Before You Begin: Prepare calcium water. To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin)
with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well. Extra
calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.
Blueberry-Lavender Jam
Yield: about 2 ½ cups
2 cups mashed blueberries
1 Tablespoon lavender buds
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon calcium water
1/3 cup up to ½ cup honey or ½ cup up to 1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon Pomona’s pectin powder
Wash jars, lids, and bands. Place jars in canner, fill canner 2/3 full with water, bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover, and keep jars in hot canner water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small sauce pan; cover and heat to a low boil. Turn off heat and keep lids in hot water until ready to use.
Measure sugar or honey into a separate bowl. Thoroughly mix 1 teaspoon pectin powder into sweetener.
Wash and mash the blueberries; measure fruit into saucepan. Add lavender buds, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon calcium water to the fruit and stir well.
Bring to a boil and simmer to soften lavender buds, about 5 minutes.
Bring fruit to a full boil. Add pectin-sweetener mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the jam comes back up to a boil. Once the jam returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals; lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.
Apricot-Lavender Jam Option: Can be made using 2 cups washed, chopped, mashed apricots for the blueberries. To soften firm apricots, bring prepared apricots to boil with ¼ cup water and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Also, use 2 teaspoons calcium water and 1 ½ teaspoons Pomona’s Pectin powder.
