How to Make Homemade Mulberry Jam - Easily!
Do you have a Mulberry tree in your
yard that every year produces huge numbers of mulberries, and you don't know
what to do with them? Making and canning your own mulberry jam is also
quite easy. Just scroll down this page to see how to do it, in easy steps and
completely illustrated. I've got some other pages for specific types of jam
and butters, too:
- Apricot, peach, plum or nectarine jam.
- Apple jelly
- Apple butter
- Applesauce
- Blueberry Jam
- Fig Jam,
- Fig-strawberry jam,
- Grape jelly from fresh grapes
- Muscadine or scuppernong jelly
- Orange marmalade
- Peach butter
- Strawberry, blackberry and raspberry jams
- For more information about strawberries, see Strawberry Picking Tips and Miscellaneous strawberry facts.
Ingredients and Equipment
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Optional stuff:
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Mulberry Jam-making Directions
The yield from this recipe is about 8 eight-ounce jars (which is the same as 4 pints).
Step 1 - Pick the mulberries!
It's fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better quality ones! It is best to pick them directly from the tree, or put a clean tarp or sheet under the tree and shake the tree or whack the branches with a stick.
You may use frozen berries,
if you can find them (those without syrup or added sugar); which is especially useful if you want to make some jam in December to give away at Christmas!
How much fruit?
Jam
can ONLY be made in rather small batches - about 6 cups at a time - like the
directions on the pectin say, DO NOT increase the recipes or the jam won't "set"
(jell, thicken). (WHY? Alton Brown on the Food Channel says pectin can
overcook easily and lose its thickening properties. It is easier and
faster to get an even heat distribution in smaller batches. . It takes about 8
cups of raw, unprepared berries per batch.
Step 2 - Wash the jars and lids
Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later. The dishwasher is fine for the jars, the water bath processing will sterilize them as well as the contents! If you don't have a dishwasher, you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, then sterilize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, and keep the jars in hot water until they are used.
NOTE: If unsterilized jars are used, the product should be processed for 5 more minutes. However, since this additional processing can result in a poor set (runny jam), it’s better to sterilized the jars.
Put the lids into a pan of hot, but not quite boiling water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out. Leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot jam.
Step 3 -Wash and hull the fruit!
I'm sure you can figure out how to wash the fruit in plain cold water.
Pick off any stems, leaves and other debris. Caution: Mulberries will stain items and hands easily.
Step 4 - Crush the fruit
Then you just mush them up a bit - not completely crushed, but mostly. Most people seem to like large chunks of fruit but crushing them releases the natural pectin so it can thicken. You'll need about 6 cups, mushed up.
Step 5 - Cook the mulberries for 10 minutes
Heat the mulberries in a covered pot and simmer 10 minutes. This helps loosen the juices and fruit from the seeds.
If you want seedless jam, (the seeds
aren't very tasty) run the crushed berries through a Foley food mill (at right). They cost about $30. 
It works well for
mulberries, not so well for raspberries, and no one tries to remove strawberry seeds (they're so small). I suppose you could train monkeys to pick them out, but they'd probably form a trade labor union. But I digress..
Step 6 - Measure out the sugar and pectin
Depending upon which type of jam you're making (strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, apricot, peach, grape, etc.) you will need to use a different amount of sugar, jam and pectin. The precise measurements are found in each and every box of pectin sold. For most fruit; like berries, with the low sugar pectin, you'll need 4 cups of sugar. With regular pectin, about 7 cups of sugar. Mix the dry pectin with about 1/4 cup of sugar and keep this separate from the rest of the sugar. This helps to keep the pectin from clumping up and allows it to mix better!
If you would rather try to make jam with no added sugar, click here for those directions!
Step 7 - Mix the berries with the pectin and cook to a full boil
NEXT, stir the pectin into the mulberries and put the mix in a big pot on the stove over medium to high heat (stir often enough to prevent burning). It should take about 5 to 10 minutes to get it to a full boil (the kind that can not be stirred away).
Why use pectin? You may run into grandmotherly types who sniff "I never used pectin!" at you. Well, sure, and their generation took a horse and buggy to work, died of smallpox and ate canned meat and green beans that tastes like wet newspapers. Old fashioned ways are not always better nor healthier. Pectin, which occurs naturally in fruit, is what makes the jam "set" or thicken. The pectin you buy is just natural apple pectin, more concentrated. Using pectin dramatically reduces the cooking time, which helps to preserve the vitamins and flavor of the fruit, and uses much less added sugar. But, hey, if you want to stand there and stir for hours, cooking the flavor away, who am I to stop you! :) We can probably find an old foot-pedal operated drill for the dentist to use when he fixes the cavities in your teeth from the extra sugar you'll need to add, too...
Notes about pectin: I usually add about 20% more pectin (just open another pack and add a little) or else the jam is runnier than I like. With a little practice, you'll find out exactly how much pectin to get the thickness you like.
Another tip: use the lower sugar or no-sugar pectin. You can add sugar to either and it cuts the amount of sugar you need from 7 cups per batch to 4 cups or less! And it tastes even better! On the other hand; I have never had success with the No-sugar pectin without adding ANY sugar. It always turned out runny and bland. You might want to try using the low sugar or no-sugar recipe with a mixture of sugar and Splenda; sugar and white grape juice, or just white grape juice - that will cut down the sugar, but still preserve the flavor.
Is your jam too runny? Pectin enables you to turn out perfectly set jam every time. Made from natural apples, there are also low-sugar pectins that allow you to reduce the sugar you add by almost half!
Get it here at BETTER prices!
Step 8 - Get the lids sterilizing
Lids: put the lids into a pan of hot water for at least several minutes; to soften up the gummed surface and clean the lids.
Need lids, rings and replacement jars?
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Step 9 - Add the remaining sugar and bring to a boil again for 1 minute
When the berry-pectin mix has reached a full boil, add the rest of the sugar (about 4 cups of sugar per 6 cup batch of berries) and then bring it back to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute...
Remove from the heat.
Step 10 - Skim any excessive foam
Foam...
What is it? Just jam with a lot of air from the boiling. 
But it
tastes more like, well, foam, that jam, so most people remove it. It is
harmless,
though. Some people add 1 teaspoon of butter or margarine to the mix in
step 6 to reduce foaming, but food experts debate whether that may contribute to
earlier spoilage, so I usually omit it and skim.
But save the skimmed foam! You can recover jam from it to use fresh! See this page for directions!
Step 11 - Testing for "jell" (thickness)
I keep a metal tablespoon sitting in a glass of ice water, then take a half spoonful of the mix and let it cool to room temperature on the spoon. If it thickens up to the consistency I like, then I know the jam is ready. If not, I mix in a little more pectin (about 1/4 to 1/2 of another package) and bring it to a boil again for 1 minute.
Notes about "set" (thickening or jell): It takes 3 ingredients for jams and jellies to set: pectin, sugar and acidity. The amount of pectin that is naturally occurring in the fruit varies from one type of fruit to another and by ripeness (counter intuitively, unripe contains more pectin). See this page for more about pectin in fruit. It takes the right balance, and sufficient amounts of each of pectin, sugar and acidity to result in a firm jam or jelly. Lastly, it takes a brief period (1 minute) of a hard boil, to provide enough heat to bring the three together. Generally speaking, if your jam doesn't firm up, you were short in pectin, sugar or acidity or didn't get a hard boil. That's ok - you can "remake' the jam; see this page!
Step 12 - Optional: Let stand for 5 minutes and stir completely.
Why? Otherwise, the fruit will often float to the top of the jar. This isn't a particular problem; you can always stir the jars later when you open them; but some people get fussy about everything being "just so", so I've included this step! Skipping this step won't affect the quality of the jam at all. I usually don't bother.
You’ll also notice that the less sugar you use, the more the fruit will float (chemists will tell you it is due to the decreased density of the solution!)
Step 13 - Fill the jars and put the lid and rings on
Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Then put them into the boiling water canner!
This is where the jar tongs come in really handy!
Step 14 - Process the jars in the boiling water bath
Keep the jars covered with at least 1 inch of water. Keep the water boiling. In general, boil them for 10 minutes, which is what SureJell (the makers of the pectin) recommend. I say "in general" because you have to
process (boil) them longer at higher altitudes than sea level, or if you use larger jars, or if you did not sterilize the jars and lids right before using them. The directions inside every box of pectin will tell you exactly. The directions on the pectin tend to be pretty conservative. Clemson University says you only need to process them for 5 minutes. I usually hedge my bets and start pulling them out after 5 minutes, and the last jars were probably in for 10. I rarely have a jar spoil, so it must work. But you don't want to process them too long, or the jam will turn dark and get runny. See the chart below for altitude adjustment to processing times, if you are not in the sea level to 1,000ft above sea level range.
Note: Some people don't even boil the jars; they just ladle it hot into hot jars, put the lids and rings on and invert them, but putting the jars in the boiling water bath REALLY helps to reduce spoilage! To me, it makes little sense to put all the working into making the jam and then not to process the jars to be sure they don't spoil!
Recommended process time for mulberry jam in a boiling water canner. | ||||
| Process Time at Altitudes of | ||||
| Style of Pack | Jar Size | 0 - 1,000 ft | 1,001 - 6,000 ft | Above 6,000 ft |
| Hot | Half-pints or Pints | 10 minutes | 15 | 20 |
Step 15 - Remove and cool the jars - Done!
Lift the jars out of the water with your jar lifter tongs and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can then remove the rings if you like.
Once cooled, they're ready to store. I find they last up to 12 months. But after about 6 to 8 months, they get darker in color and start to get runny. They still are safe to eat, but the flavor and texture aren't as good. So eat them in the first 6 months after you prepare them! Another trick is to keep the uncooked berries or other fruit in the freezer and make and can the jam as needed, so it's always fresh.
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Summary - Typical Cost of Making Homemade Mulberry Jam - makes 8 jars, 8 oz each** | ||||
| Item | Quantity | Cost in 2006 | Source | Subtotal |
| Berries (mulberries) | 1 gallon | $8.00/gallon | Pick your own | $8.00 |
| Canning jars (8 oz size), includes lids and rings | 18 jars | $7.00/dozen | WalMart, BigLots, Publix, Kroger | $10.00 |
| Sugar | 4 cups | $2.00 | WalMart, BigLots, Publix, Kroger | $2.00 |
| Pectin (low sugar, dry) | 1 and a third boxes * | $2.00 per box | WalMart, BigLots, Publix, Kroger | $2.70 |
| Total | $22.70 total or about $1.25 per jar | |||
| * pectin use varies - blackberry jam needs very little, raspberry a little more, strawberry the most. ** - This assumes you already have the pots, pans, ladles, and reusable equipment. Note that you can reuse the jars and reduce the cost further; just buy new lids (the rings are reusable, but the flat lids are not)! | ||||
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FAQs - Answers to Common Questions
- Why should cooked
jam and jelly be made in small batches?
If a larger quantity of juice is used, it will be necessary to boil it longer thus causing loss of flavor, darkening of jelly, and toughening of jelly. It really doesn't work. Trust me; I've tried many times! - Can I use frozen berries instead of fresh?
Yep! Raspberries can be particularly hard to find fresh and are expensive! Frozen berries work just fine, and measure the same. Just be sure to get the loose, frozen whole fruit; not those that have been mushed up or frozen in a sugar syrup! - Should jelly be boiled slowly or rapidly?
It should be boiled rapidly since long, slow boiling destroys the pectin in the fruit juice. - What do I do if there's mold on my jellied fruit product?
Discard jams and jellies with mold on them. The mold could be producing a mycotoxin (poisonous substance that can make you sick). USDA and microbiologists recommend against scooping out the mold and using the remaining jam or jelly. - Why did my jellied fruit product ferment, and what do I do?
Jellied fruit products may ferment because of yeast growth. This can occur if the product is improperly processed and sealed, or if the sugar content is low. Fermented fruit products have a disagreeable taste. Discard them. - What happens if my jam or jelly doesn't gel?
Remaking cooked runny jam or jelly instructions can be found on this page - What is the best way to deseed berries for jam? I heard a few different
ways. A food mill, a ricer, and cheese cloth.
For large seeds (mulberries, apples, and larger) I find a Foley Food Mill works best - it's certainly faster and easier than the other methods. Raspberry and smaller seeds are a real pain. They get stuck in (and clog) or pass through a food mill. Cheesecloth and jelly strainers are messy, take forever and you lose most of the pulp. For these, I find a metal sieve or colander (with small enough holes) and a spatula to help mush them and push the pulp through, is best. Also, heating the mushed up berries almost to boiling really helps to separate the seeds and pulp.
