Spiced Cranberry Jam

 

It's our first snowy day of the season. I decided I wanted to make up some of this yummy sounding Cranberry jam from The Self Sufficient Home Acre. I thought it would be a nice addition to the gift baskets we make for our neighbors. I also thought it would be very good to substitute the cranberry jam for the apple butter in these Apple Butter Bars. I hope to try this, but, I've gotta get the cranberry jam made first!

Just so you know, I have a hard time doing ANYTHING exactly like the recipe (or any type of instructions for that matter).  This time was no exception. First thing I did was DOUBLE the recipe. I had some frozen cranberries in the freezer that I needed to use up. Pig went to the butcher Tuesday and I need to make some room in the freezer, so I figured this would be a start.

By doubling the recipe, I was able to use up all 4 packages of cranberries. Then, because I had some other things I wanted to do today (a little housecleaning and a LOT of sewing). I put the cranberries in the slow-cooker with the water and set the slow-cooker on high (remember the cranberries were frozen and I didn't take the time to thaw).

I just let this cook away while I worked on other things. Occasionally, I would come along and lift the lid and mash up the cranberries as they got soft. Then, I remembered the spiced cranberries we had purchased at the coast one year. M-m-m-m-m-m....they were so good. So, hoping to duplicate those.....I put in 4 tsp. of pumpkin spice and 2 tsp. allspice. Stirred into the cranberries and went back to my projects. After the cranberries were getting pretty mashed up I set the lid askew so that some of the liquid would evaporate. As the cranberries were getting thicker and starting to boil, I mixed up the 1/2 cup sugar with the pectin. As I didn't have any bulk pectin, I used the ONE package of pectin I did have. I mixed this in with the cranberries. Then stirred in the rest of the sugar (since I doubled the recipe - that was 6 cups). I just let this continue to cook, stirring occasionally, as I got my boiling water bath and jars ready. Then, I ladled it into the sterilized jars and processed in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Aren't they pretty?!?! Thanks so much to Lisa Lynn for sharing her recipe.

Happy canning!

Lori