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Black raspberry jam is one of the easiest ways to put up the summer blackcap harvest, and it takes just three simple ingredients. I make mine without pectin, so all you need is fresh berries, a little sugar, and a squeeze of lemon.
Black raspberries have a deep, almost wine-like flavor that’s more intense than the red kind, and they cook down into a rich, dark jam that tastes like pure summer. Because they’re naturally acidic and hold a bit of their own pectin, they set beautifully on their own, the same no-pectin way I make most of my small-batch jams.
Table of Contents
- Notes from my Kitchen
- Ingredients for Black Raspberry Jam
- How to Make Black Raspberry Jam
- Testing for Gel Stage
- Canning Black Raspberry Jam
- Altitude Adjustments
- Yield and Batch Size
- Storage Options
- Recipe Tips and Variations
- Ways to Use Black Raspberry Jam
- Black Raspberry Jam FAQs
- More No-Pectin Berry Jams
- Black Raspberry Jam Recipe
- Jam Recipes
Black raspberries, sometimes called blackcaps, are one of those fruits you’ll almost never find in a store. They’re too soft and too fleeting to ship, so unless you have a farmer’s market that carries them, foraging or growing your own is the only way to get them. The upside is that this recipe doesn’t need many. A single batch takes about 4 cups, which is a real gift when you’re gathering a handful of wild berries at a time.
Don’t confuse black raspberries with blackberries, though they look similar at a glance. Black raspberries are smaller, rounder, and hollow when you pick them, just like a red raspberry, while blackberries are larger and keep their core. If you have blackberries instead, my blackberry jam without pectin uses this very same method.
Notes from my Kitchen
Summer means black raspberry season, and our permaculture orchard fills with wild black raspberries that I never even had to plant. They ripen a few at a time, and my kids love hunting through the orchard every day for their bounty. Between all their picking and snacking, it takes me a good while to gather enough for a batch of jam.
I’d never discourage their fun, so I sneak around behind them with a mason jar, picking the berries buried deep in the brambles or hanging too high for little hands to reach. On a good day that’s about a cup. To keep them until I have enough, I layer them right in the jar, a cup of berries topped with a half cup of sugar, then more of each as I pick through the week. The sugar draws out their juice and keeps the flavor bright in the fridge. When I finally have my four cups, I pour the whole jar into the pot and get cooking.
Ingredients for Black Raspberry Jam
This is a three-ingredient jam, with the measurements in the recipe card below. Here’s what each one does.
- Black raspberries: Wild or cultivated both work, and fresh or frozen are equally fine. Since these berries ripen a little at a time, freezing your daily pickings until you have enough is a perfectly good way to gather a batch.
- Granulated sugar: Sugar sweetens the jam and helps it set. I keep it on the lighter side so the berry flavor stays front and center, but you can adjust it to taste.
- Lemon juice: A tablespoon or two makes the berry flavor pop and adds a little natural pectin to help the jam gel. Black raspberries are acidic enough to can safely on their own, so the lemon is for flavor and set, not for safety.
If your berries are soft, cultivated ones rather than firm wild fruit, they may hold a little less pectin. A touch more lemon usually does the trick, and I’ll cover a backup method for a stubborn batch further down.
This was perfect! This year I discovered how many black raspberries are growing around our property. I wanted a recipe that was easy and didn’t have more sugar than berries, and this was delicious!
How to Make Black Raspberry Jam
Once you’ve gathered your berries, the jam itself comes together in well under half an hour. There’s no pectin to fuss with and no exact ratios to hit, just fruit, sugar, and lemon cooked down to a gel.
Cooking the Jam
Add the black raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a deep, heavy-bottomed pot, leaving plenty of room since the jam foams up as it boils. Cook over medium heat at first, mashing the berries against the side of the pot to help them release their juice. Once the mixture is loose and juicy, turn the heat to high and bring it to a hard boil.
The jam thickens quickly. Start testing for gel stage after about 8 to 10 minutes of hard boiling, and pull the pot off the heat the moment it sets. Black raspberry jam is forgiving, but like any no-pectin jam it will keep firming up the longer it cooks, so it’s better to stop a touch early than to boil it into candy.
Testing for Gel Stage
With no added pectin, you’ll want to test the set yourself. Use either method, and if it’s slow to gel, there’s an easy fix.
- Frozen plate test: Chill a small plate in the freezer before you start. Spoon a little jam onto the cold plate, wait a few seconds, and push it with a finger. If it wrinkles and holds, it’s done.
- Thermometer test: Gel stage is about 220°F at sea level, dropping 1 degree for every 500 feet of elevation. Trust the thermometer over the clock, since undercooked jam is the usual reason a batch doesn’t set.
- If it won’t set, add a bit more lemon juice, or try my citrus seed pectin technique, which pulls natural pectin from lemon seeds to help a soft batch come together.
Making It Seedless
Personally, I don’t mind the seeds, and I treat black raspberries the same rustic way I treat blackberries. If you’d rather go seedless, cook the fruit for a few minutes, mashing as you go, then pour it into a jelly bag and let it strain overnight for a smooth seedless jelly, or push it through a fine mesh strainer for a seedless jam.
That’s the same technique I use for seedless blackberry jam and seedless raspberry jam.
Either way, measure the juice or pulp afterward and add a half to a full cup of sugar per cup, then cook it to gel stage just like the seeded version. It still sets without any added pectin. My raspberry jelly walks through the straining method in more detail if you’d like a closer look.
Canning Black Raspberry Jam
You don’t have to can this jam. A small batch keeps for a few weeks in the refrigerator and freezes well, so canning is entirely optional. If you’d like it shelf-stable for the pantry, it’s a quick water bath process, and my beginner’s guide to water bath canning covers the whole setup if you’re new to it.
To can it, ladle the hot jam into prepared half-pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims, apply two-part lids finger tight, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the jars rest in the canner for 5 minutes before lifting them out to cool, which helps prevent the jam from siphoning out. Once cool, check that every lid has sealed, and refrigerate any that didn’t.
Altitude Adjustments
Adjust your water bath processing time for elevation:
- Below 6,000 feet: Process for 10 minutes
- Above 6,000 feet: Process for 15 minutes
Gel stage also shifts with elevation, dropping about 1 degree for every 500 feet above sea level, so test accordingly if you’re up high.
Yield and Batch Size
This is a true small-batch recipe, which is exactly what you want when you’re gathering wild berries a handful at a time.
- About 4 cups of black raspberries, or 2 pints, makes roughly 3 half-pint jars.
- The yield stays low on purpose, so you can put up a batch without needing pounds and pounds of fruit.
- If you do have a bumper crop, this recipe scales up cleanly to about 8 times the size in one pot. Past that, break it into separate batches, since very large pots heat unevenly and can struggle to set.
Storage Options
However you finish it, here’s how long black raspberry jam will keep:
- Refrigerator: 3 to 4 weeks in a covered jar.
- Freezer: Up to 6 months. Use a straight-sided, freezer-safe jar and leave extra headspace for expansion, rather than the 1/4 inch used for canning.
- Canned: 12 to 18 months in a cool, dark pantry once sealed.
Recipe Tips and Variations
A few things I’ve learned making this jam over the years, plus some ways to change it up:
- Gather berries the easy way. Since blackcaps ripen a little at a time, layer your daily pickings in a jar with sugar (about a half cup of sugar per cup of berries) and keep it in the fridge. The sugar preserves the flavor and pulls out the juice until you have enough to cook.
- Swap the citrus. No lemon on hand? Lime juice works beautifully, and a few readers have even used a splash of orange juice with good results.
- Try honey or maple. You can swap the sugar for honey or maple syrup. It takes a little longer to reach gel stage, and the maple adds a lovely smoky note, but keep a close eye on it since these scorch more easily than sugar.
- Mix your berries. Black raspberries blend well with a handful of red raspberries or wineberries, or with strawberries for a sweeter jam.
- Rinse away any hitchhikers. Wild berries can hide tiny insects. A short soak in a mix of water and vinegar, followed by a good drain, takes care of them before you cook or store the fruit.
Ways to Use Black Raspberry Jam
Black raspberry jam is a treat on toast and in a peanut butter sandwich, but its deep flavor really shines in baking. I spoon it into thumbprint cookies, swirl it through yogurt and oatmeal, and layer it into cakes and linzer bars. Warmed a little, it makes a gorgeous topping for pancakes, waffles, or vanilla ice cream, and it works as a quick glaze for roast pork or duck too.
Once you’ve got a few jars put away, there’s no shortage of ways to enjoy them. My roundup of ways to use up a jar of jam has plenty more ideas, and you’ll find dozens more easy canning recipes to keep your pantry stocked all summer.
Black Raspberry Jam FAQs
About 4 cups of black raspberries, which is roughly 2 pints or 1 1/2 pounds of whole berries, makes a single batch of around 3 half-pint jars. That’s one of the best things about this recipe, since you don’t need pounds and pounds of fruit to put up a batch, which matters when you’re gathering wild berries a handful at a time.
Yes. Since black raspberries ripen a little at a time, freezing your daily pickings until you have enough is a great way to gather a batch. Cook them straight from frozen, or thaw them first if you prefer. Frozen fruit may take a minute or two longer to come up to a boil.
Yes. Cook the berries for a few minutes, mashing as you go, then strain them through a jelly bag for a seedless jelly or a fine mesh strainer for a seedless jam. Measure the juice or pulp, add a half to a full cup of sugar per cup, and cook to gel stage as usual. It still sets without any added pectin.
Yes. This recipe scales up cleanly to about 8 times the size in a single pot. If your goal is a certain number of jars, just multiply the ingredients to match. Beyond about 8 times, break it into separate batches, since very large pots heat unevenly and may not reach a good gel.
The most common reason is that the jam didn’t quite reach gel stage. Trust an instant-read thermometer and cook until it hits 220°F, adjusted down for your elevation, rather than going by time alone. Adding a bit more lemon juice helps, and very soft cultivated berries sometimes need the extra boost of a citrus seed pectin. You can always reheat a runny batch and cook it back up to gel stage.
More No-Pectin Berry Jams
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Black Raspberry Jam
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids, and Rings
Ingredients
- 4 cups black raspberries, 2 pints, 1 1/2 lbs, or 3 cups mashed
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
Instructions
- Add the black raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a deep saucepan, leaving plenty of headspace so it doesn't boil over.
- Cook over medium heat, mashing the berries occasionally and stirring frequently.
- Once the berries release their juices, turn the heat to high and boil rapidly.
- Begin testing for gel stage after 8 to 10 minutes of hard boiling. Use an instant-read thermometer (220°F at sea level) or a plate chilled in the freezer.
- Once it reaches gel stage, remove from heat immediately and fill jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
- Refrigerate for immediate use, or process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water for 5 more minutes before removing, to help prevent siphoning.
- Cool completely, then check seals before storing.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Jam Recipes
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I have never made jelly before, and I followed your recipe, and it worked! Thanks so much.
Perfect!