Mulberry Jam Recipe: How to Make Mulberry Jam

Mulberry jam is made from pieces of fresh or frozen mulberries, usually chopped or crushed and cooked with sugar until the pectin releases and the mixture is thickened to a spreadable consistency. If you're lucky enough to find fresh mulberries at the farmer's market or frozen mulberries at a specialty grocery store, try them in a jam.

If you are making mulberry jam for the first time, follow these tips:

1. 1. Clean and sterilize your jars. Making sure you clean your canning jars well will maintain the shelf life of the jam and protect your food from spoilage. Sterilize jars by washing in soapy boiling water, rinse, and drain. Place on oven racks and heat at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for ten to fifteen minutes.
2. 2. Use the right kind of sugar. Granulated or preserving sugar is ideal for making jam. Granulated works well with high pectin fruits, but preserving sugar has larger sugar crystals that help set low-pectin fruits.
3. 3. Check the level of pectin in your fruit. Pectin is found naturally in fruit and when cooked with sugar, it thickens and sets the jam. Citrus fruit, apples, and plums have high pectin levels. Softer fruits like peaches, cherries, and grapes have lower levels. Berries, such as mulberries, have a lower amount of pectin. To balance out low pectin fruit, either combine it with high pectin fruit (a few squeezes of lemon juice works), or add commercially made pectin powder. Using slightly underripe fruit will have increased pectin levels. Ripe mulberries will have even less pectin than those picked unripe.
4. 4. The wrinkle test. The setting point for jam is 220 degrees Fahrenheit. Test this with a candy thermometer or try the “wrinkle test.” Before cooking the jam, place a plate in the freezer. Once you think your jam is ready, spoon a little onto the plate. If the surface of the jam wrinkles when you nudge it with your finger, it’s done.

Making a homemade mulberry jam is just like making a strawberry jam, apricot jam, fig jam, blackberry jam. Once you get the basics down, you can make endless jam varieties.