Ingredient Spotlight-Cran/Raspberry Jam

In 1966, we made our one and only trip to Disneyland.  Our oldest daughter was three and our second daughter was a baby.  We stayed with my aunt and uncle who lived in the LA area and used their home as a base for several days.  My aunt took care of the baby for us while we were at Disneyland.

While we were there, my aunt served us cranberry/strawberry jam which was made with cranberries and frozen strawberries.  I loved it and the fact that you could make fresh jam in the winter.  She gave me her recipe, and I made it often for a number of years when the children were growing up.  Now that there is just hubby and me, I don’t make jam as often.

When I saw that jam was the subject of this week’s Ingredient Spotlight, I looked for my old recipe.  I could not find it, but I did find a recipe on the Sure-Jell site.  Since I had raspberries in my freezer that I had frozen last summer, I decided to use them instead of strawberries.  I used my kitchen scale and found that two of my frozen bags weighed 16 oz.  I added 1/4 c. to the amount of sugar since my raspberries were not sweetened.  Otherwise, I followed the cooking procedure from the Sure-Jell site exactly.  I usually put my jam in the freezer so I just poured the jam into clean half-pint jars, screwed the lids on and let the jam cool before putting it in the freezer.

I did not completely thaw either the raspberries or the cranberries.  I put the raspberries in the pot and turned on the heat to low, chopped the cranberries and added them to the pot and left it on the heat a few minutes,  stirring often.  I then added the Sure-Jell and turned the heat to high to make the jam.

I like to use a flat bottomed spatula such as the bamboo ones that Pampered Chef sells to stir the jam. No affiliation, I just happen to like these.  They do a great job of keeping the jam mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Cran/Raspberry Jam
adapted from Sure-Jell website
1 bag (12 oz.) fresh cranberries (I used frozen and they worked fine)
1 bag (16 oz.) frozen raspberries (can be strawberries), thawed
1/2 T. butter
1 box Sure-Jell Pectin
4 c. sugar

Chop cranberries in a food processor until fine.  Place raspberries, cranberries, butter and Sure-Jell in a large pot.  Bring the mixture to a full-rolling boil, over high heat, stirring constantly.  (A full-rolling boil is one that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred.)  Add the sugar.  Return to a full-rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute.  Remove from heat and skim off any foam with a metal spoon.  Ladle immediately into clean jars.  Let cool and freeze or follow the directions for sealing at the Sure-Jell web site.  Makes 5 to 6 half-pint jars full.

Linking to:  Ingredient Spotlight
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