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Canning blackberries allows you to take a short-season fruit and preserves it for year-round use, no freezer required. 

Blackberries hold up remarkably well to canning and emerge for the jars firm and flavorful, perfect for use anywhere you’d use them fresh.

canning blackberries at home

We eat a lot of blackberries in the wintertime.  There’s just something warming about these soft forest fruits, perhaps it’s because they ripen during the hottest part of summer here in Vermont. 

Or maybe it’s that they’re dark, like a deep red wine that you’d drink with a winter comfort food meal.  Until I learned to can blackberries, my family used to buy them by the case for winter baking.

A quick batch of blackberry muffinsBlackberry cobbler a la mode?  A warm blackberry clafoutis?  Yes, please!

While you’d think a soft fruit would fall apart during canning, blackberries hold up remarkably well.  I’ve found that canned blackberries work a lot better in baked goods than frozen, and they’re also perfect for topping breakfast cereal, oatmeal or yogurt.

Canning Whole Blackberries

The thing about canning blackberries at home is you get to choose how much sugar you use, and season them however you choose.  The Ball Book of Canning and Preserving has a recipe for canned blackberries seasoned with blackberry brandy.  Talk about making a warming winter preserve!

Personally, I think drinks like blackberry brandy or Chambord tastes a bit artificial, and I love adding regular brandy, along with nutmeg.  Start by extracting a bit of juice from a small portion of your blackberries. 

A small amount of sacrificial syrup blackberries means that the remaining fruit will be canned in flavorful blackberry juice, and they won’t lose flavor to the canning liquid. 

Take 1/3 of your blackberries, crush slightly and simmer them with a small amount of water for about 2 minutes until they release their juices.  Then strain out the juice through a fine-mesh strainer.

Making Blackberry Syrup for canning blackberries

The “sacrificial” juice blackberries still have plenty of flavor, which means they can be reused in other cooking.  But if you cook them longer than 2 minutes they’ll release too much pectin into the juice.

The remaining strained blackberries can be reused to make blackberry jam, or saved for topping ice cream or yogurt later.  For each pint of canned blackberries, you need a total of 3 cups of blackberries, two to fill the jar and one to make blackberry juice for the canning syrup.

Canning Blackberries

My recipe uses part homemade blackberry juice and part brandy for canning liquid.  The resulting berries end up a tiny bit alcoholic, even after cooking in a syrup and canning. 

In my house, they’re then cooked yet again into some type of baked good.  At that point, there’s very little alcohol left, but if you want to make them alcohol-free that’s perfectly fine too.

The brandy isn’t necessary for preservation.  Either add more blackberry juice in place of the brandy, some other fruit juice (like apple) or water.

Canning Blackberries
4.50 from 24 votes
Servings: 2 pint jars

Canning Blackberries

By Ashley Adamant
Whole canned blackberries are perfect for baking and they keep their shape and flavor through the canning process.  Add brandy and spices for extra warmth, or leave them out for plain canned blackberries.
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
10 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
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Ingredients 

Blackberry Syrup

  • 2 cups blackberries, divided
  • 1/4 cup water

Canned Blackberries

  • 2 cups water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
  • 4 cups blackberries
  • 1/2 cup brandy
  • Blackberry juice prepared above

Instructions 

  • Prepare canning jars (2 one pint jars or 4 half-pint jars) and a water bath canner.
  • Place 2 cups of blackberries in a small saucepan, mashing the berries slightly with a potato masher.  Add a 1/4 cup of water and simmer for about 2 minutes until they release their juices.  Strain the berries through a fine mesh strainer, reserving the fruit pulp for another use.
  • In another saucepan, bring 2 cups water, sugar and spices to a boil and cook 5 minutes.  Add in 4 cups blackberries, brandy, and blackberry juice.
  • Return the pan to a boil, stirring constantly to distribute the heat on the berries and blanch all sides.  Be gentle so that the fruit are not damaged.
  • Using a slotted spoon, fill canning jars with blackberries, leaving a generous 1/2 inch headspace.
  • Use a ladle to spoon boiling blackberry syrup over the fruits, retaining a 1/2 inch headspace.
  • Wipe rim, center 2 part canning lids on jars and close to finger tight.  
  • Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes and then turn off the heat.  Allow the jars to rest 5 minutes with the heat off before removing them to cool on a towel on the counter.  After 24 hours check seals and store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator for immediate use. 

Notes

This recipe requires 6 cups of blackberries, two cups to make the syrup and 4 cups to fill the canning jars (yield 2 pints).  The syrup berries can be reused for another purpose.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Servings

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!

More Blackberry Recipes

How to Can Blackberries ~ Canning Blackberries at Home #blackberries #canning #foodpreservation #recipes #homesteading #foraging #wildedibles

About Ashley Adamant

I'm an off grid homesteader in rural Vermont and the author of Practical Self Reliance, a blog that helps people find practical ways to become more self reliant.

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44 Comments

  1. Kellie Riley says:

    I am going to make this today, and wondering if I can just run the blackberries through my food mill and use that instead of the “sacrificial berries”. I typically do this to make seedless blackberry jam, and I’m hoping it’ll work for this as well!

    1. Administrator says:

      You really just want the juice so that you don’t release too much pectin into the juice.

  2. Molli Marshall says:

    Trying this today ! When you use your canned blackberries for baking, do you drain the juice off ?

    1. Administrator says:

      It depends on the recipe. If the recipe just calls for whole blackberries then you probably don’t want the excess liquid. I would definitely be sure to save the liquid to use in other recipes though.

  3. Kathy Larrabee says:

    Excited to try this

  4. Zita says:

    Do you prewash the berries before processing? How to? The berries I picked from my plant are a little dusty.

    1. Administrator says:

      Yes, if they’re dusty I would definitely give them a quick rinse.

  5. Elle says:

    Confused by your recipe. I first must “sacrifice” two cups of berries to crush for the syrup then in step 3 I’m adding the syrup and brandy to two cups of water plus spices. I made 4 half-pints and had about 32oz of liquid left in my pan. What the heck? Now I’m processing the liquid and calling it Blackberry Simply Syrup to use for cocktails or whatever. I wasn’t counting on that and obviously not thinking either…just blindly followed your recipe. Silly.

    1. Administrator says:

      The blackberry juice and brandy are not necessary for canning. The post explains that this is a flavor preference. You can swap out the brandy for more blackberry juice, water or other juice. The blackberry juice can also be swapped out for water or other juice but the blackberries tend to lose flavor to the canning liquid when you do this. It’s always a good idea to read completely through a recipe from start to finish before trying it to make sure that you understand it well and that it’s the right recipe for the end result that you’re wanting. If you would like further clarification, we are happy to answer any questions that you might have.

  6. Bonnie' says:

    Can I can blackberry BBQ SAUCE?

    1. Administrator says:

      You should be able to safely waterbath can it as long as it is acidic enough.

  7. jenalee says:

    I want my kids to be able to eat this. Does the brandy cook out or is this an ADULT ONLY recipe at this point?

    1. Administrator says:

      After cooking there is very little alcohol left but there is still some. If you are making them for kids, you can simply leave the brandy out if you wish.

  8. Barbara says:

    Double checking… Is it ok to use some of my frozen blackberries to make the “sacrificial juice”, and can the fresh blackberries in that juice? Thank you for the wealth of information you have on your site!

    1. Administrator says:

      Yes, you can definitely do that.

  9. Claire says:

    Could you add cornstarch or flour to a jar of this for pie?

    1. Ashley Adamant says:

      After it comes out of the jar, yes. You cannot can cornstarch or flour in the jar, but yes, you can thicken it once you remove the fruit from the jar and before it goes into a pie.

      You can also can blackberry pie filling with clear jel, and there are approved canning recipes using clear jel so it’d be thickened in the jar and could go right into the pie.

  10. Marcus says:

    Hi;
    Nice easy recipe!
    Can I do this with low sugar ? Maybe 1 cup.
    Thank you

    1. Administrator says:

      That’s the wonderful thing about this recipe. You can choose how much sugar you want.

  11. Sue says:

    Just made this and a few more minutes in the water bath to go. I ended up canning a few jars of the left over juice too. I took a sample test and it is so flipping amazing! Thank you for this great recipe.

    1. Administrator says:

      You’re very welcome. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.

  12. Helen says:

    Can you can without all the spices,,I like the natural berry taste.

    1. Administrator says:

      Leaving out the spices is perfectly fine.

  13. Leslie Hadaway says:

    I am a diabetic and would like to know if I could use a sugar substitute ?

    1. Administrator says:

      Here is some information from the National Center for Home Food Preservation on canning without sugar. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_01/special_diets.html Basically it says that if you wish to omit the sugar in the recipe, you can use water or juice in place of the syrup. If you wish to sweeten it, artificial sweeteners can be used when serving.

      1. Sandra Esterline says:

        There is a sugar substitute called Allulose for baking. Can be purchased on Amazon. I use it for cookies mostly. But it has no bitter after taste as most artificial sweetners. I have made blueberry jam with it using corn starch as a pectin substitute. No one could tell the difference.

  14. Sara D. says:

    On a whim I added less sugar and a little lemon juice, and oh BOY am I excited that I had leftover juice – I boiled it down as a syrup and canned it as well. Lordy, is this good, thanks so much!

    1. Administrator says:

      You’re welcome. So glad you liked it!

  15. Mark says:

    On a sugar free diet, so I have been just freezing the berries in a vac sealer, but the bags are out side my
    Current budget. Can I can with out sugar?

    1. Admin says:

      Yes, you can!

  16. Yishay says:

    I appreciate your writeups Ashley; succint and to the point.

    1. Admin says:

      Thanks a lot!

  17. Tj says:

    Hi, will this work with strawberries?

  18. Valerie says:

    I have several blackberry plants that have been very gracious in their giving 🙂
    We juice them, eat them in cobblers, yogurt, granola cerals & oatmeal. I’ve jellied, jammed and canned for syrup
    though still have tons in my freezer and still picking. I will can the fresh berries picked though have to ask, have you ever canned them frozen? just wondering if they would get too mushy.
    Thrilled to have this recipe, thank you!

    1. Administrator says:

      I would think that they would end up being mushy after being frozen. You can definitely use the frozen ones for jam and syrup and other things where the consistency is not an issue.

  19. Kay Gribble says:

    I canned blackberries last year, but they turned out mushy. My recipe called for pressure canning.

    1. Administrator says:

      I would recommend trying the water bath canning and see if that works better for you.

  20. Becky Hamshar says:

    5 stars
    I just tried your recipe but I made one simple substitution, light rum, for the brandy. Your recipe was easy to follow. Can’t wait to see how they all turn out. Thanks for this post!

  21. Becky Hamshar says:

    5 stars
    I just tried your recipe but I made one simple substitution, light rum, for the brandy. Your recipe was easy to follow. Can’t wait to see how they all turn out. Thanks for this post!

    1. Ashley Adamant says:

      That sounds like a tasty substitution, and it should work out wonderfully. Hope you enjoy them!

  22. Diane says:

    I canned blackberries once in light sugar syrup, and over time all the color leached out of the berries and into the syrup. So using the blackberry syrup as liquid keeps this from happening?

    1. Ashley Adamant says:

      They definitely lose some color regardless, but when you use the blackberry juice as syrup it’s much better. I just opened a jar of these this week after months in the pantry and they were a bright magenta color. Not that deep black of fresh blackberry, but still plenty dark and wonderfully firm and flavorful.