Blueberry Syrup

I hope you had a fantastic weekend celebrating Independence Day!  It was a very productive weekend at our house.  We painted the boys' room and built their big boy beds.  I'll show you all the details of that when we finish ~ projects tend to take longer than we expect, usually thanks to our little "helpers". (yes, she dressed herself!)

On Sunday, in the middle of trying to paint the new beds, we were thwarted by a heavy thunderstorm.  So the construction got closed in the garage, and we moved our productivity to the kitchen.  We bought 8 pints of blueberries at the farmer's market, so I knew they would have to be turned into something yummy.  We debated on jellies, jams and spreads but ultimately decided to make syrup.  The process was kind of long (as canning projects tend to be), but very easy. 

Don't forget to sterilize your jars.  I put mine in the diswasher.  Which I have to think about at the beginning of the process, because it's usually full of dirty dishes.  So I have to run those, unload and then do the jars.  But enough about my messes....on to the syrup!

Start with blueberries, water and lemon zest.

8 cups blueberries, cleaned of stems and whatnot
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon lemon zest

You'll also want to go ahead and set yourself up a collander or sieve lined with cheesecloth over a large bowl.

Place blueberries, zest and water in a saucepan over Medium heat.  Bring to a gentle boil (it took about 12 minutes for mine to get to a 'gentle boil').  Let it boil for about 5 min, stiring occassionally.
 
Remove from heat and pour into prepared collander.
 
Now...the recipe said, "allow to sit, undisturbed for at least 2 hours".  Uhm...I'm not really that patient, I was over at the bowl messing with it ever 10 minutes.  Finally I decided it was not dripping enough blueberry goodness, so I put a bowl on top with a can in the bowl to weigh it down.  I don't know if it really helped the process, but I quit messing with it after that.
 
After your two hours is up, you make the actual syrup.  In a large pot or saucepan fitted with a thermometer, put 4 cups water and 3 cups sugar over Medium High heat.

Boil until the mixture is 230 degrees.  This takes a while!  Remember how I said I'm not patient?  Well it was taking so long I decided that surely I had done something wrong.  I almost threw it out and started over, but instead I googled "how long does it take to boil sugar water to 230 degrees".  What I found out is that the boiling point of syrup is 230 degrees and what takes so long is that the water has to evaporate until the ratio of sugar to water is such that a syrup can be made.  You can read more about it here, here or here.  Or you can just wait it out patiently . . . . whatever works for you.  You'll notice somewhere right beyond 200 degree that your bubbles change from regular-looking boil bubbles to a shiny, glassy look.  That means you're getting close to syrup.

Once you reach 230 degrees, pour in all that yummy blueberry juice that's been draining and crank the heat up to High.  Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes.  Then ladle it into your prepared jars.  You want 1/4" headspace.  Seal the jars and process for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat and leave them in for 5 more minutes, then remove the jars, cool and store.  

*For more information on canning, take a look around here.  There are a lot of specifics that go into canning, but it's not hard at all. 


Monday morning we had lemon pancakes with blueberry syrup!  YUMMY!

Have a great day...see you tomorrow!