Tons of blackberries to use - attempt jam?? Any advice or recipes?

[strongblackcoffee]

Am delighted to have discovered hundreds of blackberries near my house, so I now have about 600g of them (and will hopefully double this with another picking session this week). I am considering attempting blackberry jam... any advice on this? Or even a recipe would be useful... or other suggestions...

Thank you

[Furball]

we freeze ours then i add them to our (frozen) apples as and when to make crumble

[thumbwitch]

look here to see if there's anything that takes your fancy..

[Lilymaid]

Blackberry and apple jam:
600gm blackberries
500gm cooking apples
200ml water
900gm granulated sugar
Peel, core and slice apples into large pan add blackberries and water and cook gently until soft. Add sugar, stir until dissolved then turn heat up and boil rapidly for 15 minutes. Draw off heat and test for a set. If not ready, bring back to boil and boil for further 3-5 minutes. skim surface if necessary. Pour into warm clean jars and cover.

Alternatively, open freeze the blackberries, bag them and then use for blackberry and apple pie or crumble or putting into a compote ...

[PandaG]

blackberry and apple crumble. my favourite, cannot be beaten!

[theyoungvisiter]

this is my recipe which is very simple and doesn't require any pectin or sieving (as long as you don't mind a slightly soft set).

Take an equal weight of blackberries and sugar.

Juice of approx half - 1 lemon (depending on quantities - I shd think half a lemon would be ok for 600g)

Put into a pan together and simmer together on a medium heat, stirring continuously until the sugar has totally dissolved, then turn up heat to a rolling boil. Stir frequently.

Put a saucer into the deep freeze. When jam has been boiling for 15 mins or so, take a tsp of the liquor and put onto the cold saucer. Push the puddle with a teaspoon and if the surface wrinkles then the jam is ready. If you want a soft set then peer really closely for the merest teeniest little wrinkle. The more pronounced the wrinkle, the harder the set. If the jam is not ready then just return to the saucer to the freezer, continue boiling and try again.

If you want a really stiff set then you'll need pectin.

When done pour into a kilner jar.

If I am making for my own immediate use then I don't really bother to sterilise, I just wash the jar very well and rinse out with boiling water fresh from the kettle. You will need a half to 1 litre kilner jar for your quantity of berries. Half a litre should be ok, you might have a little left over that you could just leave to cool in a ramekin.

The jam keeps very well in the fridge and makes delicious apple pies, or stir a tsp into greek yoghurt for delicious blackberry yoghurt.

[theyoungvisiter]

oh, and as for all jam recipes - use a BIG heavy-based pan. The bigger the better - it really bubbles up and there is nothing more terrifying than jam boiling over all over the cooker!

[strongblackcoffee]

Ooooh thanks!! Have just put the kids to bed then popped back to check messages, am very excited

Hmmmm I have a medium sized le creuset, or a big stainless steel jamie oliver saucepan. Which do you think would be better for jam...? I'm a bit nervous about the bubbling up, i so know this is going to happen to me in a Very Bad Way...

[Lilymaid]

I'd go for the stainless steel saucepan - it needs to be the size that you'd use to cook pasta. I have a preserving pan, but if you are making a relatively small amount as here, a large saucepan will be fine.
If you are worried the bottom of the pan might burn, give it a stir occasionally. Otherwise, watch how it is boiling and remove from heat if it the level is too high.

[strongblackcoffee]

Okay, thanks so much for all the help, mmmmm can't wait!!! (to eat it, that is!)

[thereistheball]

If you wash and freeze some, as well as adding them to crumbles etc you can slip them into porridge with some honey. No need to defrost first. Mmmm. I also made some blackberry and coconut muffins a few years ago that were nice - sorry, no recipe.