Summer Harvest Wine Jam Recipe Series
We know that here in Oregon wine country we can be a bit biased, but we’re absolutely convinced that the Willamette Valley has some of the best family farms and orchards for summer produce. We are swimming in an abundance of u-pick berry farms, roadside fruit stands, and a myriad of farm-to-consumer operations out here that give us access to the best produce around.
A store bought raspberry is a delicious treat – but a freshly grown raspberry bursts with flavor in your mouth and screams, “Send help, I can’t stop eating these.” Each summer, we turn to canning to work through the inevitable surplus of fresh fruit & berries we’ll have. (Side note: this might be making you jealous but don’t forget, it rains here…a lot). Back to the jams; enhancing jam with wine is a real game changer. Let’s just say, your peanut butter and jelly sandwich will never be the same.
This summer, we’re sharing some of our favorite jam recipes that we’ve tested & perfected with a splash of the perfect wine to pair with the fruit. But before we get to the first recipe (Strawberry Jam with Pinot noir!) we want to give a couple notes on the canning process, and how we’ve written our recipes for you.
- We tend to create our jams without any added pectin. This is just our preference. If you’re more comfortable adding pectin, go for it!
- These recipes will be lower in sugar! This allows the flavors of the fruit to shine along with the contrasting flavors of the wine. If you would like to add more sugar, you can safely add up to an additional ½ cup of sugar. We recommend increasing the amount of sugar by a Tablespoon at a time so you don’t go overboard.
- The total amount of wine used has will depend on how long you’re going cooking the fruit! If you intend to cook your wine jam ‘low and slow’ (which yields a deeper, saucier flavor), add an extra 15 minutes on medium-low heat for each additional ⅓ cup of wine.
- All of these jams are fantastic when water bath-sealed, however, they will also be just as delicious when stored in the fridge if you’re going to use it up within about a month.
- Your jam can be considered ‘set’ when you can put a dollop on a chilled plate, tilt the plate, and the jam moves slowly down the plate (instead of being runny or liquidy). Remember – it takes 24 to 48 hours for pectin to set completely, so your final result will always be significantly firmer.
With that, let’s get to jammin’!
Coming up in this series:
- Oregon Hood Strawberry Jam with Pinot noir
- Hot Pepper Jam with 2018 Rosé
- Blueberry Jam with Chardonnay
