Jam Making

To continue on from my first post, the other day I managed to pick lots of blackberries (and cherries) from various bushes along a country road nearby. I decided to try some jam making!. I'm no expert at jam making and my last batch of jam didn't set well but I did want to see whether I could recreate similar results to the very first batch of strawberry jam I made- it set beautifully and tasted really good too.

Here is the recipe I used for making the blackberry jam (which set wonderfully too)
It's really easy and you only need a few ingredients, i've used the basics.
Happy jam making!

p.s the recipe is only for 2 jars (we don't eat a lot of jam so I don't need to make huge batches)

You will need:

1 lb Blackberries
13 oz Sugar (just the normal stuff)
Juice of 1 medium sized lemon
A tall cooking pot
2x glass jars
Some greaseproof paper (for the underside of the jar lids)


Firstly, you'll need to wash out your jars and sterlise them by placing them in a warm oven for 5 mins (about 140 degrees). Don't do this too far in advanced as you jars need to be a bit warm when you pour the jam into them.




2. Cut small circles from the greaseproof paper, the same size as your jar lids and keep them by the side.

3. Wash and gently dry your blackberries (I added two strawberries to get the weight up to 1 lb), place them in the pot along with the sugar and put on a gentle heat for about 5 mins or until all the sugar has dissolved ( make sure there are no sugar crystals left by dipping a wooden spoon into the mixture and looking at the back side of the spoon to see whether any crystals remain. Then add your lemon juice




4. Now turn the heat up to the highest and let the mixture boil for about 5-8 mins so it can reach the setting point. The bubbles will rise quite high (make sure it doesn't bubble over).




5. Keep an eye on your mixture as you want to make sure you take the pot off the heat as soon as it has set. After the 5-8 mins take the mixture off the heat. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes. It has set if the mixture resembles a thick gloopy consistency, it should look very much like warm jam.

I've also read that you can place a small spoonful on a plate which has been placed in the freezer for 15 mins or so, and if the jam wrinkles when pressed then it has set. this method has never really worked so well for me but I think I have tried it once before and the jam didn't wrinkle but it was very thick and didn't slide off of the cold plate easily either, the jam was set though.

If the jam hasn't set then perhaps add a bit more lemon juice (half a lemon) turn the heat back up for 2 mins and check again.



6. Now you can pour your jam into your warm jars. Once you've done this, place your paper circles on top (this stops bacteria from getting in) and put the lid on the jars!
And there you have it, scrummy blackberry jam!