June Can Jam: Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter

Well kids. The Tigress Can Jam challenge this month was anything that ended in “erries” and since this is my summer of fruit butters, I have made a batch of blueberry butter. Last weekend, my friend Shay and I took a little drive out to my favorite blueberry pickin’ spot in South Jersey and spent a couple of hours rattling berries from branches, filling our buckets and bellies.

However, the true treat of the day came when we rounded the corner of the farm stand in order to pay for our hauls. Standing right in front was my cousin Amy, out for a day of picking with her partner and two of their grandkids. We had one of those truly lovely moments, when you gape open-mouthed for a moment before laughing and falling into hugs.

Once home with my seven and a half pounds of berries, I spent several days eating them popcorn-style out of bowls, before hunkering down and making a preservation plan for the rest. Last year I called blueberry my foundational jam and that’s still a phrase that feels correct. I will always love that simple jam (in fact, I still have some from last year), but this time around I wanted to try something slightly different.

Originally I had planned to make a blueberry butter spiked with a hint of lavender, but this week was busy enough that I didn’t have a chance to get to Reading Terminal Market and that’s the only place close by where I can get food-grade lavender. So I went simple and stuck with my mom’s preferred flavor profile of lemon zest, cinnamon and just a bit of nutmeg.

Lately, I’ve been turning to two gadgets to make my preserving work just a little bit easier to accomplish. The first is my trusty Vita-mix. I grew up with the vintage chrome version of this incredible blender and so during wedding time last year, made it a priority to dedicate some of our gifted resources to acquiring my own.

While I had an inkling that it had the potential to be a transformative piece of equipment, I had no idea how it would revolutionize my jam making. Here’s what makes it so special: When you run it on very low speed, it doesn’t puree the fruit. It just chops it up into small bits, which coincidentally, are the absolutely perfect size for jams and butters. I know it’s a little bit unfair to rave about something that’s so darned expensive, but really, this thing has changed my life for the better.

The other small electrical appliance (that happens to be on the very other end of the cost spectrum) that I’m using all the time these days is my ancient, $3-at-a-thrift-store slow cooker. I’ve found that older slow cookers are far superior to newer ones, because they cook at lower temperatures. Truly, food safety regulations have made it so that what was once the high setting on the old pots is now the low setting on the new ones (you should never be able to achieve a boil in one of the pots from the seventies or eighties). And when you’re cooking a butter, you want to cook it as low and slow as you can. Slow cookers are truly perfect for this.

This particular butter reminds me a bit of blueberry pie, which makes it a winner in my book. Tomorrow morning, I’m having some friends over to do a little fruit butter tasting (in recent days, I’ve also made apricot butter and sweet cherry butter). We’ll see if they like the blueberry version as much as I do.

Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter
makes approximately 3 1/2 pints of butter

8 cups of pureed blueberries
2 cups sugar
1 lemon, zested
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Put the pureed blueberries in a slow cooker. Place a lid on the pot and turn it on to low. After about an hour, give it a stir. At this point, you want to use something to prop the lid a bit. I found that laying a wooden spoon across the rim of the cooker and then placing the lid on gave it just enough room to let the steam evaporate.

My blueberry butter spent about six hours in the slow cooker (from 5:30 p.m. when I got home from work, until 11:30 p.m. when I canned and processed it). At the beginning of hour five, I added the spices and the sugar, removed the lid completely and turned the heat up to high, in order to speed the cooking down.

Once it’s cooked down sufficiently*, pour into jars (leave a good 1/2 inch of head space), wipe rims, apply lids and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Eat on fresh scones and store unopened jars in a cool, dark place.

*When the cooking process is done, you can puree with an immersion blender or (carefully) in a regular blender, for a smoother product. It depends on whether you like your butters a bit chunky or very smooth.

Related posts:

Subscribe to comments Comment | Trackback |

Browse Timeline

Comments ( 61 )

[...] knows, blueberries are pretty much the only option for the blue. This recipe from Food in Jars for Blueberry Butter uses a slow cooker to get the job done. How brilliant! You can be on grill duty while the blueberry [...]

Three Recipes to Try this Week: Zuccaghetti, Crunchy Peanut Slaw, Blueberry Butter | EcoSalon added these pithy words on Jul 02 10 at 6:13 pm

[...] Food in Jars put up some (Slow Cooker) Blueberry Butter. It not only looks amazing, but using the slow cooker? Genius! I want to try this and experiment with the method for strawberry or cherry butter. [...]

My Own CanJam Berry Roundup | Grow & Resist added these pithy words on Jul 03 10 at 7:09 pm

[...] were so many questions about cooking fruit butters in slow cookers left on the blueberry butter post that I thought I’d talk a little more about how it works, how to do it and why it’s a [...]

More on Fruit Butters in a Slow Cooker | Food in Jars added these pithy words on Jul 08 10 at 11:34 pm

[...] to cherry butter or apple butter – a preserve with no butter pats involved.) Here’s a Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter [...]

Kentucky blueberries came early but some are staying late; freeze some for winter, and make others into delicious savory treats. added these pithy words on Jul 12 10 at 9:02 am

[...] do some jam, some preserves, some fruit leather, but first up was butter. I used Marisa‘s recipe again just using 8 cups of pureed apricots instead of blueberries. The smell in the crockpot was [...]

Apricot Butter « Putting By added these pithy words on Jul 27 10 at 9:21 am

[...] from Whalen Farms and peaches from the Johnson’s Farm. Score! My first batch was a blueberry butter recipe from the lovely Marisa McClellan of Food in [...]

Canning 101 | La Phemme Phoodie added these pithy words on Jul 29 10 at 9:34 am

[...] blueberry butter [...]

Preserving the Harvest 2010 | Lil' Suburban Homestead added these pithy words on Aug 17 10 at 9:31 pm

[...] surprised by another bumper crop of plums, I had to think of a way to use them up. This recipe for blueberry butter inspired me to try to work up a plum [...]

Plum Butter in a Slow Cooker « Small Potatoes added these pithy words on Aug 20 10 at 11:54 pm

[...] Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter | Food in Jars I like to do a lot of small jars of different jams, condiments, etc. for holiday gifts. Last year I made apple butter, but I think would be a nice change and now is the time to make use of the billions of blueberries at the farmer’s market. (tags: gifts canning recipes) [...]

links for 2010-08-23 « Sophie Begonia added these pithy words on Aug 23 10 at 10:34 pm

[...] ‘Hmm… that could be kind of fun!’ I started with a Crock-Pot recipe for blueberry butter because it seemed pretty easy. Puree the blueberries, cook them down a little in the Crock-Pot, [...]

Jam!! and a couple of fruit butters « Taste and see… added these pithy words on Aug 31 10 at 3:45 pm

ooh, I would not have thought of blueberry butter. must try!

1. melissa added these pithy words on Jun 25 10 at 11:29 pm

I love it! As soon as I get some Lac St Jean blueberries in, I am so making this! You just made my day, and the restaurant is gonna love it! Thank you so much!

2. Jason Sandeman added these pithy words on Jun 25 10 at 11:36 pm

I am sold on slow cooker butter; thanks for the inspiration and great post!

3. Kate added these pithy words on Jun 25 10 at 11:50 pm

So if you were to use lavender instead, do you have a suggestion for how much? And one would just add the dried blossoms straight in place of the spices?

4. Erin added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 12:46 am

This may be very elementary, but why/how is it considered a butter? Also… What is the difference between a jam, jelly, butter, etc.
Thanks!

5. Annie added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 1:55 am

I recently made my first fruit butter. Plum. I had 11 pounds of Italin Plums in the freezer, the last of the 35 pounds my little tree produced last year. I figured that after being frozen for so long butter would be the best use. Now I heart fruit butter! Your blueberry recipe sounds wonderful. Blueberry Butter here I come.

6. Terri added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 2:26 am

This looks fantastic! I haven’t made a fruit butter yet, but hope to this summer. Slow cooker- great idea!

7. meg added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 3:57 am

Huh. I had no idea you can make blueberry butter. I always make blueberry jam and I like it but I think I’d like the smooth texture of blueberry butter even more.

Wondering if you can process the blueberries in a food processor in lieu of a Vitamix (which I am completely jealous of, BTW)

8. Jennifer added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 7:25 am

Looks and sounds fantastic – I’m just trying to think out how to do this in a “new” slowcooker… maybe 1/2 the time? I hate to get a second slowcooker from the thrift store, just to get the super-low, super-slow cooking effect. (my kitchen is not that big!)

9. Rachel added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 8:56 am

I love your blueberry butter. I’ve been making apple butter in my crockpot for a few years now. For butters, it’s the only way to go in my opinion. Have not even thought to try blueberry butter. Thanks for the recipe.

10. Bonnie added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 9:53 am

What a great idea! I never thought of using the crockpot for making butters.

11. Cindy added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 10:05 am

Marisa, what else can you make in the crock pot? I really like this idea, and have apricots, peaches and plums to can. Can I follow your basic recipe above with the different fruits, or do I need to adjust the ingredients. And, can I make slow cook, no-pectin jam in the crock pot? Would love to have a way to get the caramely flavor, without having to stand over a hot pot all afternoon!

12. Gudrun added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 12:14 pm

What amazing timing! Blueberries were on sale today and I bought a pound. Maybe I’ll try making a tiny batch of this. I have a newer model crock pot though… Would the low setting be low enough or should I put it on Warm for a few hours? I don’t have any lemons though, so I might either skip the lemon zest, or add a bit of my roommate’s homemade limoncello and hope the alcohol cooks off and doesn’t leave any flavor but the lemon peel.

13. Aba added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 1:21 pm

i am always on the look-out for blueberry recipes. i love the idea of a butter. good one! and that top photo – amazing!

14. tigress added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 3:36 pm

I am new to canning. I just bought my first pressure canner a few weeks ago. I think that this recipe will be my first experiment with using it (for hot water bath)! I can’t wait to try the blueberry butter!!

15. Emily added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 5:01 pm

That looks SO good. I only wish I lived where I could get my hands on a bunch of blueberries cheap.

16. Kristen added these pithy words on Jun 26 10 at 6:07 pm

Yes! This sounds fab. I love blueberries but I am not a fan of blueberry jam because it never gets firm enough for my taste. Blueberry butter sounds perfect. Thanks!

17. Brenna Fisk added these pithy words on Jun 27 10 at 9:03 am

last summer, I bought 8 pounds of blueberries, but they never made it to jam (strait into my kids bellies). They’re at camp this week and I just picked up 4 pints of blues- maybe they’ll make it into a jar this year!

18. momchelle added these pithy words on Jun 27 10 at 9:41 am

Jam in a slow-cooker is genius. Of course, now I imagine that my slow-cooker is too hot for this, which is a bit of a shame, but I’m really looking forward to trying this to see how it goes.

19. Jenn added these pithy words on Jun 27 10 at 10:20 am

I just tried this yesterday but with star anise as my spice of choice! I don’t think I cooked it down enough, but it was pretty tasty on some bread!

20. maya-marie added these pithy words on Jun 27 10 at 12:01 pm

I Love the idea of jam in the slow cooker. Blueberries are in down here in Florida. I have this recipe in my slow cooker as I type. Can’t wait to taste it later tonight. Yummmmm

21. Karyn AKA The Gourmet Groupie added these pithy words on Jun 27 10 at 6:47 pm

Had no idea you could make that in a slow cooker! How wonderful. I have an abundance of blueberries and have just discovered how much I like canning. Thanks for the recipe.

22. Otehlia Cassidy added these pithy words on Jun 28 10 at 9:45 am

Love this idea and recipe!! Could you please post the sweet cherry butter recipe? I have a ton of cherries that need to be used up and that sounds amazing!!

23. Juliw added these pithy words on Jun 28 10 at 5:34 pm

I just made this yesterday, and it turned out soooo goood! I think I may have messed up somewhere because for me it made 3 1/2 half pints. But, like I said it turned out perfectly in my opinion. Thank you so much for the recipe!
P.S. I put some on lemon biscotti, and might I say heaven.

24. Jase added these pithy words on Jun 29 10 at 4:03 am

That’s a really good tidbit about older slow cookers!

25. Sarah added these pithy words on Jun 29 10 at 9:35 am

Thank you for the great recipe!

26. Torie added these pithy words on Jun 29 10 at 9:54 am

I have made apple butter in the slow cooker many times and found that my newer model worked fine using the high setting for about an hour with the remaining time on low setting. However, when I tried the blueberry butter, I used the warm setting. It worked great! The finished product was delicious.

I had a few spoonfuls leftover that couldn’t fit in a jar, so I threw them in the ice cream maker with a basic vanilla recipe. My husband swore it was the best ice cream I’d ever made!

27. Kelly added these pithy words on Jun 29 10 at 3:39 pm

I made this last night and I have to say, I messed it up. I didn’t chop up the berries (I didn’t want to wash out my processor) and then I forgot to take the lid off for 4 hours — so it really turned out more like blueberry sauce (I even put it through a food mill because those berries just were NOT breaking down like I thought they would). I didn’t have cinnamon, but I put it 2 T of lemon juice and the zest of one orange (plus the cinnamon) and it has yummy holiday flavors. I just called it blueberry sauce, and I think it will be great on pancakes, etc., but I still really want a blueberry butter! Oh well. I’ll try again in a few weeks.
~Marisa, I also made your rhubarb-rosemary jam yesterday. OH MY GOODNESS. I can’t stop eating it! So yummy.~

28. Emily Rae added these pithy words on Jun 29 10 at 11:32 pm

This recipe looks totally fab. I can never resist a vintage slow cooker on sale for a song in a charity shop, so have a few. Am really looking forward to giving this recipe a go. Unfortunately blueberries are still sold in tiny little punnets in the UK and cost a fortune. Eventually I will grow enough to make jams with. Thanks for the inspiration.

29. Gloria added these pithy words on Jun 30 10 at 3:21 pm

I am excited to make this and am even going picking this weekend just for this recipe. But I need to know if I can make it in my newer slow cooker. Any ideas out there?

30. Kate added these pithy words on Jul 01 10 at 2:27 pm

Kate, I’m working on a post with more details about making fruit butters in a crock pot. I did want to drop and respond to say that you can use a newer crock pot to make fruit butters, you just have to watch it more and keep it on low the entire time.

31. Marisa added these pithy words on Jul 01 10 at 5:02 pm

Well, after reading your recipe and everyone’s comments I know what I’m doing tomorrow (and taking to our friends annual 4th of July barbque)…I just need to go get some more fresh blueberries as they are ripe and plentiful. Thank you for sharing!

32. Central Valley Farm Gal added these pithy words on Jul 02 10 at 12:25 am

Quick question..when you say “8 cups pureed blueberries”..is that 8 cups of berries, or 8 cups of puree? Thanks.

34. NewToCanning added these pithy words on Jul 03 10 at 3:10 pm

That means 8 cups of blueberry puree.

35. Marisa added these pithy words on Jul 03 10 at 3:20 pm

I know it’s probably been said already, but I LOVE the slow cooker idea. I am so on that. I have an awesome 70′s one with a brick motif that I use for hot spiced cider in the fall. Now it’s going to work in the summer! Thanks, Marisa!

37. Julia added these pithy words on Jul 04 10 at 2:52 pm

Emily Rae, you sound like my kind of cook! My sister laughs at me because she is the more careful cook of the family, but sometimes my flights of fancy work out!

38. Kay S. added these pithy words on Jul 04 10 at 4:40 pm

I am going to make this! Soooo good! I have 3 blueberry bushes planted two years ago. Prducing well but can’t wait for what they’ll provide in the next two years or so!

40. Paige added these pithy words on Jul 09 10 at 4:31 pm

I am slapping my forehead over the Vita-mix tip. We got one not too long ago, but so far it’s been my partner’s domain. Now I see how I can use it for my jams. I think you’ve just changed my life for the better, too. I’m looking forward to trying slow-cooker butter as well.

41. Shae added these pithy words on Jul 09 10 at 8:51 pm

I’ll have to try this. I’ve done pear & apple butter b4 in a crockpot–I’m lazy. : )

43. Tammy B. added these pithy words on Jul 12 10 at 11:08 pm

I’m interested in your apricot butter. I have apricots coming out my ears and can only make so much jam. Please post?

44. Faye added these pithy words on Jul 13 10 at 8:15 pm

It sounds wonderful. I just went to a peach farm today and bought 1 1/2 bushel of SC peaches. I had also stopped at the farmer’s market and bought fresh blueberries. (I had already picked 13 lb. but they are in the freezer.)
Do you think I could make peach, blueberry butter? Thanks for any help you can give me. I hope I am doing this right, my first time.

45. Ginny added these pithy words on Jul 13 10 at 10:36 pm

Ginny, I’ve made peach butter in the slow cooker to great success. I’ve never done a fruit combination like that before using this technique, but I imagine it would work. The only thing to note is that the blueberries will be the dominate color in the finished butter.

46. Marisa added these pithy words on Jul 13 10 at 11:20 pm

Marisa, I will think about combining the fruits, maybe I should just make a peach and then a blueberry.
I am so pleased I found your page.
Thanks again,
Ginny

47. Ginny added these pithy words on Jul 14 10 at 8:05 am

Marisa, I took a chance and made the blueberry, peach butter. It was delicious. Thanks for your help.

48. Ginny added these pithy words on Jul 14 10 at 7:18 pm

Ginny, I’m so glad to hear that the combo worked so well! Hooray!

49. Marisa added these pithy words on Jul 14 10 at 9:39 pm

I just found this website and love it! I am trying to do some canning this year and live near Philadelphia. Marisa – where do you get your fruit or at least the blueberries? Sweetest I have found are near Hammonton but I do not have the time to go there this year before the season ends!

50. Leigh added these pithy words on Jul 18 10 at 8:14 pm

I made my first fruit butter (cherry) a few weeks ago, and love it, so I am making blueberry butter today! Does the lemon do anything to help preserve the butter, or is it added merely for taste? And did you use the whole lemon or just the zest?

51. Julie @SavvyEats added these pithy words on Jul 22 10 at 11:40 am

I doubled the recipe to fit our big crock pot (I think it’s 6 or 7 quart). I ended up with 15 half-pints of fantastic blueberry butter! With our newer model, I kept the temps between the “keep warm” and “low” settings. My children absolutely love it in their oatmeal and hot cereal as well as on waffles, pancakes, biscuits, etc.! Thank you for the recipe.

52. Heather added these pithy words on Jul 22 10 at 9:04 pm

Thanks for all of your inspirational posts! I just started canning this year and I tried your recipe for slow cooker blueberry butter. I had to halve the recipe and I think I may have added extra lime zest because the lime is pronounced in mine. Still I liked it a lot. While waiting for the results from the slow cooker, I made strawberry ice cream.

55. Betty added these pithy words on Aug 08 10 at 12:56 am

I have to thank you for this recipe, it is now one of my favorite treats in the morning. I changed it a little by using Splenda 1/2 instead of sugar the results worked out good. lucky we keep that old crock pot we got as a wedding gift, I can see a future for it again. I heard about your site off of Gardenfork Radio and since I had canned most my young life, but just got back into it, I thought I would check out your site for some tips and inspiration, and I am sure glad I did. Thank You for your hard work and I hope I can return the favor one day.
Joey

56. Joe Ledington added these pithy words on Aug 11 10 at 9:44 pm

Done! Using the slow cooker was a great idea, considering we have had some too hot to turn the stove on type days. My 8 cups whole blueberries (then pureed down to something less…) made 4 cups lemony blue-butter, and yes, its delish!
The wine jelly i had in mind to get to this weekend may have to wait, since the August CanJam tomatoe butter sounds more intriguing than ketchup.
Thanks for the brilliant idea of putting the slow cooker to another good use.
I make a beautiful deep port coloured Italian Prune Plum butter with Chinese 5 Spice and this has been on almost every meat, bread and dairy product we have eaten this past year! Give that a try when your local plums are ready.

59. Teresa added these pithy words on Aug 21 10 at 3:17 am

Food in Jars

Browse Timeline

Comments ( 61 )