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The other day, my good friend Karen gave me a jar of her homemade raspberry freezer jam. I've never heard of freezer jam let alone tasted it....and OMG...have I been missing out! It's different than regular jam because it's not cooked - so it retains the natural fresh, sweet flavor of the fruit. And then I found out how easy it was to make. So I decided to whip up a batch myself, but with a little twist. I ventured into my backyard, picked some wild Alaska rose hips and added them to the raspberries. I think I've created a little jar of heaven. ~Audrey
Note: It's called freezer jam because it's not cooked, therefore you store it in the freezer (up to a year) instead of in your cupboard. In this recipe, I simply made a batch of raspberry freezer jam and a batch of rose hip freezer jam and blended them together. The combination of the two flavors is incredible. Plus you get the added health benefits of rose hips. They are loaded with antioxidants, especially vitamin C and A.
Step 1
Make the Raspberry Jam
This is a basic recipe by Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin
Ingredients:
3 cups crushed raspberries
5 1/2 cups sugar
1 (1.75 ounce) powdered fruit pectin (I used Sure Jell brand)
3/4 cup water
I picked a little over 4 cups of raspberries and crushed them with a potato masher down to 3 cups. DON'T over crush them. Little pieces of raspberries are a good thing in your jam.
Add one cup of sugar at a time to your crushed raspberries and stir.
Let your raspberry-sugar mixture sit for at least 10 minutes until most
of the sugar is dissolved.
Combine the powdered pectin into 3/4 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; boil hard for about 1 minute. Add to the raspberry-sugar mixture and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy, about 3 minutes. A few sugar crystals may remain and that's ok. Set aside and make your rose hip jam.
Step 2
Make the Rose Hip Jam
This is a recipe I found at allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 cup trimmed and seeded rose hips
3/4 cup water
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups sugar
1 (1.75 ounce) package powdered fruit pectin (I used Sure Jell brand)
3/4 cup water
When picking your rose hips, make sure you pick the largest, reddest ones you can find. Rinse and de-seed. This takes a little time but you only need one cup.
Place the prepared rose hips, 3/4 cup water and lemon juice in a blender; blend until smooth, about 15 seconds. Don't over blend, you want small bits of rose hips. I over blended a little with this batch. It still tasted good, but little bits of rose hips would have looked nice in the final product. Gradually add the sugar while blender is running. Blend until sugar is dissolved, about 30 seconds.
Stir the pectin into 3/4 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; boil hard for about 1 minute. Slowly pour into the rose hip mixture; blend for about 30 seconds.
Now the fun part. Combine the rose hip jam mixture with the raspberry jam mixture. Stir until it's all one color.
Pour into freezer safe jars. I used 8 oz Quilted Crystal Jelly Jars by Kerr. Make sure you leave 1/2 inch space at top for expansion during freezing. You don't need to sterilize the jars. However, I did wash them in my dishwasher after taking them out of the box just to make sure they were clean.
Cover tightly and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours until set. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks or store in freezer for up to 1 year.
Since I own a bagel shop, it's only fitting I enjoyed my Rose Hip & Raspberry Freezer jam on a freshly baked honey oat bagel.
This recipe makes (12) 8oz jars.
