Blueberries and Lime

Ever since Susan of Juniper Moon Farm posted her recipe for Blueberry Jam with lime, I knew I was eventually going to make it. Last year, I picked my own blueberries and when I recently came across a bag of forgotten blueberries in our chest freezer, I thought now is the time. Then I remembered how much effort went into picking those berries and I got a little gun shy. The recipe calls for 8 pints of berries which would have meant completely depleting my blueberry stash and then still having to buy more to have enough berries. So, when I saw blueberries on sale as part of the Memorial Day BBQ sale, I grabbed 8 pints and set to work, leaving my hand picked berries for another use.

This recipe was attractive to me because it uses relatively low sugar and is flavored with lime juice and zest. As an aside, I would like to give a shout out to this super old Sunkist Lemonade juicer that I love to death! This vice like tool squishes and strains the seeds out all at once and it keeps me from having to get the acidic juices on my sensitive skin.

Anyway, the recipe sounded great, but I struggled with it. The first step was to macerate the berries in sugar overnight, which went fine. The problem came with the next step, which is reducing the liquids over high heat. The liquid got so hot that it started to turn into taffy before it had finished reducing! At that point, I freaked out a bit and added water and the berries to bring the temp back down and soften it up quickly. When I realized that the added water was going to result in a loose texture, I added liquid pectin in attempts to firm it back up. It didn't work. The resulting texture was firmer than syrup but looser than jam. The flavor is delicious, so in the end, I came to terms with having made Blueberry Lime Sauce instead of Blueberry Jam.

When life gives you runny yogurt and saucy jam, I find it is best to let go of your original expectations and find uses for what you have.

We poured them both over buckwheat pancakes and greatly enjoyed the flavor combo.

I hope the swappers are up for some Blueberry Lime Sauce, because I will be bringing some jars to the next swap.