1. Gather ripe, firm, uniformly-colored, and sweet blackberries. Avoid overripe berries. You’ll need 8-9 pounds of fruit for a canner load of 9 pints or 12-13 pounds for a canner load of 7 quarts.
2. Prepare 9 pint jars or 4 quart jars with their ring bands and brand-new canning lids. Wash the utensils with warm soapy water before rinsing them in plain warm water.
3. Submerge the canning jars in fresh water in a large pot and apply heat until the water simmers. Let the jars remain hot until filling time.
4. Prepare the hot water bath canner. Load it with a clean canning rack and add warm water to the halfway position. Heat the canner on medium-high heat to bring the water to a stable 180°F simmer.
5. Wash the fresh berries in cool water, 1-2 quarts at a time. Rinse the berries under cool running water. Remove stems, if any. Pat the berries with paper towels to remove excess water droplets. If you use frozen blackberries, allow enough time for thawing.
6. For raw packs: fill hot jars with raw berries. Pour hot syrup over the berries, leaving ½-inch headspace.
7. For hot-packs, prepare a light or medium syrup with the specified amount of sugar and water. Mix the two and bring them to a boil in a wide pot. Stir frequently to dissolve the sugar completely. Use the following measurements for the simple syrup:

• 5¾ cups water and 1½ cups sugar for light syrup
• 5¼ cups water and 2¼ cups sugar for medium syrup

Cooking the Raspberries

1. Add the washed berries to the hot syrup and cook them for 30 seconds.
2. If preferred, make canned blackberries sweeter or reduce discoloration by adding a little homemade blackberry juice to cook with the syrup. Use a potato masher to crush the berries or a mesh strainer to sieve the juice into the syrup when adding the whole berries.
3. Use a ladle and canning funnel to fill drained hot jars with hot blackberries and cooking syrup, allowing ½-inch headspace.
4. Run a wooden utensil along the inner walls of the jars to remove air bubbles. Refill the jars with more berries or syrup if needed. Maintain ½-inch headspace.
5. Wipe the rims of the filled jars with paper towels dipped in warm water.
6. Place the lids on the jars and fasten the ring bands over them to a slight resistance level and fingertip tightness.
7. With the canner still simmering, lift the jars upright onto the canning rack. The water should cover the jars by 1-2 inches.
8. Put the canner over high heat to bring it to a rolling boil before closing its lid and processing the blackberries per elevation:

Boiling Water Bath Canner Hot Pack Processing Times

• 0 – 1,000ft: 15 minutes
• 1,001 – 3,000ft: 20 minutes
• 3,001 – 6,000ft: 20 minutes
• Above 6,001ft: 25 minutes

Boiling Water Bath Canner Raw Pack Processing Times

• 0 – 1,000ft: 15 minutes for pints; 20 minutes for quarts
• 1,001 – 3,000ft: 20 minutes for pints; 25 minutes for quarts
• 3,001 – 6,000ft: 20 minutes for pints; 30 minutes for quarts
• Above 6,000ft: 25 minutes for pints; 35 minutes for quarts

Post Processing

1. Turn off the heat to the canner. Open the lid, taking care to avoid the steam. Use a jar lifter or canning tongs to remove each jar independently after 5 minutes of letting off steam.
2. Rest the jars upright on a working surface covered with warm cloth towels. Let the jars cool for 12-24 hours without disturbing or interfering with the lids.
3. Once the jars have cooled to room temperature, undo the ring bands to check the seals. Successfully sealed lids shouldn’t move when pressed. Use unused canning lids to reprocess unsealed jars. You can also save them for a few weeks in the refrigerator.
4. Wash the successfully sealed jars with cool water. Dry the jars and label them by the canning date and berry type. Store the jars in the pantry.