This Wild Huckleberry Jam recipe is made with hand-picked wild huckleberries that are cooked down with other simple ingredients to make one amazingly delicious jam. Enjoy this Huckleberry Jam on toast, ice cream, waffles, German pancakes, and more!
This has been a crazy-busy summer! Although we had big plans to do a lot of huckleberry picking, we only got to go picking a few times. How am I supposed to make Huckleberry Pie, Huckleberry Cheesecake, Huckleberry wine, and Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches all year?
Luckily, we got to go out one more time last week. We took our son, Scott, on his first huckleberry picking adventure. Although we got 2-½ gallons between the three of us, my husband decided to go one more time and brought back another gallon. He's so sweet! I think I'll keep him.
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🧐 Why This Recipe Works
If you're thinking that I already had a huckleberry jam recipe on this blog, you're kind of right. My Mountain Berry Jam recipe does have huckleberries. However, it also includes serviceberries and Oregon grapes, both were non-existent this year thanks to the high heat early in the summer and the lack of rain.
What I like about this recipe is that it doesn't require you to use a ton of your precious huckleberries AND you don't need to add other berries to the jam. All we need is one quart of huckleberries (4 cups).
The recipe is kept pretty simple by not adding any spices like cinnamon or cardamom, which I usually love to add. I do this on purpose to allow the flavor of the delicious huckleberries to shine through.
The pectin ensures that the jam will thicken upon cooling, even though the huckleberry jam will look very liquidy when you pour it into the jars.
🛒 What You Need To Make This Recipe
🔖 Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Huckleberries — Fresh or frozen huckleberries may be used in this recipe.
- Lemon — You'll need one fresh lemon to make this jam. Although you can use bottled lemon juice for this recipe, we need the zest of one fresh lemon to add to the jam.
- Pectin — I added 4 tablespoons of RealFruit Classic Pectin, which is equal to the amount in one packet of pectin. Although I haven't personally tried it in this particular jam, liquid pectin should also do the job.
- Butter — A teaspoon of butter can be added to reduce foaming. Another option is to skim the foam off before canning the jam.
🔪 Suggested Equipment
🫐 How to Make Huckleberry Jam
Step 1: Clean huckleberries and remove any unripe berries, stems, leaves, and pests and add to a medium saucepan.
Pro Tip: If using frozen huckleberries, strain the extra juice and mix with sugar or sweetener to make huckleberry juice.
Step 2: Add zest, lemon juice, and sugar to the huckleberries and simmer over low to medium heat for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with pectin, and whisk to dissolve. Bring mixture a full rolling boil over medium high heat for two additional minutes.
Pro Tip: Don't walk away from the boiling jam as it needs to be stirred to keep it from bubbling over and making a big mess!
Step 3: Skim foam off of the surface if necessary or add 1 teaspoon of butter.
Step 4: Ladle the hot huckleberry jam into sterilized jars, leaving ½" headspace. Wipe the glass jar rims with a damp cloth or paper towel then add lids and screw bands hand-tight.
Step 4: Add jars to a canner filled with hot water and make sure the water level is at least a few inches over the jars. Process the jam in boiling water for a minimum of 10 minutes over medium-high heat.
Pro Tip: For higher altitudes, add 5 additional minutes for every 1000' above 3000' in elevation.
What If Jam Doesn't Set?
If you're unsure if the jam is set, you can put a few tablespoons of jam into a small dish and place it in the refrigerator for 10+ minutes. Once the huckleberry jam is cool, you'll see what the final consistency will be like. If it's not thick enough, try one of the following:
- Add another cup of sugar
- Add another tablespoon of pectin
- Reduce the jam further by cooking it longer
🤷🏻♀️Recipe FAQs
Huckleberries grow in the Northwestern part of the United States in the Rocky Mountains. More specifically, you can find huckleberries in the mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, at 3500' elevation and higher.
Huckleberry Jam is made of huckleberries, lemon juice, and pectin. Sometimes cinnamon and similar spices are added for additional flavor. Other times additional fruit such as wild blueberries are added to stretch the huckleberries.
Huckleberry Jam tastes tart (from the huckleberries) and sweet (from the sugar). It is slightly reminiscent of cherry jam in both texture and taste.
Huckleberry Jam can be thickened with pectin or by adding other fruit with higher pectin content. Shredded apple is sometimes added to huckleberry jam to thicken it. Saskatoon berries can also be added because they're high in pectin.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- Fresh or frozen huckleberries can be used in this huckleberry jam recipe.
- If you want a smoother consistency, feel free to mash the berries as the jam cooks or even use an immersion blender.
- Don't overtighten the lids before processing the jam. You can tighten the lids further after they seal.
- Make sure you hear the lids click and/or see the indentation in the center of the lids to confirm the jars are sealed.
- If I find an unsealed jar, I either process it longer or put that jam jar in the fridge.
- Processed huckleberry jam is good for up to a year or longer.
🍓 Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Wild Huckleberry Jam Recipe
Equipment
- 1 medium-sized pot
- 5 8-ounce canning jars
- 1 Water Bath Canner
- 1 Canning tools
Ingredients
- 4 cups huckleberries
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 small lemon, juiced and zested (4 Tbs of lemon juice)
- 4 tablespoon RealFruit pectin (or 1 packet)
Instructions
- Clean huckleberries and remove any unripe berries, stems, leaves, and pests and add to a medium saucepan.
- Add zest, lemon juice, and sugar to the huckleberries and simmer over low to medium heat for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with pectin, and whisk to dissolve. Bring mixture a full rolling boil over medium high heat for two additional minutes.
- Skim foam off of the surface or add 1 teaspoon of butter.
- Ladle the hot huckleberry jam into sterilized jars, leaving ½" headspace. Wipe the glass jar rims with a damp cloth or paper towel then add lids and screw bands hand-tight.
- Add jars to a canner filled with hot water and make sure the water level is at least a few inches over the jars. Process the jam in boiling water for a minimum of 10 minutes over medium-high heat.
Notes
- Don't walk away from the boiling jam as it needs to be stirred to keep it from bubbling over and making a big mess!
- Fresh or frozen huckleberries can be used in this huckleberry jam recipe.
- If using frozen huckleberries, strain the extra juice and mix with sugar or sweetener to make huckleberry juice.
- For higher altitudes, add 5 additional minutes for every 1000' above 3000' in elevation.
- If you want a smoother consistency, feel free to mash the berries as the jam cooks or use an immersion blender.
- Make sure the jars are sealed before storing. If you find unsealed jars, either process longer or refrigerate.
- Processed huckleberry jam is good for up to a year or longer.
- Don't overtighten the lids before processing the jam. You can tighten the lids further after they seal.
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Mandy, I would keep everything else the same. Good luck!
Mandy says
I want to supplement with some raspberries added to the huckleberries. Should I make any alterations to the recipe or can I keep everything the same?
Hilda Sterner says
Oooh, Dianna, I LOVE the way you think. I've been meaning to do the same. Enjoy & thank you for the review!
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Laurie, I'll take that as a compliment, since I love the Huckleberry Patch, especially their pie! When I lived in San Diego, I used to pay a lot of $ to have them ship me a pie every year to give my husband for Father's Day! Anyhow, thank you very much for the review!
Laurie says
This recipe is fantastic!! Even better than my absolute favorite Huckleberry preserves from the Huckleberry Patch near Glacier Park in MT!! My husband and son agree with me! Loved all of the extra tips like straining the juice from frozen huckleberries (we picked the huckleberries in MT this summer but had frozen them) and the high altitude notes which were so appreciated as I live at 6,000 ft in COlorado. So excited to have found this recipe! Thank you!
Dianna says
Added a little habanero, just enough for a taste. Very good!