Canned Raspberries
This summer, as in summers past, I was out picking raspberries every three to four days to stay on top of the ripening fruit. This year, I canned 45 pints in light sugar syrup and packaged around 10 cups of berries and placed them in the freezer. From the last week of July until the season ended around the last week of August, I head to the berry patch to pick the ripe berries. Once picked, I always save some berries to eat fresh or to add to desserts. I process the rest for winter storage.
Canned raspberries can’t be beat when it comes to flavour, yet they are so easy to process. As soon as possible after picking or buying, they should be processed. I process in a light syrup with a one to one ratio with water. Check out my easy to follow Canned Raspberries recipe below.
Canned Raspberries
This recipe makes 7 quarts (Litre) or 14 pints (500 mL) jars
Ingredients
7 – 10 pounds fresh raspberries
14 cups sugar
14 cups water
Directions
Wash your jars with hot soapy water and rinse. Add about 4 inches of water to a boiling water canner and heat. Once the water is hot, place the jars in the hot water to sterilize.
Pack fresh raspberries evenly between 7 hot jars and push down firmly.
Bring water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan, stirring to ensure that all of the sugar is dissolved. Boil gently for 5 minutes. Ladle hot syrup over berries, leaving ½ inch (1 cm) headspace. Clean the jar rims, centre hot metal lid on jar rim, place screw band on top. Tighten to finger-tip tight. Place jar in boiling water canner. Repeat with all the jars. Add enough boiling water to the canner to cover the jars with 1” (2 cm) of water. Once water returns to a boil, process for 20 minutes for quarts and 15 minutes for pints, adjusting for altitude.
If you want to be as exact as possible when preparing the syrup, follow these directions: place raspberries in the jar. Tap down and put as many in as you can without squishing them. Next, add cold water to fill the jar to within ½ inch of the top. Now, pour that water into a measuring cup to determine how much water you need per jar. Multiply that amount by the number of jars you will be processing. The same goes for the raspberries.
Remove the jars from the canner. Place on a towel. Cool 24 hours before checking the seals, wiping the jars clean and labeling.
TIP: Berries to syrup ratio is not an exact science. You may be short or over on the syrup. If you need more syrup, make more. If you have more than you need, try using it in your homemade lemonade.
*Altitude adjustment for boiling water method
Altitude in feet Increase processing time by
1001 to 3000 5 minutes
3001 to 6000 10 minutes
6001 to 8000 15 minutes
8001 to 10000 20 minutes
