Canning Blueberries

[RainGull]

Anyone have a good method for canning blue berries? We put up a bunch that are pretty mushy this year pressure canned at 5lbs. pressure for 8 minutes in water.

Is it better to can in a water bath? In a syrup? Any ideas?

[Alaska Grandma]

boil bath berries in syrup

RainGull, I don’t have a freezer, so I can, (actually boil bath) blueberries every fall and have had much success.

Berries picked earlier in the season are firm and tart and need heavier syrup. Berries picked later are softer and sweeter so, I use light sugar syrup for those.

Clean your berries well.

For light syrup boil 2 cups sugar with 4 cups water..
For medium syrup boil 3 cups sugar with 4 cups water..
Keep hot until ready to use.

Soak flat lids in boiling water at least 5 minutes so the rubber seals soften.

Pack blueberries into sterile canning jars. Fill jars to ½ inch of top with hot sugar syrup.

Top with lids and screw on the rings.

Have canner or any large stew pot ready and partially filled with ALMOST boiling water (don’t forget to use a grill or tray at the bottom so the jars are not touching bottom of the pan). Carefully add hot jars of berries. Fill the canner with more hot water to just over the top of the jars. Bring to a rapid boil. Boil for 15 minutes. Remove jars from the canner to a rack for cooling.

I have always had good luck with this method. While the berries are cooked somewhat they aren’t mushy. You can experiment with the sugar syrup from light to heavy. The heavier the syrup the more the berries will float. Although I have never tried it, my recipe says you can do this without any sugar, if the berries are blanched first. But to me that means they will end up being more cooked and possibly mushy!


Good luck and enjoy,
Lori

[RainGull]

Thank you Lori! We will try that this next year.