What do you do with an abundance of Marionberries? You make Marionberry Jam. Marionberries are a hybrid blackberry grown here in Oregon. Grown — in my parents backyard. They are incredibly juicy and very sweet. So the other weekend, my mom and I got our fingers stained in an effort to make batches upon batches of Marionberry Jam.
This is a summer tradition. As a kid, we always had freezers full of strawberry freezer jam and a fridge packed with homemade jellies gifted to us by neighbors. Winter marmalades and fall apple butters, I’m tellin’ ya, I have been spoiled with really delicious preserves.
My mom and I decided to go after a long standing tradition and set some time aside to do this. While I’d like to think I was a big help, I really wasn’t. My mom bought the canning jars. She set up the kitchen. We picked the berries from her backyard. When the jam was finally finished boiling down, I swiftly sat down and read while my mom sealed the jars. So much for momma’s big helper.
We actually had to look up recipes for our jamming session. My mom usually makes freezer jam with pectin because she likes the freshness. With freezer jams, you don’t cook down the berries and it leaves a great texture and juicy jammy goodness. But me, being the selfish person that I am, convinced my mom to do a traditional jam so that I could make them into jam bars at a later date. Because, I mean, JAM BARS! Gotta love them.
We took all the berries we could find on the bush and then we used about 3/4 cup sugar to every 1 cup of smashed berries. Smashing the berries down, that was my main job and I like to think I did a prrrrrrreeetty good job. We took those smashed berries, sugar, and lemon juice, and simmered them over medium heat until it reduced down by half. This took a while. It was the perfect time to chill out on the back porch and catch up on my Instagram feed.
So, if you have an abundance of any sort of berry in your backyard or… berries that look particularly delicious/juicy/on sale at your local grocery store, give this a go and your fridge will thank you. Not to mention your morning pancakes.
Ps, those pancakes you see down there are amazing and will be coming in a future blog post… I’m talking Banana Oatmeal Coconut Pancakes. They may or may not be gluten free. Ta ta!
The Making of Marionberry Jam
The best part of summer is making fresh jam from the bounty of berries growing everywhere! Check out my recipe for Marionberry Jam!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Ingredients
6 cups berries, smashed
5 cups sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
Instructions
Smash down the berries with a potato masher. Measure the amount of berries so you know the amount of sugar you will need. For every one cup of smashed berries, use 3/4 cup sugar. Add the sugar and lemon juice. If you would like to remove the seeds, this is the time to do it by pressing the mixture through a sieve.
Cook over medium heat until mixture starts to simmer. Simmer by half or until it has properly thickened. Keep in mind it will thicken more as it cools.
Notes
We used the Epicurious method of canning.
Keywords: marionberry, marionberries, jam
How much jam does this make? Need to know how many canning jars required.
Thank you!
Jenny
Can I make the marionberry jam without the lemon juice?
So do I simmer the berries on the stove for two hours as the recipe says ? Thank you much