Oh, how I wish we could grow raspberries in Sydney! Our temperate clime precludes this, and as a result, a punnet of fresh raspberries (150g) usually costs $9 or more. Thankfully, frozen raspberries are widely available, and at $11 a kilo, they’re a reasonably economical option.
We’ve never made a straight raspberry jam before, but inspired by a jar of homemade Tasmanian jam that we were given recently, we bought two boxes of frozen raspberries to give this a go. Pete loves raspberries, and wanted to make a jam which would set with less sugar, so as to not mask the tartness of the berries. To achieve that, he used three jars of our homemade pectin, which led to a firm but not rocky hard set (even after a night in the fridge) – feel free to use less if you’re happy with a softer jam. Berries are low in pectin, so they normally require quite a bit of pectin and sugar to set.
Pete’s Raspberry Jam
- 1.4kg frozen (or fresh) raspberries
- 1kg white sugar
- 3 x 300ml jars of homemade pectin (use less if you want a softer set)
- Juice of 1 large lemon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla syrup
1. In a large stock pot, combine the raspberries, pectin and lemon juice. Warm until the raspberries are defrosted, but don’t bring to a boil.
2. Add the sugar, vanilla syrup and bring the pot to a gentle boil. Skim the pot of any scum or foam that rises to the surface. Once you’ve cleaned up the surface, turn the heat up and bring the pot to a rolling boil.
3. Boil until the jam sets. Test by putting a small blob on a cold plate – if the jam is set, it will wrinkle when given a small poke with your finger.
4. Ladle the jam into sterile jars and seal tightly, then process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, ensuring that the water covers the lids by at least 2.5cm. Note: make sure you put the hot jars into hot water – if you use cold water, the glass jars may crack. This batch filled 6 x 300ml jars, with a little bit left over for tasting!
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See our Jam Making Primer for more tips on making jam.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
HI there,
I bought an heirloom variety of rasberry from the organic vegie stand at the Hawkesbury Harvest market in Rouse Hill about 8 months ago. the guy assured me that it was the only type of rasberry that would grow in Sydney and has two crops a year. And he was right! I have been terribly neglectful and not yet planted it in the garden (waiting for the chooks to vacate the designated spot) so it is still in its pot and languising a bit at the moment. But it did give us two crops of big, delicious rasberries. Not enough for jam given that we just have one big pot of the plants…but enough to keep my rasberry loving son happy! Hopefully once I put it in the ground the plants will spread and expand.
Re markets – lately I have been going to the Rouse hill one as it is friendlier, not as overpriced as Prymont, etc. it is quite a hike from where we live but the M2 and M7 make it a pretty quick trip. I used to go to Prymont and North Sydney growers markets regularly (and always went to the Darling Mills stand first!) but got tired of the crowds and the one rotten peach in the bag syndrome of a few of the stalls. Sadly the Rouse Hill markets were awarded best markets or something recently so I am expecting them to go downhill now as well.
sorry for the looooong comment ! :)
Oh, I love getting comments, so please don’t apologise!
Thanks for letting me know about the raspberries, I’ll have to watch out for them. We don’t have much of a garden yet, but Pete’s working on it.
Re markets – we actually spend most of our time at Flemington Markets, which is the section of the Sydney Growers Market that’s open to the public. They’re not organic, but it is quite addictive to be able to buy stuff that is just so fresh – sometimes a couple of weeks fresher than you can get it at the local fruit stores. Plus everything is such a bargain… :)
I could just eat the jam right out of the screen. :) I’m in the midwest United States so we CAN grow berries and I’m so excited to try your recipes.
The pectin and jam primer posts were so great! So far my kids eat all the berries before they make it into the house, but we’re getting a bunch from local farms in a week or so…and then it’s “jam time!”
Thanks again for such great tutorials!
Thank you so much! We put a bit of time into them, and it’s so rewarding when people get something out of them!
I would looove to have access to cheap fresh berries, but with the exception of strawberries, it just isn’t the case here. Hope you enjoy your jams! This year we’ve made blueberry jam, raspberry jam, raspberry and nectarine jam, and a particularly nice strawberry, cherry and blackberry one.
Cheers, Celia
We were traveling in central asia and the women in Kyrgyzstan make amazing jams with fruit and sugar and no pectin.
When I got home, I tried and made a wonderful raspberry jam with 1 cup of crushed fruit to 1 cup of sugar, a tsp of lemon juice and cooked it until set via the cold plate test, probably about 20 minutes.
Did the same thing with blueberries.
Both made a wonderful fruit spread, perhaps a bit ‘looser’ than commercial jams, but ridiculously easy to make.
I didn’t have enough fruit to bother canning, but popped both jams in the fridge.
Sounds wonderful! The jar of jam which inspired us was made in a similar way – I think the lemon juice has some pectin and helps with the setting a bit.
When you add the homemade pectin to your jam does it extend how much jam you make. I notice that you add 900ml of pectin to your raspberry jam. I dont usually add pectin to mine. I am therefore wondering if it will make a great quantity of jam than it would if you didnt add the homemade pectin. Does that make sense ie are you getting more value from your Raspberrries?
Claire, our pectin has quite a lot of water still in it and a lot of this boils off during cooking. But I’m sure there will be a little more volume to the end product due to the pectin. However, the most significant factor determining the volume in a finished jam is added sugar. Each kg of sugar makes another 3 jars of jam. The best way to extend your jam, (which the commercial makers know only too well), is to add sugar. But the more sugar the less fruit taste.