Make Some Apple Cranberry Jam…
This Apple Cranberry Jam is perfect for fall and the holidays! It’s especially delicious as a filling for jam thumbprint cookies. Make a batch for giving as gifts for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Your friends and family will love it!
Jam is one of the easiest canning projects to make. Follow the complete canning instructions below and you’ll have about eight 1/2 pint jars of scrumptious jam to squirrel away for winter. 🙂
Decorate your jam with the pretty labels and recipe cards I’ve provided. They are free to download and print off whenever you like.
Printable Apple Cranberry Jam Recipe
You have several options for printing this recipe. You can print the no-frills version right here, or you can scroll down for the decorative version.
I’ve made several batches of jam and jelly to give as gifts and this recipe is probably my favorite. Except may the Apple Jam. Or maybe the Cranberry Jelly. Who am I kidding, I love them all!
Anyway, here’s the recipe with complete canning instructions!
(Keep reading for the free printable labels and recipe cards below.)
Apple Cranberry Jam with Canning Instructions
Equipment
- water bath canner
Ingredients
- 7 cups tart apples peeled, cored, and diced
- 3 cups fresh cranberries washed and coarsely chopped
- 2 cups water
- 5 cups sugar
- 6 tbsp pectin
Instructions
- Put a hot water bath canner on the burner and fill with enough water to cover jelly jars, with an extra inch of water over the top of jars. Turn the burner on high and cover with the lid.
- Wash jelly jars and screw bands. Place jelly jars in the canner to sterilize.
- While you wait for the water bath to come to a boil, prepare your fruit. Peel, core, and dice the apples. Wash the cranberries and chop them coarsely.
- When the water in the canner comes to a full rolling boil, boil jelly jars for 20 minutes to sterilize them.
- Measure the pectin into a small bowl and add 1/4 cup of the sugar. Combine and set aside.
- Measure the rest of the sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.
- Prepare canning jar lids according to the manufacturer's directions. (Most jar lids are no longer designed to be boiled, be sure to check.)
- Once the water bath with jelly jars comes to a full rolling boil, set a timer for 20 minutes.
- Place prepared fruit and water in a large saucepan turn burner to medium-high.
- Cook until fruit is tender and comes to a rolling boil.
- Add pectin mixture and stir in. Continue stirring to prevent burning.
- Bring to a rolling boil and add the remainder of sugar all at once. Stir in and continue stirring.
- Return to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute.
- Use a jar lifter to remove sterile jelly jars from canner and place them on a heavy towel on your countertop.
- Place a canning funnel in a jelly jar and use a ladle to fill with apple jam. Work quickly but carefully to prevent the jam from cooling.
- Wipe rim of jar clean, place canning lid on the jar, then screw canning band in place until finger tight.
- Use the jar lifter to place the filled jar into the boiling water bath.
- Repeat until all of the jam has been placed in the canner. Place lid on the canner and return to a full rolling boil.
- Process jam for 10 minutes once the water returns to a full rolling boil.
- Remove jars from canner with the jar lifter and place them on a heavy towel to protect your countertop. Allow the jam to cool without disturbing the jars or screw bands until jam reaches room temperature.
- When the jam has cooled completely, remove screw bands and wash the jars to remove any jam that may have leaked during processing. Check each jar to be sure it has sealed properly. A properly sealed lid will not spring up and down when pressed with your fingers.
- If any of the jars did not seal properly, refrigerate them and use the jam within 3 weeks.
Notes
Giving Jam as a Gift
I love giving my homemade goodies as gifts. Honest-to-goodness hand-crafted jams and jellies from my own kitchen taste better than storebought. And a lot of people just don’t have time to make their own.
So why not surprise them with a homemade jar of jam! Spruce that puppy up with a fabric topper or some of my free printable labels. Print out the recipe card to save for your recipe box or to give along with your homemade jam.
Here’s the free download file to print out these recipe cards…
You may also turn these recipe cards into small recipe booklets to attach to your jam. Print the above sheet, flip over and place back in your printer and run it through with the following cover image…
Here’s the file to download and print out the free covers for these booklets…
Maybe you would just like a label to cut out for the top of your jam jar. This one is easy to print, cut out, add the date and then just put on top of the jar before you screw on the canning band.
I hope you enjoy these free printable recipe cards and labels! I’ll be creating more printables as I have time. If you’d like to receive notice when I have them available, please sign up for my newsletter!
Did you print the labels? Leave a comment and let me know if you like this feature on my website!
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Apple Cranberry Jam with Free Printable Labels
How to Make Peach Jam from Fresh or Frozen Fruit
How to Make Jam from Frozen Fruit
For more information on home canning, visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! My question is can I make this and water bath can it like usual, but then if I gave them as gifts and some people didn’t necessarily trust my processes, could they store it in the fridge unopened? And If so how long would it last?
Thanks!
You are very welcome, Lydia. Yes… canned jam may be stored in the refrigerator without any problem. Jam that has been properly canned should be used up within a year or so and the same would go for canned jam that has been refrigerated. I hope this helps!
Hi, may I ask how many jars you got from this? Thank you.
Hi Tonya,
I believe this recipe made 12 to 14 half-pint jars of jam. You may cut the recipe in half if you prefer to make a smaller batch. If you use no sugar needed jam and reduce the amount of sugar, you will have fewer jars of jam due to the reduced volume of the ingredients. I hope this helps!
I gave these to friends for Christmas gifts. They were a BIG hit. I want to make some more but only have frozen cranberries now. Do you think frozen ones will work if they are thawed and left to “dry out” some?
Hi Glenda,
I’m so glad your friends enjoyed the jam! You can use frozen cranberries in this recipe but you might want to use a little bit of extra pectin in the recipe. Some fruit needs a little more pectin for proper jelling after the fruit has been frozen. Best wishes and please let me know how it turns out!
Is it possible to replace half of the sugar with honey?
Hi Sherry,
You can replace sugar with honey, but honey is sweeter so you would use two-thirds the amount. So… replace 1 cup of sugar with 2/3 cup of honey. Another thing to consider is that replacing sugar with honey in a canning recipe will also change the appearance of the final product. Honey makes jam and canned fruits look brown and some people find that unappealing. It will taste different also, so try a small batch and see what you think!
I did change up the recipe a bit. I pulsed my cranberries and apples in my food blender so there were no chunks thus zero chance of flair if fruit- which drives me crazy.. Also added cinnamon to taste. Turned our splendid.
That sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Cranberries are my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner! This is a beautiful jar full of sweetness and tart!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes and labels. Happy Holidays.
You are very welcome… Thank you!
I absolutely love these cards and jar lid labels! I will be making this jam and send them to Pennsylvania in gift baskets for my kids! Thanks so much for sharing such a great recipe and gift idea!
Thank you, AnnMarie! I’m glad you like them! I had fun creating them…maybe I missed my calling, lol! Enjoy the jam!
Thank you so much, Nancy! Happy Holidays to you too!
What a complete, practical post and photos and your creative touch makes this hand made gift so eye-appealing. Keep up the good work and happy holidays.