Blueberry Lime Jam (Small Batch)

Combine blueberries, sugar, lime juice and zest in a bowl and let it sit out at room temperature for 2 hours. Alternately, you may store the mixture in the refrigerator overnight. Stir occasionally.

Prepare a hot water bath according to standard canning practices. Wash and sterilize your canning jars according to standard safe canning practices. Boil the flat parts of the lids in a small pot and keep at a low simmer (I toss in the rings too).

Mash the blueberries with a potato masher and place in a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Place on a burner over medium high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Stir and boil for 1 minute.

Lower heat and gently boil for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally at first then more frequently toward the end. As jam is gently boiling, place a small plate in the freezer.

After 20-25 minutes of cooking, perform the gel test to see if jam is ready to be processed. To do this, place a spoonful of jam on the chilled plate, and return plate to the freezer. Wait 1 to 2 minutes; remove plate from the freezer and press jam gently with your finger. It should wrinkle slightly. If it doesn’t then keep simmering it for another minute or two and repeat the test.

Once jam passes the gel test, ladle jam into the hot, sterilized jars, then place the lids on jars and add screw rings. Immerse jars in the hot water bath, and boil rapidly for 10 minutes with the pot covered. Turn off heat and let jars sit in pot for 5 minutes with the pot lid off. Remove jars from bath and place on a towel on the counter to cool.

I processed one 1/2 pint and one 4 ounce jar and stored the remainder (a scant 4 ounces) in a regular container in the fridge.

Yield: Approximately 2 cups.

Storage: You can store the pint and 4 ounce jar that were processed in the hot water bath in the pantry for one year. Store remaining jam, or any jam jars that did not seal properly in the refrigerator. Eat promptly.