Raspberry Jam with Mint

I've been OBSESSED with Liana Krissoff's new book "Canning for a new generation" lately and have a pantry full of preserves to prove it.
So far I've made spicy dilly beans, pickled radishes, four types of strawberry jam, cherry & red currant jam, roasted red peppers (I've always wanted to preserve these, so exciting!), and now the most amazing raspberry jam ever.

Still on the list of things I'd like to can are: spicy pickled carrots, peach & raspberry jam, plum cardamom jam, tomato sauce (hubby has deduced we need 40 500ml jars to get us through winter, yikes!) various salsas and chutneys and BBQ sauce. Phew! I'm going to be busy.

So far the mint taste is quite mellow (there's really just a slight hint of it) but the lemon flavour is quite pronounced. This jam is not very sweet, which is just the way I like it!

Adapted from "Canning for a new generation" by Liana Krissoff
The recipe says this yields about 5 half-pint jars but I think I about 9.

3 pounds of raspberries
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
1 cup homemade apple pectin*
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

In a large pot bring raspberries and sugar to a simmer, stirring frequently. Add lemon juice, zest and pectin (or apples and jelly bag with cores) and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Let cook for about 15-20 minutes. Stir in mint, remove from heat and stir for a few seconds (If you used apples and the jelly bag of cores remove both now).

Ladle jam into hot sterilized jars** leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims of jars clean with damp cloth and place lid and screw band on each jar. Process in a water bath canner for 5 minutes. Remove from canner,  and let sit undisturbed for 12 hours. Any jars that didn't seal must be refrigerated.



*Krissoff calls for 4 apples cut up (with the cores in a jelly bag or cheesecloth) to produce pectin for the jam. I didn't have a jelly bag or cheesecloth when I was making this but did have some apple pectin in the fridge that I used instead. I had no idea how much to use but the whole cup ended up giving it a great texture. I think one package of commercial pectin could possibly be a good substitute.


**Your jars should be placed in your water bath canner while your jam is cooking and left to boil for 10 minutes to sterilize them.