Raspberry Vanilla Bean Freezer Jam

We ran out of freezer jam so I decided to make another batch of my husband’s favorite, raspberry. While gathering together ingredients to make the jam, I started thinking about a sauce I made last year that I loved called Roasted Raspberries and Blueberries with Vanilla Bean. I really loved the flavor that the vanilla gave to the roasted berries, so I decided to use a vanilla bean when making this jam. I combined the scraped vanilla bean seeds with the white sugar until well combined and I also soaked the used vanilla bean pod in the raspberry puree for a while, to give the jam an extra nice vanilla flavor. Needless to say, this jam was a big hit with my family and will probably disappear much too quickly.

How to Make Raspberry Vanilla Bean Freezer Jam

Note: Reducing sugar, water, pectin or raspberries will result in set failures. USE EXACT AMOUNTS.

Wash the raspberries. Remove half to a thin wire strainer, and mash the berries with a large spoon over and over, this will separate the seeds and will produce a raspberry puree. Remove to occasionally scrape the outside bottom of the strainer with the spoon because there is puree on it.

Scrape the inside of the vanilla bean pod with a knife. Place the scraped seeds into the 3 ½ white sugar; mix very well with dry clean fingers until the seeds clumps have broken up and incorporated into the sugar very well. Place the scraped vanilla bean pod into the raspberry puree; set aside so flavors can mingle.

Add exactly 3 ½ cups of vanilla sugar, 1 cup of water, and one packet of pectin to a large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil on medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Quickly stir puree from the mashed raspberries (and the vanilla bean pod) into the hot sugar mixture along with the remaining whole raspberries. Stir with a large spoon, while carefully mashing the whole raspberries into pieces, for about 4-5 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean pod and pour the raspberry vanilla bean jam into the clean freezer-proof containers, leaving ½ inch space at the top for expansion during freezing; cover. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours until set. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. Otherwise, store in the freezer for up to 1 year.

Note: If you are using different pectin than the one pictured above (Sure-Jell for use in less or no sugar), you need to follow the instructions from your pectin package, not this recipe. Different pectin’s call for different amounts of sugar and fruit.