It’s blackberry season where we live, which means free blackberries are available in every direction. The kids had been begging to go berry picking because we have been out of blackberry syrup for too long and we need to restock. Sure we have other kinds of syrup, but nothing compares to homemade blackberry syrup. It’s everyone’s favorite!
Everyone was thrilled that last week’s Family Night activity involved picking buckets of blackberries on the side of the road. No one even complained about the thorns!
Homemade blackberry syrup really is as good as it gets! You’ll be looking for pancakes, waffles, ice cream, cheesecake– whatever you can use as a vehicle to get this stuff into your mouth. If you’re shameless, like me, you may just grab for a spoon! (You think I’m kidding?!)
If you want a video tutorial for making your own blackberry syrup, check out the video below, otherwise, keep scrolling down for the written directions with photos and a printable recipe at the bottom!
Ingredients
- 4 cups blackberry juice/pulp, de-seeded
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon bottled lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
De-seeding Blackberries
If I’m not making blackberry syrup right away, I justput them straight into freezer bags. I try to hold off making jams and syrups until the berries are done for the season. By that time, I really want to take back my freezer space anyway.
Here’s my freezer stash of blackberries from a few years ago. It filled a laundry basket. I left them in the basket to thaw.
When I’m ready to de-seed the berries, I warm them up on the stove. You get a lot more juice out of hot berries than cold ones.
Start by de-seeding your berries. I used to use a strainer like the one in the picture below for years. It works fine, but has a limited capacity. Plus, it always seems like there is more juice left in the seedy part, but it’s very tedious to get it all out.
I have no idea why I didn’t buy a berry screen for my food strainer sooner. It works like a dream!! I love using a food strainerfor making homemade applesauce. The screen that comes with it is perfect for apples and tomatoes. The berry screen has smaller holes than the apple/tomato screen so it keeps back all those annoying blackberry seeds. It made the de-seeding process so simple!
My kids love to help with the de-seeding process (and the apple-saucing process). Since the strainer is so easy to use, the kids can help and actually be really helpful!
Making Blackberry Syrup
Unlike making jam, you can double or triple this recipe without any trouble. I make as much at a time as will fit in the pots I’m using, but I will share the recipe for one batch.
In a large saucepan, mix 4 cups of blackberry juice/pulp with sugar, lemon juice, and salt.
Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil while stirring constantly. Boil for four minutes.
Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla until completely combined. These are the secret ingredients for truly amazing blackberry syrup!
At this point you can use it fresh, freeze it or can it. It will be fine in your fridge for a couple of weeks or in your freezer for much longer.
If you’re freezing it, you can use empty peanut butter jars or salad dressing, syrup bottles, or any other handy freezable container.
Canning Blackberry Syrup
Canning is only slightly more complicated, but if you’re familiar with the canning process, then it’s pretty simple.
I usually use quart jars for our family (we go through lots of this stuff!) and pint jars to give as gifts (that way I can give them to more people!).
You’ll start out by washing your jars in hot soapy water. Sterilize the jars by turning them upside down in a pan of simmering water. Put your flat lids in the simmering water as well. Alternatively you could run the jars through a cycle in the dishwasher.
Ladleyour hot syrup into hot jars.
Fill the jars leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top. Clean the rim of each jar before putting on the lid. Put on a hot flat lid and screw the ring on tight.
Process
Pints (or smaller)
In awater bath canner
orsteam canner
, process hot syrupin pint jars or smaller according to the table below which takes into account your elevation.
| Jar Size | 0 – 1,000 ft | 1,001 – 3,000 ft | 3,001 – 6,000 ft | 6,000-8,000 ft |
| Pints (or smaller) | 10 min | 15 min | 20 min | 25 min |
Quarts
I mentioned earlier that I can syrup (and jam) in quart jars. Nowadays, they never give a processing time for quarts of jam, but you can find times in older books. My mother-in-law has always done jam in quart jars without a problem, so that’s what I’ve always done and I am perfectly fine with it. I process quarts for about 5 minutes longer than I dopints.
To put it into perspective, when our grandmas canned jam, they didn’t even process it. At all. Just having the hot jam in the jar will make the lid seal, so that was that. My grandma still just turns the jam jars upside down to make them seal.The USDA says that it is effective, there is just more room for error if the jam cools down too much before you get the lid screwed on, so to be safe you should process the jars. For jam, the only real risk is mold, which is easy to detect and not nearly as scary as the potential forbotulism if tomatoes or green beans are not processed properly.
If processing quarts makes you nervous, just do pints.
I prefer using asteam cannerwhichtakes less water and isnot so bulky. In a steam canner, you start timing once the steam coming out the hole is at least the length of a quart jar. You can turn the heat down (so it doesn’t steam like crazy) as long as you still have a steady stream of steam. When the time is up, turn the stove off. Remove the lid by lifting it away from you so you don’t get a face full of steam.
In a water bath canner, water should cover jars by at least an inch. Start timing when the water reaches a vigorous boil. You can turn heat down slightly as long as at least a steady, gentle boil continues throughout the processing time. Keep the canner covered the entire time.
Cool Jars, Remove Rings, Wash Jars
Using the jar lifter from your canning tools (or just a hot pad if you’re using a steam canner), move your jars to the counter. I usually set them on a towel and let them cool overnight in a non-drafty area.
About 24 hours later, remove the rings, wash the jars and check the seal. Pull up lightly on the flat lid with your finger to test the seal. If it pulls off easily, the jar did not seal right. Don’t fret because you can put the unsealed jar in the fridge touse first.
All the jars that sealed well can be stored for years in your pantry or any other relatively cool and dark location. Label them with the year and contents so that you can keep your food storage rotated.
Serving Suggestions
Blackberry syrup is great on breakfasts or desserts. We love it on:
- Pancakes
- Waffles
- French Toast
- Ice Cream
- Cheesecake
- Yogurt
You seriously can’t go wrong! It also makes a lovely gift!
Print the Recipe
4.6 from 10 reviews
Best Blackberry Syrup
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This is seriously the best blackberry syrup! It's perfect for pancakes, waffles, ice cream, cheesecake-- you can't go wrong!
Author: Stephanie @ SixFiguresUnder.com
Ingredients
- 4 cups blackberry juice/pulp, de-seeded
- 1½ cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon bottled lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, mix 4 cups of blackberry juice/pulp with sugar, lemon juice, and salt.
- Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil while stirring constantly. Boil for four minutes.
- Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla until completely combined.
- At this point you can use it fresh, freeze it or can it. It will be fine in your fridge for a couple of weeks or in your freezer for much longer.
- If you're freezing it, you can use old salad dressing bottles or old peanut butter jars.
- For detailed photo tutorial, de-seeding instructions, and canning instructions go to www.sixfiguresunder.com/best-blackberry-syrup
