Strawberry and Blueberry Jam in Instant Pot

Summertime in UK has been great with abundance of fruit.    It’s great time to use the fruit for making jams and coulis.   I bought a lot of strawberries and blue berries to make jam and then couldn’t get round to it so I froze the fruit.   This week, I managed to make the jam the instant pot. The Instant Pot (IP) is a pressure cooker but can also be used as a slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté/browning, yoghurt maker and steamer. Making jam in the IP is easier as you do not need to keep stirring it so much and it’s not messy as there are no splatters.  Last year I made jam where the ratio of sugar was very high so this year I decided to reduce the sugar.  In fact, the jam is still very sweet so the next batch will have another 100 gms of sugar reduced.

Jump to Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1500 gms mixture of strawberries and blueberries
• 500 gms sugar
• 4 tbls fresh lemon juice

Method:

1. I had already washed and frozen the strawberries and blueberries whole.  I transferred them to a mixing bowl and added the sugar and lemon to it and allowed it to marinade for a couple of hours.  This melts down the sugar and you have enough liquid to cook the jam in the Instant pot.

2.Transfer the mixture into the Instant pot and cook it on manual for 5 minutes.  All the pressure to be released naturally before opening the IP.

3.  To check the jam in the IP, open the lid of the IP and stir the jam.  Press the fruit using a potato masher if you don’t want any whole pieces of fruit left.  The jam may be a bit runny so switch to the saute mode and allow the fruit  to cook and the liquid should start to reduce and the jam will start setting. To test the right timing for the jam to be set – keep a saucer in the freezer. Once the mixture has been cooking for 10 minutes, take the saucer out of the freezer and place a spoonful on the the jam on the saucer. Return the saucer back to the freezer for a minute. Run a finger through the middle of the jam and if the jam doesn’t feel runny, the jam is ready to be bottled.  Don’t panic if the jam looks a bit runny as it will set more when cool.  Allow the mixture to cool before transferring it to sterilised bottles.  Make sure you label them with the date.  It’s a good idea to make jam when fruit is  in abundance.

4.This jam is perfect for toast, scones and even to add to porridge.

Making jam at home is easy.  You can make it in the IP, MW or the cooker top.   Do try and use less sugar if possible so that you can enjoy it a bit more than the shop bought one which will have more sugar as well as preservatives.

• My recipe for strawberry jam made in the IP is here.
• My recipe for making pineapple jam in the IP is here.
• My recipe for making jam without the IP is here.
• My recipe for making cherry jam without the IP is here.
• My recipe for making blackberry jam in the MW is here.
• My recipe for making papaya, pear and apricot jam in the MW is here.
• My recipe for saffron flavoured mango jam in the MW is here.

This Post from the cosy home blog has more recipes using Blueberries.

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