Blackberry Jam Recipe
I hate the start of the new school year, back to routine after a summer of slow mornings. Days without Elvia around making me smile. But there is one thing that I do look forward to, and that is blackberry picking with my friend Madoka. It has become a bit of a September tradition for us, off we trot to our secret spot (doesn't everyone have a secret blackberry picking spot?), for a quiet chat and to enjoy the peace of the countryside. Once our bowls are filled to the brim with ripe berries, and our hands are stained black, we return home again to put them to good use, and for me, that is always by making blackberry jam. This recipe is incredibly easy, but it does come with a health warning, it is very sweet and definitely not refined sugar free. Plus if you don't like chunky jam, this isn't for you.
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You will need:
900g blackberries
900g granulated sugar
1 lemon
A selection of jars/glass containers with lids or something to seal them
A sugar thermometer, or a small plate in the freezer
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Prepare the blackberries, by soaking in a bowl of water until all the bugs come up to the surface, it is then easy to rinse them off.
Put your jars into the oven at 140 degrees Celsius, I lay them on newspaper. This will sterilise them whilst you make the jam, but you can sterilise them another way if you prefer.
Put the blackberries in a large heavy-based saucepan, add 50 ml of water and 1.5 tablespoons of lemon juice. Bring to the boil.
Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Pour in the sugar, and stir over a low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Raise the temperature to a full rolling boil, and then rapidly boil for approximately 10-12 minutes until the setting point of 105 degrees is reached. If you don't have a sugar thermometer, test the jam has reached setting point, by placing a spoonful on the plate from the freezer, leave for 30 seconds and if it wrinkles when pushed rather than runs then it is set.
Remove from the heat, spoon of any scum from the surface.
Leave for 15 minutes so the fruit can settle.
Remove your jars from the oven and pour in the jam, seal.
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Recipe adapted from Good Food magazine, August 2009
I used 700g of blackberries for my most recent batch and adjusted the lemon juice and water accordingly, which filled 6 small mason jars.
I'm afraid that I can't tell you how long they will last, because they don't tend to hang around too long in our house!
Do let me know any favourite recipes you might have, there is still a couple of weeks of picking time left.
Have a good week.
Emma x