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Kyle and I spent several hours picking blueberries yesterday. It didn’t matter that it was raining and we got soaking wet. Blueberries are Kyle’s favorite thing and they were ready to be picked!
There are several species of blueberry that grow in our area, including Bog Blueberry, Dwarf Blueberry, Early Blueberry and Alaska Blueberry. I’m pretty sure we were picking from the Dwarf Blueberry variety, as we were doing a lot of picking sitting on the ground.
We also took the dogs berry picking with us, and we made sure to make plenty of noise to scare off bears. There are quite a few black bears that are known to den in this area. Ronan wasn’t much for bear patrolling, but he did enjoy picking his own blueberries!
This morning I ended up making blueberry pancakes with several handfuls of our find. And afterwards I set to canning the rest of what we had picked. I managed to can 5 quarts of blueberries in a light syrup. Kyle likes the tart berries better than sweet ones, so I went very light on sugar.
It feels so nice to provide something for ourselves that we can set aside for winter. These will be a little taste of summer when it’s cold and dark out!
Raw Pack Blueberries Canning Recipe:
- Canning Jars (Amazon)
- Canning Jar Lids (Amazon)
- Sugar
- Blueberries
Sterilize canning jars before beginning. Place just enough sugar to cover the bottom of the jar. The sugar is more for preserving the shape, color and texture of the berries than adding flavor. Fill jar with blueberries, leaving one inch of head space. Add water to the jars until the blueberries are covered. Sterilize canning jar lids and place onto jars. Make sure the jar lids are hand tight, then loosen just a little. Place in a water bath canner and time at a rolling boil for 15 minutes. Remove and let set until cool. Make sure all the lids have popped before storing! If any did not set, store the jar in the fridge and use those berries quickly, or transfer them to a new jar with a new lid and re-boil the jar. Happy canning!
Find my blueberry rhubarb jam recipe here.
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