...raspberry freezer jam

We love homemade jam in our house. I'm too embarrassed to admit how much we go through. (A lot!) We ran out of my strawberry freezer jam last month and have been trying to live with the store bought stuff, but no one in this household likes it. We now have 4 jars of store jam in our fridge that no one will touch. It just doesn't compare to the real thing!

So, today I decided that it was high time to make some freezer jam. It is so easy! I don't know why I didn't make it the day we ran out.

We made raspberry today. We will make strawberry later this week. The recipe below is a basic recipe you can use, but most pectin packages come with their own recipe.
Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients: raspberries, lots-o-sugar, a couple lemons, corn syrup, jars or some kind of container, pectin.

I always buy MCP pectin. I don't know why. It is just what I have always used.

Lets talk sugar. I tried to make "healthy" jam last year by cutting down on the sugar. It didn't really work. It made more of a strawberry syrup. (Which was still delish...but runny.) If you want to make the low-sugar jam, buy the pectin that specifically says it is for that.
Step 2: Mash the Berries. I don't like jam with big chunks, but it is supposed to be a LITTLE chunky. I usually blend my strawberries a TINY bit, but with raspberry jam, I use a potato masher. It works great and doesn't make such a big mess.

Step 3: Make the Jam. Add juice of two lemons to 4 pts of mashed berries. Stir in pectin mixture. Let sit for about 30 minutes and stir occasionally. Pour in 1 cup corn syrup. Add 4.5 cups of sugar and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.

Step 4: Pour into Cute Containers. I love these plastic containers by Ball. They stack perfectly in the freezer and don't take up too much room.
Step 5: Eat and Enjoy! We usually make homemade bread on jam-making day to celebrate.