Canning Recipe: Dark Cherry Mulberry Jam

Are you growing or foraging mulberries and need a great mulberry jam recipe?  Well, here you go!  This mulberry jam recipe mixes fresh mulberries with dark cherries (or any berry you have on hand) for a rich flavor and unique splash on your morning toast.  

To learn more about foraging for fruits and herbs to preserve, please email us for a sample of the foraging section of our book, The Do It Yourself Homestead.  Foraging and learning to preserve what you harvest is such an important part of DIY living.  To receive your FREE sample from the book, simply send and email to Tessa@homesteadlady.com and specify which part of the book you’re interested in.  To learn more about the book, simply click below! 

Mulberries

Mulberries are very fruitful trees that are wonderful in the edible landscape.  There are dark purple and white berry varieties, with the dark berries being the most common.

For some urban dwellers these virtues can be obstacles since strong mulberry roots can push up slabs of pavement.  The fruits drop free-will on cars and driveways, leaving dark stains.  Instead thinking of them as obnoxious, gather them up and make this dark cherry and mulberry jam recipe.  It can be canned up in the summer when mulberries and cherries are ripe and enjoyed all year round.

To successfully make the recipe with your children or grandchildren, please read this post on safety tips for canning with kids.  Be sure to take your kids with you when you forage for mulberries because they’re really good at collecting errant berries.  The best way to gather mulberries is to get a big sheet and place it underneath the tree and then gently shake the limbs.  The fruit drops and the kids are great at dashing off to collect them

We’ve also used a large umbrella upside down and stood under the tree – sometimes we say, “Tut, tut, it looks like rain” to encourage the mulberries to fall.  If you’ve read Winnie the Pooh, you’ll know why that’s funny.

Mix the Mulberry Jam Recipe

Just a quick note: You can just make a plain mulberry jam recipe with these instructions by omitting the cherries and increasing the mulberries.  I like adding the tartness of the cherries with the mulberries and prefer my mulberry jam mixed with them.  You can really mix the mulberries with any dry berry like raspberries or other cherries, regardless of color.  I just like dark cherries the best and they’re ripe when the mulberries are in the area where I forage both.

Also, don’t skimp on the sugar for this recipe.  Or, rather, taste test as you cook down the jam.  With a lot of jam recipes I reduce the sugar because I just don’t like too-sweet jams.  However, this one is better with just the right amount of sugar.

Dark Cherry and Mulberry Jam Recipe

For a comparison recipe tested for safety please visit this article from the National Center for Home Food Preservation on cherry jam with pectin.  Also, look for a NCHFP link for mulberry jam inside the recipe.

Print Recipe

Dark Cherry Mulberry Jam Recipe for Canning

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time-ish

1 hr

Water Bath Canner

15 mins

Total Time-ish

1 hr 20 mins

 

Mix the tartness of cherries with the richness of mulberries for this wonderful jam recipe.  This mulberry jam recipe is especially nice to have on hand if you grow or forage mulberries where you live.

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: canning recipe, mulberry jam

Ingredients

• 1 lbs. mulberries, washed
• 1 lbs. dark cherries, pitted
• 5 cups raw sugar
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon or lime juice
• 1 pouch pectin, optional

Instructions

1. Wash mulberries; wash and pit cherries.  You can use any color of cherry but dark cherries will make a naturally dark purple jam.  FYI, I don't bother to remove the tiny stems of the mulberries since they don't alter the jam any.  You can remove them, if you'd like, though.

2. Add the cherries and mulberries to a large pot and cover them with the sugar.  Add the lemon juice and mash the mixture.  Allow the mixture to sit for about ten minutes.

3. Bring the jam to a low boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.  Cook down until the jam reduces and thickens.  OR, bring to a rolling boil over high heat and add the pectin according to the directions on the packet.  Cherries are a medium pectin fruit so you may not need pectin unless you want to add juice to your jam recipe.  If you do want to add juice, just check the notes section for a link to a mulberry recipe jam recipe from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

4. Add the nutmeg and stir well.  

5. Bottle into sterilized pint jars rapidly, before it cools to much, leaving 1/2 inch of head-space.  Wipe the rims of the jars well. Put the seals and rings; tighten to just finger tightness.

6. Process for about 15 minutes, adjusting for your elevation.

Recipe Notes

If you want to add juice to your mulberry jam recipe, play around with this recipe from the NCHFP for a plain mulberry jam.  There's no real benefit to adding juice except that you'll bulk up your recipe a bit. 

This is a recipe that calls for pectin, by the way.

A Few More Notes for Your Mulberry Jam

If you’d like to learn more about pectin and using fruits with high pectin in your jams, please visit this link from The Spruce Eats.

For learning more about growing mulberry trees, just visit this link from Schneider Peeps.

If you have extra cherries, I can help you there, too.

To learn a few other ways to preserve cherries besides jam, just click here.

Here’s a stellar Sweet and Sour Cherry Sauce from Grow a Good Life.

And a Cherry BBQ Sauce for canning from A Farm Girl in the Making.

If you’re still drowning in berries of any kind this season but you’re all “jammed out”, here are a lot of ideas on what to make with wild berries BESIDES jams and jellies from Joybilee Farm.