remove any dirt, debris, and any small stems.

Blueberries don’t have large seeds and are small enough not to chop, so you can just toss them in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottom pot with the sugar.

Set the large pot over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until it boils.

Maintain the blueberry jam at a medium boil for approximately 30 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom every 5 minutes or so to prevent burning.

Initially, the jam will have be bubbly and be quite juicy like baking cobbler. However, over time, it will gradually cook off the water, reduce in size, get thicker, and turn deeper and deeper blue.

If there is foam on top, scrape and skim off with a spoon and discard. Without skimming, the foam can make your jam appear cloudy.

2. Add Lemon Juice and Balsamic Vinegar

I prefer adding lemon juice and delicate flavorings near the end of cooking the jam so the flavor is more pronounced and not cooked off.

After 30 minutes of cooking, stir in the lemon juice and the balsamic vinegar. The balsamic is a flavor bomb that will enhance the blueberry flavor!

Blueberries typically break down enough on their own during cooking, but you can mash them with the spatula or a potato masher for a jammier texture. Don’t mash if you want blueberry preserves with larger intact pieces.

3. Finish Cooking and Freezer Plate Test

Continue cooking the jam, stirring often to prevent burning on the bottom, for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the jam has developed a lava-like consistency and is thicker.

The natural pectin in the blueberries will form a slight sheen and skin on top if you let it sit for a minute or two.

If you’re using a thermometer at sea level, the jam should read about 218-220ºF (104ºC). This is the point when you’ll want to start testing if the jam is set (see below).

Once the jam passes the freezer plate test, immediately remove it from the heat. Since blueberries have more natural pectin than strawberries, it won’t take as long to cook.

How to Use the Freezer Plate Test for Jam

While temperature and time can be helpful indicators to determine if the jam is close to being set, every batch of fruit cooks slightly differently due to natural pectin qualities, the ripeness of the fruit, altitude, and other factors.

To be most precise, use the freezer plate test to know if your jam is set properly.

Keep a small plate in the freezer as your jam cooks. Then, spoon a small amount of jam onto the plate and let it rest in the freezer for a minute.

Drag a finger through the middle of the jam. If the jam is runny and quickly fills in the trail, then it needs to cook longer for the natural pectin to set.

The jam is set when it leaves a clear line through the center, wrinkles, and is gel-like if you push the jam with your finger. You can see the clear difference in the images below between blueberry jam that isn’t fully gelled and when it’s ready.

4. How to Can Blueberry Jam (optional)

Once the jam is set, place a wide-mouth funnel on top of the sterilized canning jars and carefully ladle in the hot jam. It’s best if your jars are still hot from sterilization to prevent thermal shock.

Leave at least ¼-inch of room on top, as the jar will expand slightly when it cools. Also, make sure to wipe the edges of your glass jars with a clean towel if there is any drippage or jam around the top of the jars.

Place the canning lids on top and tighten the rings to a fingertip-tight fit (not too tight).*

If canning the jam, boil the water in your water bath canner pot again and place the jam onto your canning rack. Slowly lower the rack into the water bath to cover them in at least 1-2 inches of boiling water.

Cover with the lid and boil the half-pint jars for 10 minutes at sea level. Add an additional minute for every 1,000 feet above sea level and more time for larger jars (refer to the National Center for Home Food Preservation or other approved sources).

Lift the hot jars from the boiling water and let them cool completely at room temperature, undisturbed, for 24 hours. Within minutes, you should hear the satisfying pop of the canning lids sealing!

When done properly with new lids, I’ve never had issues with jars not sealing properly. However, you should double-check them after 24 hours to ensure the jars are sealed. To check if sealed, press the lid. The lid should not spring up, and it should curve inwards (not bulging).

Finally, be sure to label the jars and date them so you don’t forget what flavor they are or the date you made them!

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How to Store Blueberry Jam

This recipe yields five or six half-pint jars for long-term storage when canned. That way, you can enjoy your summery blueberries way past summer!

Canned jams can last for a year (sometimes longer) in a cool, dark pantry. The sugar and acid act as natural preservatives to keep it lasting.

Once opened, the jam should be refrigerated and will last a month in the fridge. I’ve had it last longer, but I go through jam quite quickly, so it never takes that long. If you ever see mold or it has an off taste, throw it away.

How to Serve Blueberry Jam

Homemade jam makes excellent gifts and party favors. During peak fruit season in the summer, I buy a lot of fresh fruit to make many jams, as it’s much cheaper when it’s in season and tastes significantly better.

The blueberry jam is very versatile and goes with any breakfast toast or for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Hearty breads like my Seeded Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread, Buckwheat Sourdough, and Spelt Sourdough Bread are particularly good with it.

It’s is also an excellent choice on these soft Sourdough English Muffins, Flaky Sourdough Biscuits, or homemade Sourdough Bagels with butter or cream cheese. Serve it on a charcuterie board with cheeses.

Finally, you can use blueberry jam in dessert recipes like the jam swirl in my Sourdough Babka with Any Jam or the filling in these flaky Sourdough Pop Tarts. It’s also great spooned over ice cream, cheesecake, or stirred into yogurt!

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