Summer Memories
Growing up in Denmark, one of our favorite memories was going into the woods with our grandfather to pick wild raspberries. Afterwards, our grandmother would make a large batch of raspberry jam, and we would devour it quickly on freshly baked bread. Homemade jam is super easy to make, and a lot of Danish baked goods include a layer of jam, such as fødselsdagslagkage (birthday cake) and hindbærsnitter (raspberry squares). You may have already seen this recipe for homemade raspberry jam in several recipes on our blog, but we thought we would add it separately as well.
Tips & Tricks
This recipe makes a perfectly balanced jam that’s the right amount of sweet and tart. Feel free to use fresh raspberries if you can find them, but you may have to adjust the amount or the cooking time to reduce properly! We prefer to use frozen because they are much more accessible and do not cost nearly as much. We love making homemade jam if we know we will eat it over the course of a week or two. If you want it to last longer, you will want to look into how to can jams. Make sure if you are canning jam that you used a tried and true canning recipe! (note: this recipe is only for fridge storage, not for canning!) This post from Curly Girl Kitchen on making and storing homemade jam is really helpful! Otherwise, you just combine your ingredients and let the mixture cook on the stove until it reaches a jammy and thick consistency. Make sure to store it in the fridge or you can even freeze it if you need to. It really is that simple!
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Basic Raspberry Jam
Ingredients
- 340 grams (12 oz or 2.5-3 cups) frozen raspberries (corresponds to one bag of Wyman's frozen raspberries)
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ~1/2 tbsp lemon zest (optional)
Instructions
- Add all your ingredients (raspberries, sugar, salt lemon juice, lemon zest) to a small saucepan and place on the stove over medium heat.
- Stir until the raspberries have thawed and the sugar has dissolved.
- Leave on the stove to thicken for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so nothing burns on the bottom.
- Once you can see the bottom of the pan when you scrape across the jam and it has darkened in color, it should be thick enough to set up when it cools.
- Transfer to a heatproof bowl and let cool for a bit at room temperature before moving to the fridge to fully cool and set. Enjoy as is or use in other recipes! Make sure to store this jam in the fridge.
Finally a proper Scandinavian recipe for the raspberry jam I love so much. I appreciate the cooking instructions particularly because the method is the key to the great flavor. The American method of high heat until jam is really, really cooked produces a very different flavor. Been making jam and preserves for decades now, but I will be using this method for jam as much as possible from now on. My 77 year old mother said this was the best raspberry jam she’d ever had. Thank you.
We’re so glad to hear that you and your mother enjoyed the recipe, we grew up eating homemade raspberry jam like this so it’s so nostalgic for us!