I have these weird cravings sometimes and I wanted to do something different with my frozen blueberries in the freezer. I wanted to make something simple and tasty. For the longest time, I wanted to make my own blueberry jam but I never had the time to sit down and brainstorm about the easiest way to make it. So over the long weekend, I decided to try it out since I love eating jam on bread! Got to reminiscence those childhood memories of eating PBJ sandwich (Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich).
Although I liked eating jam, I was never a fond of store-bought jam since they’re extremely sweet and it’s just basically full of sugar. Excess sugar consumption can cause type 2 diabetes in adults and that’s not exactly what I would want in the future. In that sense, I have made my own homemade blueberry jam that is made fresh on a weekly or monthly basis. It really depends on how much jam you like to spread on your bread. My boyfriend tends to cover his whole piece of bread with jam so he does use quite a bit when I make a fresh batch.
The greatest thing about homemade blueberry jam is that you can control the sweetness level in the final product. It’s all trial and error. When you fail the first time, you try it again the second time and then the third… until you succeed. That’s the beauty of cooking and it really give you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when you successfully make the product after multiple trials. (It’s starting to sound like research doesn’t it? Where you would experiment a method multiple times until you produce the results successfully.)
Anyways, enough with the talking and let’s start cooking!!!
Ingredients: (Makes 150 mL of Blueberry Jam)
2 cups of frozen blueberries (or 2 cups of fresh blueberries)
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of organic cane sugar (this give the jam a light sweetness)
Cooking Method:
Rinse the blueberries and take off some of the mini stem if there are any in your batch. In a non-stick saucepan, boil the water using medium heat. After the water boils, dump in the blueberries and give it a nice mix in the saucepan. Reduce the heat to low-medium so it will prevent the blueberries from scorching. Add in the organic cane sugar into the mixture and continue mixing it with a wooden spatula. After 2 minutes, turn the heat up to medium and continue mixing it every 1-2 minutes to prevent the jam from scorching. Cook the jam for 7-8 minutes until you have a desired thick consistency.
Once the jam is thickened, don’t forget the last step – TASTE TEST! Make sure the jam is at your desired taste. If you like it sweeter, add more organic cane sugar. I like my jam with a light sweetness with a hint of light sourness from the natural blueberry.
Once the jam is ready with your desired taste, pour it into a mason jar and let it cool for 1-2 hours. After the blueberry jam has cooled down, put the lid on and place it in the fridge.
Tips: Fresh blueberry jam can be kept in an air-tight container (preferably mason jar) for up to 1 month.
Blueberries contain a great source of anti-oxidants which helps keep your immune system strong and healthy. Blueberries also contains cardiovascular benefits: including reducing cholesterol and blood pressure. By reducing cholesterol, it reduces LDL (low density lipoproteins – aka. “bad cholesterol” ) and helps increase HDL (high density lipoprotein – aka. “good cholesterol” ) which reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, blueberries may improve cognitive function and improve memory.