In the woods around Kingwood…..my home location – the wild dewberries have been ripening up. We had a good spring…plenty of rain and the crop is massive. There is a good patch of low growing dewberries at East End Park….a nice, well used area with miles of walking and biking gravel trails…. lots of berry pickers! http://www.eastendpark.com/about.html
I will share two locations and keep a few others secret. As I mentioned above, East End Park has a nice low growing patch in the open area to the right as you go through the barriers at the entrance. The other location….and I really like this one because many of the berries grow in an upright manner….helps the “old Man” save his back while picking. This other location is in River Grove Park across the walking bridge to the soccer fields and then a short walk over to the East edge of the fields. Based on what I saw yesterday, next weekend will be an outstanding weekend for berry pickers.
I brought home enough from two separate expeditions to cook up a batch of dewberry jam today. In fact, I had a little too much for one batch and the freezer holds the start of the next batch. I always make the low sugar version of jams, strawberry, blackberry and dewberry. I use 1/3 less sugar than the regular homemade jams.
I started with 6 ½ cups of mashed up dewberries …. The recipe called for 5 but I used about 5 ½ cups of berries, bagged a cup for the future and went to work. My “go to” pectin is Sure Jell Light. I do try to follow the recipe sheet and measure everything!!!!! I fudge just a little but try to stay within reason with my deviations from the recipe.
The mashed of dewberries coming up to a boil.
Filling the hot sterilized jars with the yummy mix!
Tools of jam making.
The idle food mill – sorry Hun – you will have to live with the extra seeds.
I am having a banner year for jams and other canning goodies so far. I made a double batch of lemon curd from my homegrown Meyer Lemons. Horribly rich so I just use a little dab when I indulge. I have about 18 half pint jars of my homegrown strawberry jam and now 8 half pint jars of Dewberry Jam. The pantry is looking good!
The Pantry – Lots of Strawberry, Lemon Curd and Dewberry. Also a dab of 2013 leftovers, Pomegranate Jelly, Chipotle Peach jam, a blended jam – Blackberry/Dewberry/Strawberry and some Serrano Pepper Jelly.
I sometimes debate whether I should run the mashed berries through the food mill to remove a bunch of the seeds….about half….the seeds don’t bother me so I skipped that messy step. As the mix comes to a boil the aroma is so good….once the sugar is added and the color deepens the aroma now becomes a little sweeter.
TTFN
Bishop
From My Backyard 
May 11, 2014 @ 03:38:03
I don’t know dewberries, but I can tell they are wonderful. I’m so impressed with all that wonderful jam! Just seeing it all stacked in the cupboard is a very pleasing sight! Lovely!
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Jun 09, 2014 @ 01:57:08
They grow wild and we have had the perfect spring! The challenge is to keep your skin intact. They have hooked and sharp vines. I have started picking using gloves now!
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May 12, 2014 @ 20:32:00
Dewd!!! This looks so delicious I can almost smell it from here! 😀
K
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Jun 09, 2014 @ 01:55:10
Just incredible flavor but lots of work to pick.
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Apr 08, 2015 @ 16:38:50
Has anyone out there tried to make dewberry jelly using any of the Stevia products as a substitute for sugar?
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Apr 08, 2015 @ 19:40:35
I have not, but I am sure there is something out there.
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Apr 08, 2015 @ 19:44:57
Use sugar free Sure Jell pectin. Stevia does not provide the preserving properties of sugar so it is best used for freezer jams and jellies.
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Jul 25, 2015 @ 20:32:39
Oct 30, 2016 @ 14:20:41
What are dew berries. Are they semliar to black berries.
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Oct 31, 2016 @ 03:18:03
Very closely related to blackberry but the are small and grow on thorny vines. They usually grow wild along fence lines.
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May 02, 2022 @ 01:58:31
Hi! My name is mack. I’m a diabetic, but I got alot dewberries to make some jams. Could you please send a recipe for less sugar or sugar free pectin. I hate to all these berries go to waste. I know that you need half pint size jars and got tools for the canning process and bath. I’m tired looking at every single thing on the internet. Thanks.
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May 02, 2022 @ 17:34:49
Mack,
I typically use Sure-Jell Lowsugar pectin. The box is pink in color. It is for less or no sugar recipes with instructions included inside the package. There is a recipe for no sugar triple berry that includes strawberries, Raspberries and blackberries. I would suggest trying the recipe for the triple berry. It only makes 3 cups at a time and I have learned to not try making batches larger than recommended. The recipe uses Splenda as a sweetener. I have great luck storing blackberries in the freezer and pulling out the recommended amount to use in the recipe.
You will probably learn a little by using all blackberries in the triple berry recipe. Subsequent batches my need to be adjusted. It may not quite set as desired but will be tasty regardless. Hope this helps. Sometimes it may be difficult to find the Sure-Jell in the pink package on the grocery store shelf. Amazon is my fall back source.
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