Easy Christmas Jam

Ingredients:

12 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen

1 Orange (if you don't have an orange use 1/2 cup of orange juice)

2 tsp orange zest

1/2 cup water

16 oz fresh or frozen strawberries or raspberries (thaw if you use frozen)

1/4 tsp Allspice

1/4 tsp cinnamon ground

1/4 tsp cloves ground

1 Package Fruit pectin, Powder (if using bulk add about 2 Tblsp)

4 cups of sugar

1/2 tsp butter

1/3 cup lemon juice

Picture:

Directions:

Prepare your jars by washing them in hot water with soap. You can place them in the oven to heat them up to sterilize them as well.

Place lids in a small saucepan covered with water. Boil over medium-high heat while you make the jam. Set rings to the side, they don't need sterilized.

Rinse the cranberries and pull any that look bad. Place them in a 5 quart stock pot. Add the orange juice, lemon juice and water, boil for about 5 minutes until you see the skins pop. Do this over med-high heat. Some people like to puree the cranberries to start with, but I like the chunks whole.

Add in the strawberries or raspberries, orange zest and spices. Stir in fruit pectin and add your 1/2 teaspoon of butter (this reduces foaming).

Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over med-high heat, stir often. Boil this once it reaches a rolling boil for 4 minutes.

Add sugar to the mixture. Return to full rolling boil. Boil exactly 4 minutes.

Remove from heat and start filling your jars. Immediately ladle hot jam into prepared jars. Leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims and threads. Center lid. Place ring on just finger tight. I place the jars upside down on a towel on the counter and let it sit for an hour. Turn them back side up and they will start to seal (pop) when cooled. If it does not seal then just store in the fridge and eat!

Some people believe using a water-bath is the only way to seal jam, I have been making jam this way for over 15 years and never had a problem. It's so quick and easy!