Slow-Simmer Berry Jam
Berries and sugar reduced down in one pot, thick enough to spoon onto anything.
- calories
- 210
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 60
- protein
- 1 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Dessert
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Berries | 2 lb | blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, currant, or strawberry; frozen works and is easier to pack |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 2 cups | roughly half the weight of the fruit |
| Lemon juice | 3 tbsp | bottled, not fresh |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Tip the berries and sugar into the pot and stir. Let it sit twenty minutes off the heat so the sugar pulls juice out of the fruit. Do not add water.
- Set the pot over the lowest flame you can hold. On a campfire, use the edge of the coals, not the middle.
- Simmer uncovered, stirring every few minutes so nothing catches on the bottom. Skim off the foam that rises in the first ten minutes.
- After about forty minutes the bubbles get slow and thick. Drop a spoonful on a cold plate or a rock. If it holds a line when you drag a finger through it, it is done.
- Stir in the lemon juice and salt. Cool with the lid off, then jar it.
This started as a slow cooker recipe, which is the wrong appliance for a campsite. The principle survives: low heat, no added water, a long uncovered reduction. All the liquid comes out of the fruit, so the flavor concentrates instead of getting diluted and boiled off again.
Sugar at roughly half the fruit’s weight is what makes it keep without a fridge for a few days, and the lemon juice supplies the acid berries are short on, which is what lets it set. Cheap out on either and you get warm syrup. Watch the bottom of the pot near the end; jam scorches in the last five minutes, not the first thirty.
Packing
Carry frozen berries in a sealed bag at the bottom of the cooler; they thaw on the drive and the melt gets used. Sugar and salt go in one bag, lemon juice in a small leakproof bottle. Bring a jar or two with real lids for the finished jam.
Variations
- Add a strip of orange peel while it simmers and fish it out at the end.
- Half the sugar and a tablespoon of chia seeds makes a looser jam that keeps two days in the cooler and no longer.
https://savoriurbane.com/dulceata-la-slow-cooker-sau-multicooker-din-afine-zmeura-mure-coacaze-capsuni