Blueberry Pancake Syrup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 cups blueberries, stemmed, rinsed and drained
3 cups water
2 strips lemons, rind of
3 cups sugar
lemon juice

Preparation

Pour the blueberries into a saucepan and crush them with a potato masher or a wooden spoon until most of the skins are broken.
Add 1 cup of water and strips of lemon peel and bring to a simmer.
Turn heat down to low and cook the berries for 5 minutes at just under a simmer.
Pour the hot berries into a strainer lined with two layers of cheesecloth and let the blueberry juice drip through.
Twist the cloth to extract all the juice; there should be about 2 cups.
Discard the berry pulp.
Combine the remaining 2 cups water with the sugar in a small saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is clear.
Wash down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush, then boil the syrup, without stirring, until it reaches 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Add the blueberry syrup to the sugar syrup and bring the mixture to boil.
Boil for 1 minute. Let the syrup cool, then add lemon juice to taste. Pour the syrup into two pint jars and refrigerate if you plan to use it in a month or two.
To can (for indefinite storage) Pour into canning jars with 1/2 inch headspace. Process in hot water bath for 30 minutes.
Cool.