Huckleberry Jam

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Learn how to make this exquisitely delicious huckleberry jam recipe from your freshly picked wild huckleberries! Canning instructions are included so you can enjoy those summer flavors all year long!

It’s huckleberry season! We enjoyed red huckleberries a few weeks ago and now the black huckleberries are ripening. One of my favorite ways to enjoy and preserve them is to make huckleberry jam!

What are Huckleberries?

Huckleberries are found in the wild throughout North America.  Europe has very similar berries that go by a variety of names such as bilberries, whortleberries, wimberries and fraughans.  They all share a lot in common with the blueberry and have a similar taste but slightly more tart and sometimes with larger seeds.

Huckleberries are terrific in drinks, jams, candies, pies, muffins, pancakes, teas, syrups and more.

Picking huckleberries is pretty tedious work and it takes a while to gather a good amount because they’re so small.  Fortunately for huckleberry jam you don’t need a lot of them if you’re just making a small batch.  This recipe calls for just a cup of them but if you have some extra pairs of hands to help you pick, feel free to double or triple the recipe!

However many you choose to pick, once you’ve tasted this jam I’m sure you’ll agree that your berry-picking efforts paid off!

Huckleberry Jam Recipe

Let’s get started!

Place the washed and rinsed huckleberries in a pot with an equal amount of sugar (1 cup per 1 cup of berries).  Add a little water (approx 2 tablespoons per cup of huckleberries).  Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the berries are softened.

Mash the berries.

At this point you can go two different routes for thickening the jam:  Use pectin or slow simmer the jam after adding about 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice per cup of huckleberries.

For the pectin route:  Stir about 2 teaspoons of powdered pectin into the boiling jam and boil for another minute.  Remove from heat and let cool until set.

For the non-pectin route:  Stir in about 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice for every cup of huckleberries and simmer the jam over low heat for about an hour or until an instant read thermometer shows 220 degrees F.  For canning follow the same instructions as with the pectin route.

Note:  If you’re making jam with less than 2 cups of huckleberries, I find it’s usually best to go the pectin route to thicken it because smaller quantities are more susceptible to burning.

How to Can Huckleberry Jam

If you’d like to can this for long-term storage make sure the jars are sterilized and the lids are washed, screw on the rims, ladle the hot jam into the hot jars and process them in a water bath for 5 minutes then carefully remove and let sit undisturbed for 24 hours before removing the rings and storing.

Ways to Use Huckleberry Jam

There are many ways to enjoy jam than simply spread on toast. Here are a few:

• Spread on bread or toast, Crumpets, and English Muffins
• Filling for layered cakes, muffins, cupcakes, pastries, jelly rolls, pop tarts, Victoria Sponge Cakes, and fruit squares
• Use in British trifles
• Topping for cheesecake, like our German Cheesecake
• For dipping Danish Aebleskiver 
• Ice cream topping
• Mixed in Greek yogurt
• Filling for crepes
• Flavor cake frostings
• Use in thumbprint cookies like Engelsaugen, Spitzbuben or Linzer Kekse

Enjoy!

For more delicious homemade jams try my:

• Black Currant Jam
• Blackberry Jam
• Plum Jam
• Plum Butter
• Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
• Blueberry Lemon Apricot Jam
• Peach Bacon Jam
• Lemon Lime Marmalade

Originally published on The Daring Gourmet August 21, 2018