Blueberry Preserves

Today i tested my domestic limits and made blueberry preserves. Rest assured I have NEVER made anything like this before. Keep Reading and you will soon see what an adventure it became.

Rewind to yesterday and remember that Jenna and I went with a couple of friends and picked 10 pints of blueberries. I made a cobbler/ dump cake, shared some with the Macs, ate a BUNCH, and decided to make some preserves.

My friend Wendy’s mom, AKA Nana, made some blueberry lime preserves and she let me sample a bite. I knew right away I had to try them myself. Here is my story:

First, I had to BUY the jars. You see, from time to time I have owned a jar, but they have been from goodies BOUGHT at a farmer’s market, etc. I only saved them to create homes for insects, etc that Jenna may have brought in. I have NEVER “canned” (why is it not called jarred?) ANYTHING.

I washed the jars on HOT water. (Ok, so MAYBE I should have boiled them, but I just scalded them and then washed with soap, and scalded again.) Jenna helped me dry them.

 

I had already washed and measured the berries. 8 cups!

 

Then I smashed half the berries and added the sugar. 8 cups!!!

Added the rest of the berries- looking good!

and the step by step directions stop here. Why? Well, you see that pot of sugary berries above? Yep, that is what bubbled ALL OVER my stove. Grr! It was a Texas sized mess, I tell ya. You see, when you read the directions below, you will see that it calls for lime juice and lime zest. SO, while I was simmering the berries I thought I could gather the juice and zest. Problem: My zester has gone into neverland. When I sold Pampered Chef, I had every tool in the catalog. (including zester) I have not needed zest in a LONG time, but TODAY I went looking. NO zester. So, I Googled how to get zest in another way. I tried a grated- nope, tried a knife, nope, attempted to try a veggie peeler, but apparently it was visiting my zester in Neverland, and ended up using a grapefruit knife. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of zest. Didn’t happen people. I tried and did what I could. I added extra juice, but NOTHING can do what zest does for a recipe. Don’t fear, though, there is a happy ending.

So in the midst of that fiasco, the berries bubbled, and smoked up the kitchen. I had sticky berry juice EVERYWHERE. in fact, I THOUGHT it had stained my counters, but thanks to Clorox, it’s all clean. The berries made a mess, but they were not scalded or anything. Phew!

So I then added the liquid pectin, lime goodies, and simmered CAREFULLY.I then Poured into the jars. The recipe said it made 12 half pints, but I actually had about 13. I just the extra in Tupperware since I only bought 12 jars. We are eating from the Tupperware now.

Now, the final part was the HARDEST! I had to do a water bath. Sounds easy enough, but NOPE! I don’t have a pressure cooker (they scare me), I don’t have a canning kettle (why would I, I don’t have any jars remember), but I DO have a big ol stock  pot. I boiled some water and lowered a few jars in. I also don’t have tongs. (well, I had acrylic salad tongs, ha!) I made do, but it took a LONG time and I had to be VERY careful not to burn myself while bootlegging a water bath in a stock pot with acrylic tongs. I was beginning to think I would just have to give all of the jam away to be eaten soon, because I was not confident in my canning skills. BUT, in time as they cooled, I started hearing random “POP” noises. Sure enough, they sealed. Yippee!

After they had time to seal and gel, Jenna and I made some toast to sample.

 

The results: A THUMPS UP!

The mess cleaned up easily (shocked!), the preserves are YUMMY, and I would consider doing it again. The lime is fainter in mine than in Nana’s, but that’s due to the lack of zest. There was NO way I could get 2 tablespoons with a GRAPEFRUIT KNIFE!

So, I highly recommend a zester and metal canning tongs in you plan to do this. As for the stock pot, it worked fine. I read that the jars should be lifted from the bottom of the pot on a rack, but I didn’t have it and it worked.

Below is the recipe. I would use this one again. (I have to buy more jars, though) Let me know if you try this recipe and let me know what you think of it. If you don’t want to PICK blueberries, Potluck will pick them for you for $12 a gallon. This is WAY less than the grocery store.

BLUEBERRY and LIME PRESERVES
Jan: this will make your 12 half pint jars
8 cups fresh blueberries
8 cups sugar
2 pouches liquid fruit pectin
2 tablespoons lime zest
2/3 cup lime juice
Pour half of the blueberries into large Dutch oven; gently mash to just break up. Stir in sugar and remaining blueberries. Heat over low heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to full rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Stir in fruit pectin, lime zest and juice; return to boil for one minute.
Pour into hot sterilized 1-cup jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Cover with prepared lids; screw on bands fingertip tight. Boil in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes, timing from when water returns to boil. Let cool on rack. Check seals.
(refrigerate any jars with lids that have not snapped downward to use within 3 weeks). Wipe jars; store in cool dark, dry place for up to 1 year.
adapted from:
http://www.chefdecuisine.com/all_fruit/blueberry/WILD_BLUEBERRY_PRESERVES.php
TIPS: mama uses cookie racks for "rack"
She suggests that you be careful with lids and do not force lids down