How to Make and Can Mulberry Jam

Good day, everyone. Today we will be processing and canning mulberry jam. In our area, mulberries begin to come off the tree in mid- to late- May. Sometimes early June. But as soon as the kids and I see a few on the ground, we spread out clean sheets or a tarp that we don’t mind getting stained, and we shake the trees. The tiny reddish-purple berries start to fall, and we are able to collect them on the tarps/sheets.

These berries do ripen over several weeks, so you won’t be able to collect your harvest in one single trip. We go out about once a week and repeat the tree shaking process. If your shaking is successful, you should have more than enough berries for canning and snacking. If you don’t get enough berries to make this recipe on your first harvest, they can be cleaned and frozen to keep them from going bad until you have collected enough.

Now, to make the jam, you will need the following equipment:

2 quart saucepan (or larger if you are doubling this batch)

A water-bath canner

Canning utensils

Pint or Half-Pint jars, washed and sterilized

A potato masher or immersion blender

A food mill (if you want to remove all seeds)

A set of unused nail clippers (these will forever be for canning)

A colander

Cleaning the Berries

Before we start this process, if you haven’t already figured it out, your fingers will be stained reddish-purple for at least the next two days once you are through cleaning the fruit. Wear gloves if you don’t want to look like you are turning into an Evil Minion.

Cleaning and destemming the berries can be done in either order. I prefer to destem first so if I drop a stem in the same container as my berries by accident, I will see it when I am washing them. It’s up to you.

To de-stem your berries, I find that using a pair of clean nail clippers can get those little stems out better than trying to get my fingernails on the stem. It also keeps my nails from being stained and getting gunky. But sit down with your clippers and remove all those stems, then we will be moving to the sink.

Once everything is de-stemmed, dump your berries into a colander in the sink. We will be rinsing these with cold water. If you want to do a soak in water with a splash of vinegar, you can. It’s your preference. Just get the berries clean.

Now to cook down your berries.

Before you start gathering your ingredients, now would be a good time to fill your water-bath canner and start bringing it to a boil on your stove. I also suggest that you set out the jars that you will be using on a towel so that they are ready to fill with hot jam, and you might want to go ahead and prepare your tools, rings, and lids.

Making the Jam

For this part, you will need the following ingredients:

4 cups mulberries

2 cups white sugar

3 tbsp powdered pectin

2 tsp lemon juice

Now, if you are planning to remove the seeds from your berries, you need to only add the berries to your saucepan to start with. Cook them until they are soft. Remove them from the heat and run them through a food mill on the tiniest plate to remove the seeds. Once you have done this step, return them to the saucepan and bring them back to the stove.

Add all ingredients to the saucepan and turn them on medium heat. You need them to cook to soften, but you don’t want them to scorch to the bottom of the pan. Stir to incorporate your ingredients. Once the berries are softened, if you did not do the step to remove the berries via a food mill, you will need to use a potato masher or an immersion blender to mash the berries to your satisfaction.

Now that your berries are mashed and you have stirred in all the other ingredients, increase your burner to high heat and bring the mixture to a hard boil, stirring constantly. Boil it hard for 1 minute. After that minute is over, turn off the burner and remove your pan from the heat.

Canning Your Jam

Putting your canning funnel in a jar, begin to ladle the hot jam into the jars, leaving a ¼ inch headspace. Once all the jars are filled with jam, wipe the rims with a clean, damp cloth, making sure to remove any jam that may have spilled on the rims. This is also where I usually triple-check to make sure I didn’t miss any chips or cracks in my jars.

Once the rims are clean, screw on the lid and ring.

Place your jars in your water-bath canner and process them at a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Once the ten minutes is up, use your canning tongs to remove the jars from the canner and set them on the towel to cool and seal. You will begin to hear the pings of cans sealing almost as soon as you move them from the boiling water. Some take longer, though.

Let the jars rest for 12–24 hours to cool and seal. Once they have sealed, wipe them with a damp cloth to remove any stickiness that may be on the outside of the jar and label them. If you have any jars that didn’t seal, place them in your refrigerator to eat immediately.

Closing

I hope that you enjoyed today’s canning recipe. This is one of my children’s favorite jams, so I try to put up as much as possible every year. I hope that it becomes one of your favorites as well.

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Grindle Creek Homestead is a homestead in Eastern North Carolina. It is owned and operated by Jessica Cauthon, who has been gardening and preserving food for most of her life. She runs four Medium publications: Around the Homestead — a journal of our day-to-day life on the homestead, Stocking Up — a publication dedicated to canning, freezing, and other means of food preservation, In Stitches — a home for crochet patterns, knitting patterns, and everything crafty, and Down in the Garden — a publication devoted to growing fresh food and being a steward to the land. Grindle Creek can be found online on Payhip and on Facebook.