Welcome to making Pie Filling! While in this tutorial I'll be showing you how to make Blueberry Pie Filling, this same method is used to make various types of pie filling like Apple, Blackberry, Peach, and more. This is one of the easiest things to prepare for your food storage, plus you can use it for other things like tarts, dump cake, cobblers, and any other recipe that requies a filling like this.

Supplies

1. Water bath canner (with lid and wire rack)

2. Canning jar lids (appropriate size for jars being used)

3. Canning Jars (I used 8 quart jars - each jar holds one full pie filling. You may want to can this in smaller jars if you like.)

4. Fresh picked fruit (6 quarts or 24 cups of blueberries in this case.)

5. Paper towels

6. 8 - 1 Quart glass canning jars (7 for canning, one for extra filling)

7. Canning "tool set" - including tongs, jar grip, funnel, etc

8. Measuring cups - for liquids and for powders / sugars

9. Recipe - link here (Click the word "here" to get the Oregon State University pdf file I used.)

10. Towel

11. Two pots - one for canning jar lids to strelize in and one stock pot for mixing the pie filling in.

Step 1: Canning Blueberry Pie Filling - the Video

This is the full video of the process below.

Step 2: Gather Supplies

In this process, having everything right on hand pre-measured, makes the process go so much easier. So I have given the items that I have used in this instructable in picture form with the measuring items I have have available to me, yours might be slightly different.

Once your supplies have been put all in the same location, start measuring your ingredients. For the Blueberry Pie Filling that I made, that would make 7 Quarts shelf stable Pie Filling, I used the following:

Ingredients:
*6 Quarts (24 cups) Fresh picked blueberries

* 6 Cups Granulated Sugar (make sure there are no clumps)

* 9 1/3 cups cold water (or juice)

* 2 1/4 Cup Clear Jel (This is NOT clear Jello - it is a refined cornstarch - not found in everyone's local grocery store. You may need to look to a community like the Amish or Menite who have a store near you, or look on Amazon for this product. The product I boiught was Hoosier Hill Farm Clear Jel, 1.5 Lbs.) ** This is an affiliate link, while you will not be obligated to buy, if you do click and/or purchase, I do get some credit from this link.)

* 1/2 Cup Lemon Juice

** You can also include Food Coloring if you want but I did not use it. The link to the full recipe, and other pie fillings is here.

Full Pie Filling Recipe link.

Step 3: My Outdoor Kitchen

I've set up a "cooking station" outside to help keep heat from loitering in my house. So, I'm using a double burner propane stove to have my water bath canner on one burner while I use the other burner for both cooking the pie filling and sterilizing the two part lids for the jars.You will see in several pictures that I also have a table with the rest of my tools on it. I got a folding table at Wal-Mart for about $40, but you can also get a 4x8 folding table from Costco for about $50, both are good, I just lucked out with the one at Wal-Mart.

Step 4: Pick Then Rinse the Blueberries.

I went to a local farm called Blueberry Meadows and picked a total of 18 pounds of blueberries between two pickings. The second picking of 10 pounds of berries is what I used here. After picking through the berries dry, I rinsed them in water to get the stuff that I couldn't pick out dry. The last two images are the things that I tossed out - the stems, leaves and rotten berries.

Step 5: Boiling Water and Start the Pie Filling

Start one burner with the canner boiling water with jars upside down to keep sanitary. Then in the second pot, combine the sugar and Clear Jel and mix throughly. Remember that when measuring dry ingredients, not to just scoop the product out in the measuring cup - you need to level the measuring cup as indicated in the last picture, so you don't get too much in this case of the Clear Jel.

Step 6: Add Liquids

Once your dry items are fully mixed, add the water and fully mix dry with wet again. Turn on your heat and let the mix thicken while stirring occasionally. Keep close by so clumps don't form on the bottom of the pot. Once you see the mix start to boil and show signs of thickening, stir more consistantly.

There will come a point when you will feel a difference and see more clumping of the mixture. Once that happens, add your lemon juice and let boil. Once boiling, let mix boil for one minute - keep stirring during this time. (Or you will have burnt gunk on the bottom of your pot and you will have to start over.)

Once the lemon juice is added, the mix will thicken rather quickly. Make sure to mix well and take the pot off the heat when the minute it done. I ended up turning off the flame on my burner.

Step 7: Add Berries to the Mix

Once the gell mix has become ..... gel - fold in the blueberries you have measured out. As you can see in the image, the berries mixed with the jel mix are a great color. That's why I chose not to add additional food coloring to the mix - because I didn't think it was actually needed.

When all the blueberries and gel mix are fully incorporated, it's time to fill the jars.

Step 8: Put Pie Filling in the Jars

The recipe calls for 7 quart jars, but I found that it actually makes 8 quarts. So just have an extra jar around just in case. I had 8 quart jars with the two part lids set aside, as in the pictures. While you are filling the jars (once they have been sterilized both in the dish washer and while cooking the filling they should be upside down in the canning pot), the two part lids should be boiling in a small pot on the stove. As in the second image - each jar has three parts - the glass jar, a flat lid and then an aluminum rim.

Place a funnel on / in the first jar and start scooping the filling into the jar. (In the picture with the scoop of filling, you can see the actual color of the filling really well, since the spatuala I am using is white. The red coloring is all from the blueberries.)

Fill the jar until there is one inch of "head space" available. That is basically from the top bend of the jar to the edge of the top rim.

Step 9: Putting the Lids On

Next, make sure that the top part of the jars are all clean for proper sealing of the lids. I take a dampend paper towel and wipe the rims and necks of the jars down to make sure they are clear of any "gunk" from the filling.

Then, place the flat metal lid on the jar. After that, add the aluminum ring, and tighten. I suggest tightening that ring as hard as you can, then take a slight twist back. You don't want the ring to be too tight, but you also don't want it too loose. If it's too tight, the jar might break. If it's too loose, it might not seal correctly.

Step 10: Getting in the Canner

Now that your jars are set to be "sealed", take them one or two at a time, and place in the water bath canner. Set the wire rack so it sits on the edge of the canner. Then start adding the jars. I usually start with the middle spot, filling that first, then I go out on either side until the outer circle is filled. Each batch of pie filling fills enough jars for one canner full of jars.

Once the wire rack is filled, lower it into the water, making sure that the lids are fully submerged at least an inch in the water. After making sure there is enough water covering the jars, place the lid on the canner and start your timer. You will need to boil the jars for 30 minutes for sealing them.

Step 11: Unloading the Canner and Let Cool

When your timer goes off at 30 minutes, turn off the heat and take out the jars from the canner. But before taking out the jars, lay down a folded towel for the jars to lay on. By doing this, the jars can cool without damaging the surface of your countertop or table.

Once jars are out of the canner and on the towel, take off the aluminum rings so you can use them on canning other jars. Last thing to do - label the content of the jar and the date it was canned. That way you don't have to guess what it was and when you canned it.

Then wait........ Wait to see if the jars fully seal by either hearing them pop or feeling the lid 12 - 24 hours after canning. If the flat lid is depressed and doesn't move with finger pressure, it has sealed. On the other hand, if you place your finger on the top of the jar and when you press on it - it moves, it has not sealed. With that in mind - don't worry, you can just label it and put it in the freezer instead of on the shelf. With the given 1 inch head space, that will allow for enough expansion when it's frozen.

Step 12: Finishing Up

Now that you have finished your canning, all you have to do is clean up the "tools" you used in the process. But you can also see the fruits of you labor coming together. Make sure to leave enough space between the jars while cooling, and label the lids so that you don't forget the date and contents of your jar.

When all is said and done, place these jars of filling on your shelves for use in the next year as pie filling, for dump cakes, tarts or even cobblers.

I hope you have enjoyed making this as much as I did!