How do I make raspberry jam, with or without the seeds?

You can make raspberry jam with every seed in, with half of them out, or fully seedless, and the tested recipes allow all three. Seedless jam is made by heating the crushed berries until soft, pressing them through a sieve or food mill, then measuring the pulp and carrying on with the recipe. Raspberries are low in natural pectin, so you either cook to the gel point with sugar alone, using the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) no-pectin berry jam, or use a pectin recipe. This page lays out the seed decision, the tested routes, red and black raspberries, and processing.

Seeds in, half out, or none

This is the decision that shapes the rest of the batch, so make it first.

The rule that matters for the set: measure after you sieve. The recipe's cup count is for the fruit that goes into the pot. If you sieve after measuring, you have less fruit than the recipe expects, and the balance of pectin, sugar and fruit is off. Sieving takes time, so do it before you start heating the jars. The general techniques for crushing and sieving are on preparing fruit for jam.

Why raspberries need help

NCHFP puts raspberries in its "always needs help" band, fruit that always needs added pectin, acid or both [3]. That is a statement about the set. On the labeling side, raspberry, red raspberry and black raspberry are all federal Group I fruits, so jam you sell under the standard name needs at least 47 parts fruit to 55 parts sugar [4]. The details are on the fruit floor page.

Raspberries usually carry enough acid of their own. None of the tested raspberry jam recipes on this page adds lemon, NCHFP's no-pectin table lists zero lemon juice for berries [5], and Pomona's pectin directions mark lemon as optional for raspberry [6].

The tested raspberry routes

No added pectin (NCHFP berry jam)

NCHFP's berry jam covers raspberries, along with blackberries, boysenberries, dewberries, gooseberries, loganberries and strawberries [5]. Two published versions exist:

• The full batch: 9 cups crushed berries and 6 cups sugar, for about 7 to 8 half-pints [1].
• The smaller table version: 4 cups crushed berries and 4 cups sugar, for 3 to 4 half-pints [5].

Method for the full batch [1]:

1. Sterilize canning jars. Wash and crush the berries. For seedless jam, heat the crushed berries until soft and press them through a sieve or food mill, then add the sugar and carry on as below.
2. Combine berries and sugar and bring slowly to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
3. Cook rapidly to, or almost to, the jellying point, stirring often so it does not stick. Cook to a firm or soft set as you prefer.
4. Fill hot jam into hot, sterile jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims with a dampened clean paper towel, adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner.

"Jellying point" here means the gel point. NCHFP's no-pectin jam page gives it as a temperature for your elevation, 220 degrees F at sea level, which is 8 degrees F above the boiling point of water there [5]. The temperature table by altitude and how to calibrate your thermometer are on the temperature test. NCHFP also allows a refrigerator test: a little boiling jam on a cold plate in the freezer for a few minutes, ready if it gels [5].

Liquid pectin (UW Extension)

University of Wisconsin Extension gives a raspberry jam of 4 cups berries, 6 1/2 cups sugar and 1 pouch of liquid pectin, for 7 to 9 half-pints [2]. With liquid pectin the fruit and sugar come to a hard boil first and the pectin goes in after, the opposite order from powdered pectin. Why the two pectins cannot be swapped is explained on liquid or powdered pectin.

Less sugar

UW's no-sugar raspberry jam uses 5 cups crushed berries, 1 cup fruit juice and one box of no-sugar-needed pectin, for 6 half-pints, and allows half the berries to be sieved [2]. With any reduced-sugar pectin, follow the directions for that product exactly. A jam made this way may not meet the federal standard for "jam," which matters only if you sell it; see low-sugar jam.

Freezer jam

UW's freezer blackberry or raspberry jam is 3 cups crushed berries, 1 teaspoon bottled lemon juice, 5 1/4 cups sugar, 3/4 cup water and one box of powdered pectin, for 6 to 7 half-pints, and it allows half the pulp to be pressed through a sieve to remove seeds [2]. It is not processed. Storage and method are on how to make freezer jam.

Red, black and wild raspberries

Black raspberries are their own entry in the federal Group I list [4], so they take the same 47 to 55 fruit floor as red. Washington State University Extension, describing the wild blackcap, says it can be used in any blackberry recipe [7]. That gives you the NCHFP blackberry recipes on blackberry jam as tested routes for black raspberries. If the seeds bother you, the seedless method above works the same way for black raspberries.

The same WSU publication describes thimbleberry, a wild relative, as bland but usable for jelly [7]. It does not give a tested thimbleberry recipe, and none was found in the other sources checked for this page.

If you plan to sell jam made from wild-picked berries, check your rules first. At least one California county's cottage food rules allow no fruit picked or grown in the wild [8]. The pattern by state is on selling jam in your state.

Processing raspberry jam

The NCHFP time assumes sterilized jars; for processes under 10 minutes NCHFP says to pre-sterilize them [9]. UW's raspberry recipes come with UW's own chart: 5 minutes in sterilized jars up to 1,000 feet, then 1 more minute for each added 1,000 feet of elevation (UW's own examples: 6 minutes at 1,250 feet, 7 at 2,010) [2]. Use the chart that comes with your recipe. Unsterilized jars and the book's chart for them are on how long to process jam.

Raspberry's close relatives

Blackberries, boysenberries and loganberries share NCHFP's berry jam, so your raspberry practice carries straight over. Blackberry jam covers the powdered pectin recipe and jelly from the same fruit. If your raspberry jam came out soft, start with jam that didn't set before you reboil anything.

References

1. NC State Extension (copy of NCHFP recipes), Preserving Blueberries: Recipes from NCHFP (Berry Jam without added pectin), 2015. https://foodsafety.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Preserving-Blueberries-Recipes-from-NCFHP.pdf
2. University of Wisconsin Extension, Ingham, Making Jams, Jellies & Fruit Preserves (B2909), undated. https://iowa.extension.wisc.edu/files/2021/08/Making-Jams-Jellies-Fruit-Preserves-B2909.pdf
3. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Jellied Product Ingredients, accessed October 2026. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jams-jellies-general-information/jellied-product-ingredients/
4. U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 150.160, Canned fruit preserves and jams (Cornell LII text, current). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/150.160
5. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Making Jam without Added Pectin (Table 1 and doneness tests), accessed October 2026. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jams-jellies-general-information/making-jam-without-added-pectin/
6. Pomona's Universal Pectin, Create Your Own Recipe: Developing or Converting Recipes for Cooked Jam or Jelly Using Pomona's Pectin, modified August 24, 2023. https://pomonapectin.com/?p=21164
7. Washington State University Extension, Lewis County, Preserving Washington's Wild Berries, undated. https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/wp-extension/uploads/sites/2057/2021/04/Preserving-Washingtons-Wild-Berries-1.pdf
8. Plumas County (California) Environmental Health, Cottage Food Operations: Requirements for Fruit Butters, Jams, Jellies and Preserves, rev. January 25, 2016. https://ca-plumascounty.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/44685/CFO-Jams-and-jellies-Part-150-Self-certification-11-7-13
9. National Center for Home Food Preservation, Do I Need to Pre-Sterilize My Jars before Canning?, May 21, 2014. https://nchfp.uga.edu/blog/do-i-need-to-pre-sterilize-my-jars-before-canning