This low sugar Blackberry Jam Recipe is far superior to anything you can buy at the store! This Blackberry Jam Recipe is tart, yet sweet, and just tastes like a summer day!
Blackberries are the only fruit that I prefer to deseed. The seeds are so large in blackberries, in comparison to raspberries! I freeze the juice until the weather cools down because it is so hot when we pick them, I can’t bare to turn on the canning pot to fight with air conditioner! It seems like a waste of energy.
I promise, this is last jam recipe I will do this year! In my defense though, a lot of you are looking at all of my jam recipes, all year long, so I don’t feel too bad! 🙂
Wild Blackberry Preserves
We have about 2 acres on our property that has wild blackberries growing on them. We rather nurture them a bit, because we so love the fruits of our labor. Eric and I have been picking them for years, so we are pretty careful picking them. The issue is not putting your hand in to reach a huge, plump blackberry, the danger is in pulling your hand back out! The thorns are angled so that the extraction is the dangerous part.
A few years ago, when my in-laws started staying with us for the summer, in their motor home. My Father-in-law and our neighbor across the street had this competition going, I swear, like, who could get the biggest berry. The biggest berry is inevitably in the middle of the patch! The competition ended up being, who could get their arms and legs more scratched up by blackberries! They both looked like they had been through a war! 😂 Deep, painful gashes for weeks! Heros I tell ya, all for the elusive biggest berry!
Don’t miss our complete step by step guide to canning.
Ingredients you need
- blackberries – use either fresh or frozen thawed berries
- lemon juice – always use bottled lemon juice when canning
- water
- sugar
- pectin – for low sugar jam use low / no sugar pectin
- butter to reduce foaming – optional
How to make this Low Sugar Blackberry Jam Recipe
For Seedless Jam
We prefer Seedless Blackberry Jam or more accurately, blackberry jelly, so I deseed the blackberries.
- Use Kitchenaid Juicer attachment to de- seed blackberries, if desired. Alternately, heat the berries with a bit of water in a large saucepan. Smash the berries with a potato masher. Let cool slightly. Then strain the juice through cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve. It is so much easier with a juicer.
I did it for years, even though I had a Kitchenaid Juicer in the closet. “Why?” you ask. Because, dear reader, until my friend Laura, with her “Canning tomato sauce in my Kitchen” post reminded that I had one, I did not think about that! Um, what?
- This bowl contains the seeds and bigger chunks of pulp.
- This bowl contains the juice needed to make the Blackberry Jam
Finishing the Jam
- Add the juice with water to a large pot.
- Mix the pectin with 1/4 c. sugar, to help the pectin not to clump. Add to the pot with the juice. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. When it comes to a full rolling boil (one that can’t be stirred down), add the rest of the sugar all at once. Again, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil and continue to boil hard for at least 1 full minute. Skim foam if necessary.
- Immediately ladle into hot sterilized jars.
- Wipe rims with damp paper towel.
- Put on lids and hand tighten rings. (Not too tight!)
Place jars in a water bath canning pot and process for 10 minutes. Adjust for altitude, here is a great graph!
Let jars rest in canning pot an additional 5 minutes. After the rest, remove the jars from the canning pot and let cool on the counter for 24 hours. After a short amount of time you will here the lids “pop” that is always a good thing because that means that they have sealed.
Check the lids for seal after the 24 hours. Any lids that snap in the middle have not sealed properly and should be stored in the fridge and used up first. The sealed jars are best stored in a cool, dark place, like a basement.
Making Sugar Free Blackberry Jam
You can easily make this jam with no sugar! Substitutions to white sugar include;
- Turbinado, or raw sugar
- Honey
- Splenda, or other sugar substitute
- Molasses (color of finished product will change)
- Corn Syrup
Biting into this Low Sugar Blackberry Jam in the middle of February cheers me up and makes me think that indeed, one day soon, I will be picking more blackberries!
Helpful tools
The flavor of this homemade blackberry jam is for superior to the stuff you buy at the store. It perfect for slathering on your morning toast or makes a great pb&j.
I hope you enjoyed the post today for this Low Sugar Blackberry Jam Recipe! Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list so that you don’t miss any new recipes!
If you have an interest in growing your own fruits and vegetables, these posts are packed full of information about how to get that big harvest by the end of the season!
Don’t miss my How to Start a Garden Series! The first part is Planning Your Garden! Second is Preparing the Garden Site.
The third is Choosing Plants and Planting Your Garden. The fourth is Garden Maintenance, and the last is Harvesting a Garden and Preserving the Harvest, this post has over 100 FREE recipes for preserving your harvest!
Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
Xoxo,
📖 Recipe
Low Sugar Blackberry Jam
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups prepared blackberry juice
- 1/3 cup Unsweetened Fruit Juice , thawed frozen juice concentrate or water
- 1 1/2 tbsp Ball RealFruit™ Low or No-Sugar Pectin
- 1/2 cup up to 1/2 Cup sugar, sugar substitute or honey
Instructions
- Juice blackberries, either with this attachment for your kitchen aid, using a food mill or other juicer, or by hand. The easiest way to juice them by hand is to let them cook down for about 15 minutes in a bit of water. Then run the juice through a sieve lined with cheesecloth. Juice can be frozen for later use.
- Prepare jars. Wash in hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly. It is no longer recommended to sterilize jars. Just start your canning pot heating. It can take up to 45 minutes to heat the water. Let the jars sit in hot water until ready to fill.
- Place washed lids in a small saucepan and cover with boiling water. Let sit until ready to use. I also add my ladle and funnel to this pot to sterilize them.
- Add juice and water to a large, heavy bottom pot. Heat over high heat.
- Meanwhile, mix low sugar pectin with 1/4 cup of sugar to keep the pectin from clumping, Add the mixture to the pot. Stir constantly, after pectin is added.
- Bring blackberries to a boil and add pectin/ sugar mixture. Bring to a full boil (one that can’t be stirred down).
- Add the rest of sugar all at once. Again, bring to a full boil and boil for 1 full minute
- Fill jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. Wipe rim of jars with clean, damp paper towel and place lid on. Add band and tighten to fingertip tight.
- Place filled jars into canning pot and bring to boil. Low boil for 10 minutes.
- Turn off heat and allow to sit in water for 5 minutes. Remove them to counter and let them cool.
- After 24 hours, check lids by pushing down in center. If lids flex up and down, the jar is not sealed and should be refrigerated.
- Jars that have sealed should be stored in a cool place for up to a year. (If it lasts that long!)
- This recipe makes 2 half pint jars jam.
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Notes
Nutrition
Originally published 9/17/18 Updated 3/16/22.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you click the link and purchase something, at no additional cost to you. See FTC Disclosure, here.
MELVIN HILDRETH III
Hi Thank you for the jam recipes. My Mom got me gardening and canning around fifty years ago. I’ve been looking for a low sugar recipe and the ones you have are fantastic everyone loves them. I appreciate what you have done here. Have a beautiful day today!
Beth Neels
Aww. Thank you so much Melvin! You’ve just made my day. I’m so glad you like the recipes!
Jody Nelson
Beth,
I used this recipe only I did it with my own organically grown boysenberries! It turned out great. I replaced the sugar with xylitol, (which is a sugar made from birch bark and ultra low on the glycemic index. It replaces one to one and works in anything baked as it melts just like sugar.) I am a diabetic and it tastes just wonderful! I would highly recommend it! The juicing was fun and gave me the excuse to buy the juicer for my Kitchen Aid 🙂
I was so thrilled I am now trying your low sugar peach jam as I am now in the process of harvesting my peach tree. Can’t wait! Thanks so much!
Beth Neels
I am so jealous that you have boysenberries! Yum! I’m so glad you like the recipe Jody. I love the juicer attachment for the Kitchenaid. It’s great for making tomato sauce too!
Betth
Thanks for the tip about using the kitchen aid juicer. The blackberries had just been sitting in the freezer because it was such a pain pushing them through the sieve.
Beth Neels
It was so funny! I used to do the same thing and it was such a pain! Then it dawned me that I had had the juicer in my cupboard for 30 years, lol! I’m glad it helped you Beth!
Elaine
This looks fabulous! I have to get me one of those juicer things for my KitchenAid! I love all jams but blackberry is among my favorites!
Binky
It is super handy! Thank you Elaine! You will love it! Blackberry jam is the best, isn’t it?
Ramona
I so agree with you to reducing the sugar in jam. It definitely doesn’t need so much sugar to be delicious. What a great recipe for a beautiful scone with some clotted cream absolutely yummmyyy ????
Binky
Oh, I 100% agree with you! It is so much better with less sugar! Thank you Ramona!
Jacqui
Incredible! How do you manage those 2 acres of wild blackberries?! I do make a mistake of getting my hand out quickly (I have a few bushes of wild berries that have thorns). But that is only because I am anxious to use them in another recipe! Great jam!
Binky
My husband and Father-in-law mow large strips to walk, so that you don’t have wade through the middle of them. Then every 4 or 5 years we you a brush hog to mow them and all of the small tree saplings down so that the area doesn’t turn into forest. Thank you Jacqui!
Julie Running in a Skirt
I love how you did this with less sugar! Such a great way to use the last of the summer fruit. I bet it tastes amazing.
Binky
The low sugar version really does tastes more like fresh fruit! Thanks for your comment, Julie!
Alisa Infanti
I have never tried blackberry jam before but this recipe looks delicious. Reminds me of being in my grandmas kitchen when she would give me a tea biscuit with her homemade raspberry jam and some tea. Funny how certain foods bring up memories. Thanks for sharing.
Binky
That’s one of the most fun things about food, in my opinion! Thanks so much, Alisa!
Anna
Who knew picking Blackberries was so dangerous!! But so worth it when you can make your own. Thanks for the great jam-making tips…
Binky
It really is a dangerous business! 😂 I hope the post helped you make your own! Thanks Anna!
Danielle
I love blackberry jam – such a good way to use up all the blackberries we have round at the moment.
Binky
Sadly mine are all gone now! I have lots of juice in the freezer though! Thanks Danielle!
Sherri
Low sugar! That’s right up my alley! 🙂 I have to admit, I’ve never tried blackberry jam before. It sounds and looks delicious!
Binky
I can’t believe you have never tried blackberry jam! That is amazing! It is the best!! Thanks for the comment, Sherri!
Jessica Formicola
This jam looks amazing! Perfect for toast or biscuits!
Binky
Thanks Jessica! Yes, it is one of my favorites!
Emily Hill
This low-sugar blackberry jam sounds perfect for pancakes too!
Binky
Yes, sure, it would be good on pancakes, but I do make a blackberry syrup too! Check that out!
Jennifer | Savorwithjennifer
Wow! My kids are going to flip! And I get to make it low sugar. Double bonus!
Binky
I know. That is certainly an added bonus! Thank you Jennifer!