Quick and Easy Blueberry Jam

We went blueberry picking yesterday. We didn't get a lot because the cool, rainy weather made us a bit cold to pick for very long.  For $1.20 a pound though, we definitely felt it the U-pick farm was worth the visit.

One thing I wanted to try with our bounty was the Quick and Easy Blueberry Jam recipe I found on Real Simple.

Add 5 cups of fresh berries to a medium size pot.

Add a 1/2 cup of sugar, a Tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt.  I have to be honest here, I didn't really follow the recipe exactly.    I didn't have any lemon juice and found out when it was too late to run out to the store.  I used orange juice instead.  I also did not have kosher salt, so I just used regular table salt.   You know what, it was worked out just fine!     Mash the berries and bit and start to cook on medium heat, and cover the pot.  

You will be cooking the berries for about 20 minutes.  Every 5 minutes, I went back to check the pot and mash the berries a bit more.  This is what they looked like at 5 minutes.   I mashed them a little bit more.

This is what they looked like at 10 minutes.  There was a bit more liquid and the berries were beginning to soften.  The berries were a bit easier to mash.

This is what they looked like at 15 minutes.  There was a lot more liquid and it was starting to turn purple.   I gave it another quick mashing.

At 20 minutes it was warm and bubbly.  I turned off the heat and mashed it a bit more.  I then let the mixture cool a bit before putting it in a jar.

5 cups of cooked berries filled a medium size Ball jar with just a bit of mixture left over.   I put a lid on the jar and placed it in the fridge overnight.

This morning the jam looked a little more solid, but still on the soft side.

We tried it on buttered toast.  It was sweet and delicious!  Kara especially loved it, and had 3 pieces of toast. We would definitely make  quick and easy jam again.   It can be stored in the fridge for a month or frozen for up to 1 year.

We will be sharing our quick and easy blueberry jam on this wonderful linky parties HERE!