No refined sugar, no added pectin—just juicy blueberries and honey! This naturally sweetened blueberry jam is easy to make, paleo-friendly, and perfect for spreading on everything from toast to yogurt.
Some women love a good spa day. Me? I love a good farm visit. There’s just something so cool about seeing fruits and veggies grow straight out of the dirt. Since starting this blog, I’ve visited farms all over — from potato fields in Idaho to avocado and olive groves here in Southern California.
I’ve even walked through the salty soil of Coachella Valley where bell peppers grow, and met some amazing farmers growing everything from lettuce to cantaloupe.
So when I got the chance to go blueberry picking at a local farm, I was all in. I came home with buckets of berries — we snacked on a bunch, and the rest ended up in blueberry lemon bars, lemon blueberry muffins, blueberry sour cream scones… and of course, jam!
I’ve shared a blueberry preserves recipe with brown sugar before, but this time, I’m sweetening it with honey.
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Recipe highlights
- Simple: Making homemade jam is super easy! And you don’t need fancy ingredients or to add store bought pectin. Traditionally, jam is made with regular granulated sugar. This recipes uses honey. Three ingredients – that’s all you need!
- Flavor: All sweeteners have slightly different flavors. Honey comes i different flavors depending on where it came from. There can be hints of floral, pepper, citrus even woodsy notes. It makes a wonderful addition to any fruit jam.
- Storage: You can can your jars for longterm storage, keep a jar in the refrigerator for a month, or even freeze blueberry jam. Make a large batch and you will always have a jar on hand!
- Seasonal: Honey sweetened jams and preserves can use any kind of fruit and not just blueberries. Try it with strawberries, peaches, figs or any other favorite fruits.
Ingredients you need
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- Blueberries: Fresh fruit at the peak of its season is always the best choice when jam making. You can make jam with frozen blueberries, but I prefer fresh.
- Honey: There has been a lot in the news about the adulteration of honey. Some of it being sold as real honey, but being mixed with corn syrup. So be sure to choose a good quality honey since it is sweetening your jam.
- Lemon juice: Citrus juice naturally contains pectin, which is why it is added to fruit to make jam.
Step-by-step directions
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- Clean the berries. Wash and remove stems and leaves from blueberries. Throw out any smooshed or unripened blueberries.
- Combine in a pot. In a large non-reactive pot over medium heat add blueberries and stir in honey and lemon juice. Using a potato masher, press down on blueberries to burst and release juices.
- Simmer jam. Bring jam to boil, and remove the foam that forms. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until jam thickens.
- Cool jam. If you prefer a chunkier jam, leave as is. For a smoother jam, continue mashing or use an immersion blender. If you are going to store in the refrigerator, cool until room temperature first then transfer to an airtight container. Or, if you are canning your jam, click here for hot water canning instructions.
Recipe tips and FAQs
I come from a family of jam lovers and jam makers. Once you make homemade jam, you really become picky about the store bought jams out there.
Because this blueberry jam is sweetened with honey, this makes it a paleo-friendly recipe. It is thick and dreamy and only as good as the blueberries you use. My glorious blueberries made an equally glorious Paleo Blueberry Jam.
Check out some other family favorite jam recipes I have shared on my blog:
- Homemade Strawberry Jam with Balsamic Vinegar
- Cinnamon Fig Jam with Orange Zest
- Homemade Peach Jam with No Pectin
- Sour Cherry Jam (Moraba Albaloo)
Storing Instructions
CANNED: Jams that have been canned using hot water canning, can last in a cool dark pantry for up to a year. As long as the seal is intact and mold is not present, the jam is safe to eat past a year.
REFRIGERATE: You can also store jam in the refrigerator. The USDA says that it will last for 10 days, but I have found that it lasts longer than that. Use your best judgement.
FREEZE: There are freezer safe jam containers that can be used to store your jam in the freezer. Again, the USDA says it will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months but I have found that it does last longer. Again, use your best judgement.
Jam is fruit made with a sweetener that is cooked down until syrupy. You can use regular white sugar, brown sugar or yes, even honey. The amount of honey you use depends on how naturally sweet your fruit is and how sweet you like your jam.
Pectin is usually added to jellies, or fruit based jams that do not have a lot of substance to it. This blueberry jam is thick and syrupy without the need of adding pectin. Just cook it down until it thickens.
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Paleo Blueberry Honey Jam
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh blueberries
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash and remove stems and leaves from blueberries.
- In a large non-reactive pot over medium heat add blueberries and stir in honey and lemon juice. Using a potato masher, press down on blueberries to burst and release juices.
- Bring jam to boil, and remove the foam that forms. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until jam thickens, approximately 20 minutes.
- If you prefer a chunkier jam, leave as is. For a smoother jam, continue mashing or use an immersion blender.
- If you are going to store in the refrigerator, cool until room temperature first then transfer to an airtight container. Or, if you are canning your jam, click here for canning instructions.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
Hello..if I wanted to add fresh ginger and ground cinnamon how much would you suggest?
Thank you.
Hi Linda-
It depends on how strong a flavor you want. Ginger is a little spicy and is very aromatic, so I’d start with a little at first. Maybe 1/2-1 tsp of grated ginger? Cinnamon you can add a stick to infuse the flavor and then remove it, or stir in about 1/4-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. These are just guesstimates on my part.
Laura
How long is the jam good for?
Hi Molly,
Homemade jam should last in the fridge for about one month. Because this jam is made with honey and honey has natural preservative power, I’m confident it could last longer.
If I CAN it; how long do these roughly last?
If properly canned, just like other canned jams – about one year.
This recipe sounds delicious, but in Washington state we’re a long way off from fresh blueberries…but I still have frozen berries! Will they work in this recipe??
Absolutely! You may not need as much water with frozen berries as you would with fresh, but the basic recipe works the same.
Water?! There’s no water in the recipe! Help!
Hi Jacqueline-
No water is needed. The blueberries release their juices when cooking giving you all the liquid you need.
Laura
So what do you use it on from a Paleo standpoint? I love jam and have some great ones (Huckleberry, Cantaloupe, etc.) but I’m used to eating on bread or crackers so since going Paleo our jam consumption has definitely dropped.
There are lots of recipes out there for paleo crackers and bread. You can also use the jam for paleo dessert, like thumbprint cookies. Instead of traditional flour, paleo baked goods usually use alternate flours like coconut flour and almond meal. One of my favorite sites are https://elanaspantry.com and Carolyn of http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/ makes low carb foods that are friendly for diabetics.
Love the story…Love blueberries. And am grateful for your yummy pectin-free jam recipe which looks and sounds delicious! P.s. 1 Bet you won the most blueberry picker prize. Ps 2 Did you ever read Blueberries for Saul as a kid?
The berries were so sweet, this is a perfect recipe for them! What fun we had picking…
I’ll be right over with my toasted sourdough bread. 🙂