Blackberry jam

There’s something very nostalgic and rewarding about making your own blackberry jam.

 

Makes: 6 jars

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

 

1 kg (2¼lb) blackberries

1 kg (2 ¼ lb.) cooking apples, quartered, cored, and peeled

300 ml (½pint) water

1.5 kg (3 lb. 2 oz.) granulated sugar

1 lemon, juice only

Small knob of butter, about 7g (¼oz.)

 

  1. Add half the blackberries to a preserving pan or the largest saucepan you have. Cut the apples into pieces about the size of the blackberries then add to the pan with the water. Cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until the fruit is tender.

 

  1. Meanwhile, warm the sugar in a roasting tin in an oven set to 110ºC (225ºF) Gas Mark¼

 

  1. Add the sugar, lemon juice and the remaining blackberries to the pan and heat gently, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Stand 6 well washed and dried jam jars and their metal lids in a roasting tin and warm in the oven while the jam cooks.

 

  1. Increase the heat and boil the jam for about 15 minutes until the jam is thick, falls slowly from a wooden spoon or when cooled quickly on a chilled saucer will wrinkle when a fingertip is drawn through the jam.

 

  1. Take the jam off the heat, stir in the butter to reduce any scum then ladle into warm dry jars and fill to the very top. Add a screw topped lid and leave to cool then label.