Easy No-Cook Any Berry Freezer Jam – Recipe and Instructions

Here’s an easy, versatile recipe you can use to make any kind of freezer berry jam. This is based on a recipe provided by the South Dakota State University Extension Service.

And there’s basically no cooking!

It’s always good to have a basic, versatile recipe around for things like jam so you can use what you have and not feel constrained by the recipe. Freezer jam recipes are good to make because they take less time and don’t require processing, which saves even more time. Freezer jams can be made by anyone, even if you don’t own canning equipment or if the process of canning intimidates you.

That said, read on after the recipe for instructions if you do want to make any berry jam in a shelf-stable, sealed version. (And also, don’t let canning, especially water bath canning, intimidate you—it's so much easier than it sounds.)

Jump to:

• Any Berry Freezer Jam Recipe
• Ingredients
• Directions
• What Kinds of Berries Can You Use in Any Berry Freezer Jam?
• Combination Berry Jams
• What if I Want a Shelf Stable Jam That Can Be Stored in the Pantry?
• Easy No-Cook Any Berry Freezer Jam Recipe

Any Berry Freezer Jam Recipe

Makes 5 to 6 eight-ounce jars of jam

Ingredients

• 2 cups of any type of berries or a mixture, crushed*
• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 package powdered pectin (do not substitute liquid pectin in this recipe as it may not set properly with the instructions listed)

*Note that you need to measure the two cups of berries after they are crushed to get the correct measurement. This means that for most berries, and fresh berries in particular, you will need to start with more than two cups. For most berries, one quart of fresh berries will yield two cups when crushed.

Directions

1. Prep the berries. Wash, de-stem, and crush berries using a hand masher.
2. Combine the berries and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.

3. Let the berry and sugar mixture sit for 30 minutes.
4. Measure the water into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the pectin powder over the top of the water. Stir to combine and heat over medium heat until the pectin is completely dissolved. Continue to stir while you heat the pectin and water so you don’t have clumping.
5. Stir the warm pectin and water mixture into the bowl of crushed berries and sugar. Stir continuously for two minutes.

6. After stirring, ladle the jam into jelly jars or freezer-safe containers. Leave one-half-inch headspace for expansion.
7. Let the jars of jam set for 24 hours (at room temperature).

8. Freeze the jam. The jam can be used immediately after the jam is cooled and set in the refrigerator or freezer.
9. Freezer jam will last for up to one year in the freezer. Opened jars should be kept in the refrigerator.

What Kinds of Berries Can You Use in Any Berry Freezer Jam?

If it’s a berry, you can use it in this recipe. To be more specific, here are some popular berries that make great jams, whether alone or in combination:

• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Cherries
• Loganberries
• Boysenberries
• Any mix or combination of berries

These are just the more common examples. If you have other berries available to you, use them!

Combination Berry Jams

What's great about this recipe is that you can use what you have. You can even use up the scraps of what you need to use or the collected and combined bits of berries that you have stashed in your freezer.

It’s also not a bad idea to keep a “later” bag of berry “scraps” (the remnant berries left from a recipe or that aren’t getting eaten but which are still good). Add to the bag, and when you have the two cups you need for a batch of berry jam, make it!

You can basically use any combination of any different types of berries combined to make up the measurement. If you think you’ll like it, go for it. You don’t necessarily need to balance the berries in equal proportions as long as you have the full measure of fruit.

So, if it’s a cup of strawberries and a half cup of blueberries with a half cup of raspberries, so be it. It’s your jam. Your kitchen, your rules, your recipe. You can even play around by adding in other fruit, like apples (you would need to cook the apples down, though, so that they are mashable).

The only thing that matters is that the proportions of berries to pectin, sugar, and water are correct as listed.

Get creative! See what you can make! Just know that if you aren’t being picky about the fruit that’s in the pot, or if you’re not noting how much of what you used, you might not ever recreate the exact same flavor. But who says that’s a bad thing?

What if I Want a Shelf Stable Jam That Can Be Stored in the Pantry?

If you want to make a shelf-stable berry jam that you can store on a pantry shelf, you’ll need to make a cooked jam and process the jam in a water bath canner.

The recipe given here isn’t recommended for cooking or processing in a water bath canner because it uses different proportions than what a typical cooked, processed, shelf-stable jam would use. Basically, it uses more pectin and less fruit and has a different mixing and preparation process.

The higher pectin in this freezer jam takes the place of the processing and cooking. You wouldn’t need this much pectin in a traditional jam recipe.

If you want a shelf-stable jam that does not need to be kept in the freezer or refrigerator, use this basic jam recipe instead.

A couple of notes about making a jam that is shelf stable: After cooking, you will need to process the jams for ten minutes in a water bath canner. You only need to leave one-quarter-inch headspace in jams that will be water bath canned. (Freezer jam needs more headspace to allow for expansion when frozen so jars don’t break.)

Remember that after the jars of jam are opened, and the canning vacuum seal is broken, the jam should be stored in the refrigerator until it’s used up.