It's Always Autumn

creative tutorials for everyday life

  • Holidays
  • Holidays
    • back to school
    • birthdays
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • July 4th
    • Mother’s Day/Father’s Day
    • teacher appreciation
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s
  • Crafts
  • Crafts
    • crafts + DIY
    • handmade gifts
    • photo crafts
    • kid crafts + activities
  • Recipes
  • Recipes
    • bread
    • dessert
    • main dish
    • side dish
  • Sewing
  • Sewing
    • free sewing patterns
    • sewing for women
    • sewing for kids
    • how to sew
    • gifts
  • Photography
  • Photography
    • beginning photography tips
    • posing tips
    • photo editing tips
  • Tips
  • Tips
    • parenting tips
    • travel tips
    • books I love
  • FAQ

bread recipes side dish
June 14, 2018

Best ever homemade raspberry freezer jam {it’s so easy!}

In today’s post: Learn how easy it is to make homemade raspberry freezer jam and you’ll never go back to storebought again!

If you’ve never made raspberry freezer jam before, you are missing out! Homemade jam is so much tastier than the store bought version that it’s almost a completely different food. Making your own jam might seem intimidating, but freezer jam is dead simple to make – no big canning pots or supplies required – you don’t even need jars!

how to make raspberry freezer jam

How to make raspberry freezer jam

I’ll walk you through all the steps in this post with photos of the process so you’ll feel ready to make your own raspberry freezer jam. You can make a batch in about half an hour with nothing but fruit, sugar, and pectin. If you buy fruit in season it’s fairly cheap to make, and a small jar of jam makes a beautiful gift – if you can bear to give any away once you’ve tasted it.

learn how to make easy homemade raspberry freezer jam

If you want to see just how easy it is to make, watch this quick video:

Freezer jam ingredients

I’m going to show you how to make raspberry jam, because that’s my very favorite kind, but by using the same process you can make just about any fruit jam (just refer to the instructions that come with your pectin). You’ll need to buy fruit, sugar, and pectin. I like to use Sure-Jell pectin in the yellow box you see below because you don’t need any additional ingredients, but other pectins (like Ball) are also very easy to use.

If you’d like to make jam using a different fruit, click here for recipes for other jams made with Sure-Jell.

learn how to make easy homemade raspberry freezer jam

When you open the box, you’ll find a white packet of pectin and an instruction sheet, which gives you the amounts of fruit and sugar needed for different varieties of jam. For raspberry freezer jam, you need 3 pints of berries, or 2 – 12 oz packages. Here’s how you get started:

raspberry-jam-quick-easy-freezer-instructions

1 – Rinse your berries and bounce them in a colander to drain most of the water. Crush berries and measure the exact amount of crushed fruit (3 cups for raspberry jam) into a large bowl. You can crush berries using a potato masher or in a blender or food processor. I have a Blendtec and I use two short pulses to crush the berries. Try not to completely puree them – you want a little bit of texture like you can see above.

2 – Measure out the exact amount of sugar into another bowl (5 1/4 cups for raspberry jam), and then pour into the berries. I just measure the sugar directly into the berries, but if there’s any risk of getting interrupted and losing track of what cup you’re on, it’s a good idea to measure the sugar into a separate bowl first.

3 – Stir until combined.

4 – Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. I usually use this time to clean up the mess I made crushing and measuring the berries.

raspberry-freezer-jam-tutorial-directions-how-to-make

5 – After the 10 minutes are up, combine the pectin and 3/4 cup water in a medium saucepan (the one I used was kind of small). It will be lumpy at first.

6 – Turn the heat on to high and whisk – you’ll see the pectin begin to dissolve. Keep stirring.

7 – Let it come to a full boil – lots of bubbles – and set a timer for 1 minute. Keep stirring. Turn down the heat a little if it looks like it will boil over.

8. After 1 minute of a full boil, pour the pectin into the fruit and stir for 3 minutes.

Once you’ve stirred for 3 minutes, you’re all done! Just use a ladle to scoop your jam into containers, leaving at least 1/2 an inch of space at the top of the container because jam will expand as it freezes. Let it sit on the counter overnight (it will thicken up), then place one container in the fridge for immediate use and the rest in the freezer.

What containers should I use for freezer jam?

You have a couple of options when it comes to containers for freezer jam. If you have glass jars you can certainly use them, but you can also use plastic, tupperware-type containers. I prefer the Ball brand plastic freezer jars, which are readily available at Walmart or any store that carries canning supplies. They are a bit of an investment up front, but they last forever and don’t get brittle or break when frozen like cheaper plastic storage containers do.

You can also store your jam in quart size freezer bags! Fill them half way full, then lay them flat and stack them on top of each other in the freezer. It takes up way less room and I don’t have to worry about whether I have enough containers. When I take a new bag out of the freezer I let it defrost on the counter for a few hours, then snip off a corner and squeeze the jam out into a pint size jar or plastic container to keep in the fridge. You’ll need about 4 bags per batch, which is about 7-8 cups of jam.

learn how to make easy homemade raspberry freezer jam

It’s really very easy, especially once you’ve gone through the process a time or two. I almost always make 3-4 batches of jam back to back in one afternoon. I often recruit my older kids to help and have two batches going at the same time in separate bowls. Just be sure not to try to make a double batch together in the same bowl – for some reason that can cause the jam to not set up.

One last note – homemade freezer jam is not quite as thick as store-bought jam, so don’t worry if it’s a little drippier than what you’re used to. It shouldn’t be super runny like syrup though – that means something’s gone wrong. But don’t worry, I’ve probably made 100 batches over the years and every single one has turned out great – so just follow these instructions and you should be good!

How long does freezer jam stay good?

Check the instructions on the pectin you buy for guidelines. I generally keep freezer jam in the freezer for up to one year and it’s never gone bad. Once thawed, we keep it for 3-4 weeks in the fridge (or however long it takes to get eaten, which is usually not that long).

For more summer recipes, visit these posts:

20 cold treats to try this summer

S’mores pizza

Frozen s’mores

American flag fruit pizza

 

learn how to make easy homemade raspberry freezer jam

 

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Print

Home » recipes » bread » Best ever homemade raspberry freezer jam {it’s so easy!}


14 Comments

free email series

NO FAIL CRAFTS + RECIPES

Get my favorite EASY craft and recipe ideas straight to your inbox!

« fun and easy Fourth of July crafts for kids
20 cool origami tutorials kids and adults will love! »

Comments

  1. CTY says

    June 11, 2014 at 11:14 am

    LOVE Freezer Jam! I use my freezer jams when making ice cream. I just drop a serious glob into about 3 C total of milk, yogurt/ heavy cream (the ratio change depending on what I have on hand). The jam is already sweetened so no need to add sugar.

    Freezing in a bag is a good idea. Keep in mind that if you are using jars that not all canning jars are created equal. Make sure the ones you pick up are freezer safe.

    Reply
    • autumn says

      June 11, 2014 at 2:05 pm

      Great idea on the ice cream! I’ll have to try it!

      Reply
  2. SHerri says

    June 11, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    Can we use spenda instead of sugar?

    Reply
    • autumn says

      June 11, 2014 at 2:05 pm

      Hi Sherri! I’ve never tried it, so I can’t tell you for sure, but I’m guessing the answer is no – you run the risk of it not setting up using anything other than sugar. However, you can find varieties of pectin that are made specifically for jam with less sugar, so that might be a good option!

      Reply
      • Katie says

        June 14, 2014 at 8:48 pm

        If you use Ball Instint Pectin you can use Splenda. I make sugar-free freezer jam for my father inlaw every year.

        Reply
  3. KT says

    June 13, 2014 at 12:19 am

    Try making jam for your diabetic friends using Trivia by following the recipe on the Trivia site =}

    Reply
    • KT says

      June 13, 2014 at 12:31 pm

      Oops! That’s supposed to be the Truvia site here: http://truvia.com/recipes/strawberry-freezer-jam

      Reply
      • autumn says

        June 14, 2014 at 10:13 am

        I’ve never tried this! Sounds like a great idea, though – thanks for sharing.

        Reply
  4. Amy says

    February 6, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    Thanks for the great recipe! I have it pinned and keep coming back to it. We put some raspberry bushes in our yard a few years ago and they CRANK OUT the berries. We tell all the neighbors to come grab them because we can’t keep up with them. Anyway, I tried your recipe because I didn’t want to have to can the jam and love it. My hubby loves it so much. He was bugging me for more so I took some out of the freezer and made another batch. So yummy, thanks!

    Reply
  5. Margo says

    April 27, 2016 at 3:19 am

    Thank yo for the recipe! I’m a little unclear what happens after the boiled process occurs, step #8. I read to let sit and ago scoop into the bags. Sit for how long? I believe you said over night, which means that you are scooping right after boiling. Isn’t the jam hot? If it’s hot, and I want to prevent burning my bag through and wait for it to sit, then how long before I actually scoop? I’m sorry. I get confused easily. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Mary Jo Norum says

    July 8, 2016 at 5:44 am

    Does anyone know of an easy way to strain raspberries?(a family member does not like the seeds in this type of berry) I have used cheesecloth with a strainer. It is very messy, seems to waste SO much of the berry, and takes a lot of time to get through the cheesecloth.

    Reply
  7. Teri says

    May 13, 2017 at 2:24 pm

    I make my freezer jam with Stawberries and Rhubarb. Delicious!

    Reply
  8. Debbie says

    March 9, 2020 at 6:44 am

    Where can I find the printable recipe?

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 30+ Homemade Gift Ideas For Spring | Rock It Like A Mom says:
    April 26, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    […] Raspberry Freezer Jam […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Hey, glad you’re here!

I'm Autumn, a mom of five who loves ice cream, Masterpiece Theatre, and clothes that hide the fact that I eat so much ice cream. When I was 18 I got a job at a craft store and told everyone (regularly) how much I hated crafts. Well, things change! Read More…

Find me here

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

free email series

NO FAIL CRAFTS + RECIPES

Get my favorite craft + recipe ideas straight to your inbox!

Popular Posts

101 Fun + Easy Activities kids can do AT HOME

50 easy crafts and activities kids can do indoors! Perfect for cold or rainy days.

50 best indoor activities for kids: easy crafts + games

Gorgeous art projects for kids! Easy art that turns out amazing.

20 easy art projects for kids that turn out AMAZING!

How to make GORGEOUS paper flowers

How to make mini donuts! {baked cake mix donuts recipe}

Blog policy

All posts and pictures are copyrighted by Autumn Baldwin and blog content may not be reposted elsewhere. However, linking back to my content is just fine. You may use one photo as long as you link directly back to the specific post. Thank you!

Please view our Privacy Policy here.

Also, please note that this blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Copyright © 2021 · Divine theme by Restored 316192.168.1.1 router login

Copyright © 2021 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

free email series

NO-FAIL CRAFTS + RECIPES

Get my favorite EASY craft + recipe ideas straight to your inbox!

x